Samson Camera housing

[Sam Miller III]

Vintage Aqua Lung and Underwater Camera Scuba

Samson Camera housing on LA Craig's list
The Samson Camera housings, made by Herb Samson of Costa Mesa, California were the standard of the industry for many years,.He made two models, the Sportsman and the Professional. This is the Sportsman model which housed a 16 mm Bell & Howell 70 DR camera (3 minutes 25 seconds of film at 24 frames per second) and/or a 35 MM 100 foot reel Filmo camera. There were very few sold and even fewer have survived the passage of time.

They were very expensive ..I purchased my Sportsman model in 1958 for a few pennies less than a $1000.00..Used it for years, drug it all over SoCal and Mexico and never had a problem, made a number of forgetable movies.... I still have it -- it is resting at my feet next to my desk... just don't have the heart to sell it.

There were so few UW photographers who owned Samson's, I suspect I know who the original owner based on the location of the seller and the storage box - If I am correct this camera and the owner appeared on the cover of Skin Diver Magazine in about 1960-a historical item..

Herb's Professional model was a huge beast of a camera, housed a 35MM 400 foot reel Filmo camera and weighed in at 90 pounds and was primary used by USN and very serous professionals such as Bill Mac Donald.

Some will refer to this housing as the Samson- Hall. The camera housing in Craigs list is a Samson. At the very end of production Jon Hall purchased the rights to the Samson Housing, changed the name to Samson -Hall attempted to market it for a few years with little or no success.

Some will also recall the Samson "world record spear gun" which was designed and marketed by Herb for many years, sold to Ron Merker of the Aquatic Center, who in turn sold it to Harry Rescigno of Sea Tec where it died about 25 years ago. (FYI- Herb, Jon & Harry are diving in the big reef in the sky- Ron is still kicking).

 

[Sitkadiver]

You spent a grand on a camera housing in 1958? Holy Cow that's a lot of money.

A thousand 1958 dollars would be worth $7,936.51 today........ Glad you got some use out of it.

 

[Akimbo]

...A thousand 1958 dollars would be worth $7,936.51 today...

That was top of the line then. Not far out of line in adjusted dollars with a high-end housing from Gates today. Granted, machining-wise the Gates is 10x the sophistication.

 

[Sam Miller III]

You spent a grand on a camera housing in 1958? Holy Cow that's a lot of money.

A thousand 1958 dollars would be worth $7,936.51 today........ Glad you got some use out of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had just separated from the USAF as a Captain during the Korean war ...some refer to it as the Korean conflict...But when you are shot at it is a WAR!

I was single carefree, had lots of $$$ saved during my service career, had a well paying civilian position, had been involved in recreational diving for about 15 years, and needed a treat, so I purchased a Sampson!

The final price according to my notes was $987.00, which included spear gun mounts. Since I was a friend of Herb and had used his guns for several years he gave me a discount..10 or 15%..I never really knew...and if you ever had the opportunity to have a conversation with Herb you would understand.

The Samson and the Rollei Marine were the standard of the diving world during that era. I would question if their unique designs and quality of manufacture has ever been or will ever be equalled for in the diving world...

And yes FYI I did get a lot of use out of it..I have owned it for 54 almost 55 years!

sdm

 

[Mike Lev]

Hello Sam,I saw the housing the first day it came on ebay. I sent it to a friend to bid on. He has two others but not that color. There are a few collectors that pay stupid prices for vintage u/w cameras and housings. I don't bother anymore. A guy from spain,brazil,france ect. Some hogs try to do a buy it now. But I try to road block them. Ebay is a zoo.

 

[Akimbo]

…The Samson and the Rollei Marine were the standard of the diving world during that era. I would question if their unique designs and quality of manufacture has ever been or will ever be equalled for in the diving world...

Especially the Rolleimarin. That housing had the finest ergonomics of any housing I have seen since — amazing when you consider it was designed in the 1930s even before the Aqualung. Sure the camera can’t compete with a film or digital Hasselblad, but the Hasse housings never matched the Rolleimarin for quality of design, usability, or craftsmanship. The thing is built like the camera itself, but more than rugged enough.

Now for the “to be fair” part. A manually-machined cast aluminum housing can’t compete with a housing that is cut out of a solid billet of aluminum on a 5-axis CNC mill. You also can’t engrave values on handles that control multiple interchangeable lenses like SLRs. And yes, the Rolle has a fixed flat port instead of a dome.

 

[Sam Miller III]

The book "Photographs Underwater" by the late Bob Kendall,1976, ISBN 0-914704-02-8 LCCC 76-15705. Bob was the master and word on the Rolleimarine and his book devotes a chapter to its history.

Chapter 3 "The Rolliemarine" Bob states that the Rollie was introduced in 1954 as the Rolleimarine 1 for the Rolleiflex 3.5 and would accomidate all Rollei's EXCEPT for the New Standard 1939 model Rollei camera. For what ever reason the Rolleimarine 1 started with serial numbers 500 through 1399, followed by Rolliemarine, 2, 3 & 4 which fit varrious model chages of the Rollei


I had a Rollei 2 which I used for many years. As I recall I paid about $390.00 for it. Used it for a number of years, sold it for a profit to the later Dr Omar Neison. It is now on his son's mantel.


