RARE SUZUKI ECHO 8 LIGHTER/CAMERA MODEL 1 INCLUDES FILM , FILM SLITTER AND PATENT PAPERS Start Price USD 499.99 Current Price USD 567.89 Time Left - Bid Count 2 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, September 08, 2008 End Time Monday, September 15, 2008 Location Toronto, Ontario See more about 'RARE SUZUKI ECHO 8 LIGHTER/CAMERA MODEL 1' Description I hate to let this beauty go but the marriage bells are a ringing and my lady likes expensive beach weddings in Mexico. This is a must have for any vintage camera or lighter collection. For those of you who do not know the history, let me copy and paste from a popular site.In 1951, Suzuki Optical Company designed a cigarette lighter with a built-in camera using split 16mm film.  The Echo 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 chrome sliding bar next to the lid is the shutter release.  The serrated wheel adjacent to the shutter release is the film advance.  The film advance automatically stops when the film has been wound to the next frame detected by a small lever which pushes into the perforation of the film. After the 20th exposure has been taken, the advance wheel turns freely.  That is how you'll know you are at the end of the roll, as the camera does not have a frame counter. The camera had a built-in waist-level-type viewfinder utilised by sliding the nameplate-panel on the lighter lid and looking down to see out at 90 degrees.The Echo 8 was marketed in the United States from1951. Initial interest was modest, but sales leapt when the camera that was used in the 1953 movie, Roman Holiday which starred Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck & Eddie Albert. Eddie Arnold playing a photographer who uses an Echo 8 lighter camera to get candid shots of Audrey Hepburn. 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 optical viewfinder the Echo 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.                                                                                                  This piece has never been filled with lighter fluid and is in excellent condition. Their is a film slitter marked Baia, a sealed canister of 2 rolls of film included as well as nine pages of patent papers filed Sept. 6, 1955 for the Camera-lite by its inventor Edward Frankel. Shipping costs will be actual cost but must include adequate insurance and can be combined with my other auctions......Cheers                 ********** **PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT I WILL BE OUT OF TOWN UNTIL THURSDAY SEPT 18TH TO ATTEND A FUNERAL AND WILL BE UNABLE TO SEND INVOICES OR REPLY TO EMAIL UNTIL THEN.*************** Place a Bid!