The Peggy II is an early 35mm folding camera that measures 13x7x3cm when folded and extends to 6cm when the lens panel is drawn out from the body on scissor struts.

 

Film loading isn’t easy. First, a key is turned to unlock the base and back of the body which slide off in one piece. Inside, a flap hinges up to give access to the film plane. The film winds from a normal cassette into a special take-up cassette which has to be removed from the camera for loading. To do that, a tiny catch is pushed aside to allow the cassette to slide out, then one side of it opens up like a lid on a box to reveal the take-up spool. The film is pushed onto the take-up spool, the lid closed, the cassette slid back and locked into position at the same time as the film cassette is inserted on the opposite side of the body. The film is tensioned so that the sprocket holes engage with sprocket wheels at the top and bottom of the film plane, the flap over the film plane is closed and locked, then the back and base of the camera are slid home and locked. Got all that? Good. But you still can’t fire the shutter.

 

To do that, the film must first be wound to free up the interlock mechanism that prevents more than one exposure being made on a single frame, and then the shutter must be tensioned. On early models of the Peggy II that was done by closing the camera and opening it again every time you wanted to shoot. Later, now rarer, models have a separate shutter cocking lever for this.

 

Focusing is via a knob on the top plate that moves the lens panel back and forth, coupled to the rangefinder in a separate window to the viewfinder. The Peggy also has a built-in film slicer so that film can be cut and removed half-way through a roll for developing short lengths.

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