Keystone Olympic K-35 8mm Movie Camera

On display is the Keystone Olympic K-35 8mm Movie Camera, which became infamous on November 22, 1963 when Charles L. Bronson shot the Grassy Knoll footage of the JFK assassination. The body is in a metal covered with light brown leather. The camera has three lenses; a telephoto lens, a wide angle lens, and a short lens and were manufactured by the Elgeet Optical Company in Rochester, New York. One of the boxes above the lens is the viewfinder lens and adjunct to it is the lever to adjust the viewfinder for normal and wide angle modes. On the side of the camera is the level to wound up the film and the start button is shaped like a short level with the frame rate selector running below the start button that runs 12, 16, 24, or 48 fps. The camera was manufactured by the Keystone Camera Company in 1955, costing $61.90 with the f 2.5 lens to $74.05 with the f 1.9 focusing lens or $116.17 to $140.93 today.

Founded in Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1910, the Keystone Camera Company was a division of the Keystone Manufacturing Company. In the 1930s, the company built low cost 16mm cameras that are still in use today. During WWII they made an aerial camera: the Type F8 with a 15 inch f/5.6 Wollensak lens. In 1966, they were acquired by Berkey Photo, Inc.. In 1978, Berkey sold its camera division and thus abandoned this market. The Keystone Camera Company filed for chapter 11 protection in January 1991. Later in 1991, they were purchased by Concord Camera Company for $6.6 million. It was during this period they entered into the disposable, "single use" camera market. Many of their cameras featured built-in electronic flash (an innovative feature for low-end cameras on their early models). They also had in their line some instant cameras using Polaroid film - and a few in other formats such as 35mm and Disc. Keystone was in an infringement suit with Polaroid in 1975 over the patents to their SX70 compatible camera. There was also a Keystone range of cine cameras.