Above : ILFORD Advocate ~ Series 1

Right: ILFORD Advocate ~ Series 2

The above pictures show a Series I Advocate (LHS), which went on sale in summer 1949, and a Series 2 Advocate (RHS) that first appeared in late 1952. They were manufactured by Kennedy Instruments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ilford Ltd, who later manufactured the KI Monobar. They also manufactured the ILFORD filmstrip printer. The above picture of a Series 1 Advocate, and the others lower down this page, are shown by kind permission of Michael Rickards. The Series 2 Advocate picture, and the others lower down this page, are by John Dodkins.

The body colour differences in the examples above may be genuine or may be a difference in the 'colour balance' of the cameras used to take these pictures. But it is known that colour variations exist, going from white to ivory and cream. Notice the two black flash synchronisation sockets to the lower right of the lens on the Series 2.
For a pdf file of the Series II Advocate instruction manual, click the image alongside Be patient as the file is 8MB.
The following review of the Series 1 Advocate appeared in the British Journal Photographic Almanac (BJPA) for 1950:

"The 'Advocate' is a landmark in British camera construction. As pleasing in appearance as it is accurate in construction, it brings the precision miniature into the medium price class and gives the lie to the assertion that we cannot hope in this country to compete in the miniature market. The body is a pressure die-casting of aluminium silicon alloy, finished in hard-stoved ivory enamel finish which is delightful to handle, extremely resistant to scratching and wear, and absolutely incapable of picking up dirt. The lens, too, is out-standing. It is a bloomed Dallmeyer British made f/4.5 of only 35-mm. focal length, a wide angle coverage which, at f/4.5 on so short a focus, gives a depth of field that renders a rangefinder unnecessary for the great majority of work: for portraiture and other work in which a smaller angle may be appropriate the perfection of the Dallmeyer lens permits of adequate definition by enlargement from rather less than the whole frame.

The shutter is timed for 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/150, 1/200, and bulb. Shutter speeds are set out on the outermost ring; the inner ring gives, on a very open scale, focus down to 3ft., while the iris is controlled by rotating the lens hood, and is graduated to f/22.

The shutter wind and film transport are interlocked, and the mechanism is freed for rewinding by depressing the winding head: it is very comfortably done with the second finger of the left hand holding the camera, rewinding being done with the right. The camera takes standard cassettes and loading is simplicity itself, thanks to the provision of a swing-out holder for the cassette.

The optical view-finder is adequate, well made, clear, and with a quite well-defined frame. A tripod bush is provided in the centre of the base-separately inserted into the body casting, solidly designed and of adequate depth. Eyelets for a sling are cast in the body itself, small and unobtrusive.

Altogether the camera gives unquestionable evidence of the very highest quality. The interior of the body casting is as clean and precise as a plastic moulding, and everything is attached with screws, with obvious precision. All parts are made dead to gauge, and the lens adjusted accurately to gauge by the makers, so that there can be no error when all is assembled. A final check after assembly nevertheless makes assurance doubly sure.

The price of the camera is £15 15s. Od., plus £6 16s. 6d. purchase tax (total cost £22.58p); the ever-ready leather case (with provision to hold 2 filters) is an extra and costs £1 19s, plus £1 5s.4d (total cost £3.22p) purchase tax."

The 1953 BJPA carried a review of the Series 2 Advocate, as follows:

"The attractive stoved white-enamel (ivory) finish of the Ilford Advocate is by now so familiar as to need no introduction. The camera is a simple non-interchangeable lens miniature for 35mm. film, giving 36 standard-size negatives on a normal cassette loading of film. The body is a die-casting in aluminium alloy and is a very fine piece of workmanship.

The focal length of the Dallmeyer anastigmat is, like that of the previous model, 35mm., which gives a rather wider angle of view than is generally considered normal, together with greater depth of field. At f4.5 with the lens set to 25ft, substantially sharp focus is given from 12ft. to infinity. Winding on the film automatically set the shutter for the next picture.

In addition to the new lens the scale plates have been modified to make them more easily read and the hinge and lock mechanism has been slightly modified. The shutter is synchronised for flash, and using it at 1/25 sec. all the following bulb types can be used satisfactorily; No. 5 and S.M., PFS, PF 14, PF 25, PF 38, and PF 60. The connectors for the flash gun are fitted to the lower RHS of the lens mounting block as viewed from the front (a flash lead was supplied with the camera to fit the two, non-coaxial, 'female' sockets).

