“RARE” EUROPCO 8 LIGHTER CAMERA
Manufacturer : Suzuki Optical Company Japan
Dates : 1951-1956.
Cigarette –lighter camera .
Zippo camera.
Designed to look like a Zippo lighter .
The Europco 8 is only 1 5/8″ x 2 1/8″ x 1/2″, just slightly larger than a regular Zippo cigarette lighter.
It has a fixed-focus Echor Anastigmat 15mm lens with waterhouse stops at f/3.5, f/5.6 and f8.0 and has B (bulb) and I (1/50 sec.) shutter settings.
The 8mm film strip, split 16mm film, is 8 inches long and the camera produced 20 exposures, with a 6x6mm image format.
The Europco 8 cameras are shown with box and film slitter.
Case is made of brass with a brushed chrome or nickel finish.
The film slitter is an accessory used to cut strips of 16mm film down to the 8mm size required by the camera.
The camera is sited by looking down into a waist-level viewfinder that peers out of that square hole in the lid.
To uncover the waist-level optical viewfinder the Europco 8 nameplate is slid to the right.
That square hole in the side of the lighter case is the only clue that this is not just an ordinary cigarette lighter.
Behind the hole, a cover plate protects and conceals the camera lens.
The plate retracts as the shutter release is pressed.
The box on top of the camera body is the waist-level finder.
With the Europco 8 viewing has to be at eye level as there is no reflex prism.
The Europco 8 ,Echo 8 and Camera-Lite have an all too common fault.
They have been used as a cigarette lighter, and over time lighter fluid has leaked into the shell and decomposed the cast metal camera body.
Do not fill the lighter with fluid.
Resist the urge to demonstrate the lighter to friends and family and preserve the camera as it