I would suggest that if you ever come across Bob's book purchase it - It has become a very rare book in just a few short years..
sdm

 

[dead dog]

Vintage Aqua Lung and Underwater Camera Scuba

Samson Camera housing on LA Craig's list
The Samson Camera housings, made by Herb Samson of Costa Mesa, California were the standard of the industry for many years,.He made two models, the Sportsman and the Professional. This is the Sportsman model which housed a 16 mm Bell & Howell 70 DR camera (3 minutes 25 seconds of film at 24 frames per second) and/or a 35 MM 100 foot reel Filmo camera. There were very few sold and even fewer have survived the passage of time.

They were very expensive ..I purchased my Sportsman model in 1958 for a few pennies less than a $1000.00..Used it for years, drug it all over SoCal and Mexico and never had a problem, made a number of forgetable movies.... I still have it -- it is resting at my feet next to my desk... just don't have the heart to sell it.

There were so few UW photographers who owned Samson's, I suspect I know who the original owner based on the location of the seller and the storage box - If I am correct this camera and the owner appeared on the cover of Skin Diver Magazine in about 1960-a historical item..

Herb's Professional model was a huge beast of a camera, housed a 35MM 400 foot reel Filmo camera and weighed in at 90 pounds and was primary used by USN and very serous professionals such as Bill Mac Donald.

Some will refer to this housing as the Samson- Hall. The camera housing in Craigs list is a Samson. At the very end of production Jon Hall purchased the rights to the Samson Housing, changed the name to Samson -Hall attempted to market it for a few years with little or no success.

Some will also recall the Samson "world record spear gun" which was designed and marketed by Herb for many years, sold to Ron Merker of the Aquatic Center, who in turn sold it to Harry Rescigno of Sea Tec where it died about 25 years ago. (FYI- Herb, Jon & Harry are diving in the big reef in the sky- Ron is still kicking).

Sam, it was an B&H Eyemo 35mm camera.

Herb Samson and Jon Hall sold the rights and plans and molds to Leroy French up in San Francisco. Leroy stored them in a warehouse that caught on fire one day and all was lost.
http://www.scubahalloffame.com/virtualmuseum/cameras/virtualmuseumcameras6.html

Leroy French built a smaller proto type of the Sampson for super 8 cameras, a really,really nice looking housing. I have only seen one since the 70's and I own it.

Sam, tell us about the gun mounts on the Sampson, how many housing made with them and still to exist today.

The Sampson is the best built underwater housing ever made even better then the Bolex housing.

Bill
Yorba Linda, Ca.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Mine is a BELL & Howell 70 DR-it was a tan body-Eyemo was an ealier camera with a black body.

Herb sold the camera rights to Jon Hall...Herb was totally occupied with his Red Jet 38 cal shooting system. Drop by for a visit and all he could and would talk about was his Red Jet.Jon did very little with the unit...You may recall he became dispondent over his wife's untimely death and took his own life--a 38 to the head on his patio about a year after he aquired the rights and molds which were sand castings

I have the Leroy French/aka Samson???. It was not a Samson ..It looked like a Samson but was designed and manufacured by a former member of LA UPS whose name has long been forgotten, Bob Dunn. He was locally So Cal famous for a while designing and making UW housings. He moved to the bay area where he hooked up with Al Giddings & Leroy French. The housing was distributed by Gidding/French shop called the Bamboo Reef.

Leroy encountered some "difficulties" and has resided in the tropics for the last 50 years..Giddings has retired to Montana (0f all places!)

They are all getting along in years...I am not certain if any of the players are still alive. Up to about 15 years ago I was in contact with Leroy's wife #1 a lovely lady of Italian/American heritage- When Leroy scooted off to the tropics he married a Swedish lady, followed by a Chinese lady, then ? and then? Can't recall the other nationalities,l but we use to joke that Leroy was a "One man United Nations with all his marriages and ex wives."

Oh the Days of our Dives...


I also have a Bob Dunn (French/Gidding) housing, have a Miranda super 8 stuffed in it...It currently rests in my son's office setting on a shelf.

I know of three with gun mounts...How many today ? Who knows?

How many Samsons? Not many..

 

[Akimbo]

I can’t recall where I read it, but my understanding is the overall ergonomics and housing layout for what became the Rolleimarin was developed by Hans Hass in the late 1930s. I think Hass was doing a lot of rebreather stuff before the war.

He took it to Franke & Heidecker after the war, who tasked Richard Weiss with turning a well-developed conceptual design into manufacturing drawings. I believe that Richard Weiss was an experienced engineer from the German photo industry, but not a diver. It took until the early 1950s before first-article production and patents were applied for.

Maybe it is an old sea story but it makes sense to me as a designer. I can “see” the collaboration from these two different backgrounds in the Rolleimarin along with the German manufacturing sensibilities of that era. In any case, the design remains a truly elegant piece of work even today.