Just like nearly everyone else, I have tried the more commonly known Ful-Vue from 1946 and in my opinion, it sucked. So what about this one, the earlier one from 1939.

It came into my possession at the bottom of a giveaway junk box and I was ecstatic as I had just swapped the other one. That is so not true, my first thought was “oh crap another one”.

I could have just put it back in the box and forgotten about it, but that would go against everything I am. So in went a film and off I trotted to Newmillerdam Country Park. I have to say I had a fabulous time as I walked around with my sister and it was the first time we have done that since covid time began. Of course, nothing changes, she still didn’t take her purse and still wanted an ice cream so out-of-work-me had to pay. Siblings!

Anyway, this version of the camera was a typical box camera and I have had good results from those, so maybe this one wouldn’t be as bad as I expected. There was nothing to it, point and shoot. It had a good weight and a massive viewfinder, hence the name the “FULL VIEW”.

My “view” was a little dirty and it looked like someone had tried to clean it as the pop-off cover had lever created damage. I decided not to make it worse as I could see perfectly through it.

Here are my results.

Well, would you look at that! They are lovely, so much better than from the later version of the camera. How can a camera get worse in a later version?? Not just a little worse, but a LOT worse??

I haven’t found much about this camera online. Do any of you have this version of the Ful-Vue?