Zulauf Polyscop Stereo Camera .... 45 x 107 mm. sheet film or glass plate magazine
Adjustable focus, speeds (z - 1/250 ), f. stops 4.5, 8, & 16 , separate reflex ground-glass viewfinder & lens
lens: Twin Kraus Zeiss-Tessars / 62 mm f.4.5 / Etes. G.D.G. E. Krauss, Paris.
body serial # C.64252 ..... lens serial # 102921 & # 102924 ...... factory: G. Zulauf, Zurich, Switzerland
Circa 1910

Notes: This is an example of a foreign camera that was intended for the pre-revolution Czarist Russian market. Photography was popular in Russia long before cameras were being mass produced there. Although some cameras were hand-made by photographers and small workshops, most Russians depended on foreign cameras that were imported. Stereo photography was popular in Czarist Russia during the late 19th and early 20th century, as it was around the world.

This camera was made specifically for the Russian market and has a small embossed and painted brass medallion, inset into its side, bearing the Russian Royal Imperial Coat of Arms (two-headed eagle) and the name of the V. Iohim Company in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Iohim was a fine department store. It dates to about 1910 and was bought and used by 'the upper classes' to make stereo photographs.

Although not of Russian manufacture, cameras like this played an important roll in the history of photography in Russia. When I took the back off of this camera there were three glass plates in the holders, already processed into negatives and with scenes of Russia that were taken with this camera, circa 1910. I took photos of them and reversed the tones on close-ups with photoshop. Take a look !