The shutter release, which is mounted conveniently for operation by the forefinger of the right hand, is extremely light and the direct-vision finder gives a bright image. A good point of design is the eyepiece of the finder which is moulded in black plastic. Only too often this tiny part is finished in bright chrome or polished metal and is very distracting.

In all, the Series II Advocate is a well-made, excellently finished camera with a wide range of use. The price is £18 15s. plus £8 2s. 6d. purchase tax (£26.88p)."

The Advocate measures, overall, 5"x2.25"x2.675" and weighs only 18 ounces (510grammes).

'Ilford News' for Summer 1953 contains comment relating to tests carried out on the Series 2 Advocate by 'Amateur Photographer' magazine for 2nd April 1953. It also shows various lens accessories.

During the production life of the Series 2 Advocate, some cameras were produced fitted with a Wray f3.5 lens due to the limited output of lenses available from Dallmeyer. This model has black coloured co-annular rings surrounding the lens with shutter speed and aperture numbers inscribed in white. Because of this, it is sometimes referred to as the 'black face' Advocate.

My thanks to Doug McKee for the picture shown left.

Another variation was that a few Advocates were sold synchronised for electronic, rather than bulb, flash. The serial number shows this with a 'E' designation.

Kennedy Instruments stopped making the Advocate around 1955. Its design had apparently not suited the public taste and its lens cost made the retail price too high. Its believed the total production run was around 10,000. The Kennedy Instruments factory making Advocates closed in 1956.

Interestingly, it seems some Advocates were still being sold by an 'end of line' store, Direct Photographic Supplies Ltd, 224 Edgware Rd, London, W.2, as late as November 1968 (see AP advert page 96) under the heading 'Miscellaneous Bargains'. Complete with a case, Advocates were being sold for £10.10s (£10 50p). The advert doesn't specify whether the offer was for a Series 1 or a Series 2 Advocate.

The images show right and below relate to an Advocate body modified to attach to a Watson Barnet beam-splitter device instead of being fitted with a conventional shutter and 'taking' lens. This suggests it was intended for use in photomicroscopy.

Doug McKee has given me permission to use the following images of equipment he owns. I also acknowledge that some of these images were taken by John Marriage, editor of Photographica World, the quarterly Journal of the Photographic Collectors' Club International (PCCI).

The picture alongside compares a normal Advocate (in this case a Series 2) with an Advocate body modified for use with the Watson Barnet equipment. The modified camera has smart black paintwork.

The modified body (right) has no viewfinder; it has a blanking plate fitted in its place, with what looks like a shutter release lever protruding from the rear of the body, rather than from the front, as on a standard Advocate. However, its use is different; it is used to release the film wind on mechanism (an action normally interlocked with the Advocate's shutter; but in the modified body, that shutter is not fitted).

There is no tripod bush on the base, just a recess where it would be.

The front of the body casting, where conventionally the shutter and 'taking' lens would be mounted, has been 'skimmed' and a plate to contain a dark slide has been fitted.

In the picture alongside, the dark slide is about 60% withdawn. In use, the dark slide would be kept fully closed until the time for making an exposure, when it would be fully retracted. Exposure would then be controlled by operating a conventional 'behind the lens' shutter, fitted to the rear (the camera body connecting end) of the Watson-Barnet microscope attachment (see below).

This picture shows the modified Advocate body fitted with the Watson Barnet beam-splitter device. The beam-splitter has two functions:

(a) it has a shutter at the back (the end nearest the camera) with speeds of 1-1/250sec, T&B. It has M & X flash synchronisation.

(b) the beam-splitter diverts part of the incoming light through a right angle, to an upward facing eyepiece viewing system. The rest of the light is able to pass straight through and into the camera body (via the dark slide, when opened).

The clamp ring at the front of the beamsplitter accepts any one of three microscope adapters (though these might not be the same in all instances of the Watson Barnet attachment). Their internal diameters are 25mm, 28mm and 29mm. This would enable the camera, with its beam-splitter, to be attached to a variety of microscopes.

The example of the Advocate camera and beam-splitter shown here, has two viewing systems that attach to the upward facing 'eyepiece' tube of the beam-splitter. The smaller fitting (see picture, right) is a microscope eyepiece in a focussing mount.

The larger viewing system (extreme right) projects the image from the beamsplitter onto a ground glass screen. It has a frame marking similar in shape to 35mm film, but larger - 50mm wide.