Secret Sam Spy Camera

The first camera I ever owned was part of the “Secret Sam” spy outfit, made by Topper, and introduced in 1965. I think it was a couple of years later that I received mine, as either a birthday or Christmas present.

It consisted of an attaché case with all the things a modern spy needed, including a machine gun and a camera. Both the gun and the camera could be fired while the case was closed, making it the ideal outfit for covert operations. The camera is an ultra simple 127 format box camera, taking 16 exposure on a roll, the only thing that marks it out from similar run of the mill plastic cameras is that it has an extra long shutter release lever, which passes through a hole in the case, allowing the shutter to be triggered discretely. The rest of the outfit has long since disappeared into the past, but the camera survives, and still works.

I loaded it with a roll of Efke 100 black and white film, and set off on a mission...

Early beginnings

In 2020 I plan to revisit all the cameras that I used for taking pictures with, as opposed to the many more which were acquired as part of the collecting urge. I intend to do this in chronological order, and use a different camera each month.

In the meantime, here's a photo of me aged about one year, in my pram, outside a camera shop!