Kombi Camera

Alfred C. Kemper

Chicago, Illinois

ca. 1892

The Kombi was manufactured by Alfred C. Kemper of Chicago, Illinois beginning around 1892. “Kombi” meant that the camera’s film magazine could be loaded with a developed film and then be used as a film viewer (graphoscope). The miniature box camera could make 25 exposures in a 1 1/8” x 1 1/8” square format on one roll of transparency film (that is, developed with a positive image). It was an all-brass construction, and its main advantage was the exchangeable roll fill magazine as a camera back. The magazine with the exposed film had to be sent to the factory for film development and reloading. The Kombi camera was sold by tens of thousands.