The Ilford Sporti camera range was contemporary to the Sportsman, though first appearing somewhat later than the first Sportsman in 1957, perhaps 1959. It was made by Dacora, in Germany and used the still very popular, at that time, roll film format. It was aimed at the junior, more inexperienced, or just plain 'snapshot' photographer.

The first to appear was the Sporti, as above. Despite being styled to look like a 35mm camera, it took 12 pictures on 120 size roll-film. Focussing settings were marked for close-ups, groups and views, with an exposure control marked for cloudy and sunny lighting conditions. It was synchronised for flash. Fitted with an accessory shoe and optical viewfinder within the top plate, being "a pressing finished in aluminium enamel which reseembles satin finish chrome". Price in 1959-60 (from the Wallace Heaton Blue Book) was £3.17s.7d (£3.88p) with an Ever-ready case costing £1.1s.10d extra (£1.09p). Wallace Heaton also charged 2/- (10p) post and packing. In 1962 the Sporti cost £3.18s.8d (£3.93p). Instruction booklets for the Sporti, dated 1959 and 1961, are viewable at:
http://yandr.50megs.com/ilford/sp1/sp1.htm and http://yandr.50megs.com/ilford/sp/sp.htm.

Alternatively, click on the icon for a pdf file  Please be patient while the 0.6MB file downloads. It is dated February 1959 (B59).

Raijo Lauro, in Finland, has an excellent site with many makes of camera and other photographic items described and beautifully illustrated. If you are interested in the Ilford Sporti, do take a look at his web page.

Two 'European' Sporti cameras with the grey leatherette covering which Ilford believed was not best suited to the more conservative UK 'taste'.

Although nominally identical, the left hand model has a silver metal wind-on knob while the right hand version has a white plastic knob, so may date to slightly later.

The Sporti was soon joined (the BJPA for 1961 says the original Sporti continued to be available, initially) by the Super Sporti which looked very similar but had a few extra refinements (a 'Cloudy-Dull' aperture setting, a Bulb shutter timing and double exposure prevention). It took 12 pictures 6cm square on 120 roll film.

The Super Sporti instruction booklet is available at http://yandr.50megs.com/ilford/ss/ss.htm.

The Wallace Heaton Blue Book for 1961-62 describes the Super Sporti as having a metal body, with an eyelevel viewfinder and body release. Exposure control was via aperture settings for 'Sunny', 'Light Cloud' and 'Dull' and I(nstantaneous) + B(ulb) shutter timings. The 'Sunny' and 'Light Cloud' settings were obtained via changes in the size of aperture opening (f11 to f9); simple holes in a metal plate, sliding in front of the achromat lens. The 'Dull' setting used the same f9 aperture as 'Light Cloud' but also changed the shutter speed to a slower value (1/25th in place of 1/50th ?) and this same exposure setting was also used for 'Flash'.

There was double exposure prevention, an accessory shoe and standard coaxial flash synchronisation contacts. Focussing was marked for 'Close-ups' (5-10ft), 'Groups' (10 to 25ft) and 'Views'. The price of the Super Sporti in 1961-62 was £5.12s.6d (£5.63p) with standard and de-luxe cases at £1.1.10d and £1.9s.1d (£1.09p & £1.45p) respectively.

The picture alongside, from the Daily Mail around 10th January 2008, shows the enduring affection shown to the Ilford Sporti. The girl holding a Sporti (or maybe a Super Sporti) is George Pringle, a current new talent on the pop scene. The Daily Mail text, by Adrian Thrills, is legible, so those with an interest in these things can read more for themselves.

The Sporti '4' took 12 pictures 4cm square on 127 roll film,

It was intended for a youngster, as illustrated by this 1960 Meccano magazine advert.

The Subitar meniscus fixed focus lens (8ft - infinity) offered just one adjustment, 'sunny' or 'cloudy'. The single speed shutter was flash synchronised and the camera was equipped with an accessory shoe and tripod bush. Wallace Heaton advertised the Sporti 4 at £2.10s.5d (£2.52p) in 1961-62 (a small increase over the original price), with a case 17s/5d (88p) extra.

In 1962 the Sporti '4' cost £2.9s.8d (£2.48p).

A 1.5MB pdf file of the Sporti 4 instruction booklet can be dowloaded here  It is dated March 1961 (C61).

The Sporti '6' produced 12 off 6cm square negatives on 120 roll film, same as the original Sporti. It was introduced in December 1963.

It was more sophisticated than the Sporti '4' by including more user adjustments for exposure, namely three apertures f 8, f11 & f16 and a two speed shutter providing 1/50th and 1/100th second, plus flash synchronisation.

Focussing was by symbol, using the Ilford trade mark phrase 'faces and places'. The camera incoporated double exposure prevention.

A 1.1MB pdf file of the Sporti 6 instruction booklet can be downloaded here  It is dated August 1963 (H63).