[rollei_list] Re: Press Cameras
- From: David Sadowski <dsadowski@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:18:01 -0500
Years ago I knew Doyle Riley from Texas, who was instrumental in the
development of the Vivitar 283 flash. (In fact, he told me he coined the
word Vivitar, a combination of "vivid" and the "tar" tag that was already
used on lenses such as the Ektar.)
Mr. Riley died in 1994, but one other thing he had done in the 1950s was
create an experimental press camera called the Rilex. I don't recall much
about it, other than that it probably had more features than your standard
Graflex, a greater degree of movements I would assume, plus electronic
flash synch.
There was a Rilex press camera for sale on eBay a few years ago, but I
didn't buy it. I don't know how many of these were made.
I did get in touch with Doyle's grandson, who was completely unaware that
he had made any press cameras.
Later on, his company Riley Marketing imported filters from Japan, and he
developed a line of professional strobe equipment, again under the Rilex
name. He partnered with a Japanese manufacturer, and these were sold in
the US under his brand, and in Japan under theirs, but he had designed them.
Not long before his death, he sold some of this strobes to Madison Square
Garden. He had figured out how to synchronize the flashes in such a way
that they would not be picked up by TV cameras at NBA games. The pros
could shoot all the flash pictures they needed during the game with Rilex
strobes, and it wouldn't affect the TV feed at all.
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