LFORD, with a long history going back to 1897, started, as you may guess, in Ilford, in Essex. It was always primarily a ‘darkroom’ company concentrating on sensitised materials, but occasionally dipped a toe into the Sea of Cameras. I don’t think they actually made any themselves, though they may have designed some of them. For the most part the cameras were bought in to sell under the Ilford name.
     The first, a falling plate magazine camera, was quite early in 1902 but perhaps it wasn’t too successful because then there was a long break until after world war 2 when in 1947 Ilford announced the ill-fated but very high precision Witness, considered by many collectors to be a rival to the Leica. Unfortunately it ran into manufacturing problems and lens shortages and in the end only about 350 were made.
     After that Ilford aimed at the general and snapshot market with a string of low priced cameras, except for the Advocate but that again was quite short lived.

IN THE early to mid 1950s Agfa and Kodak provided a spur. Agfa brought out its Silette range, and Kodak countered with the solid-bodied Retinette, both aimed at the middle-market amateur who had learned a bit about stops and shutter speeds, and wanted a 35mm camera but by no stretch of the imagination could afford a Leica or Contax. Even a Retina was a bit beyond his pocket.
     Ilford got rather peed-off with this German invasion of the UK middle market

The original Sportsman had nice compact lines  and carried on with just minor cosmetic changes  for a  couple of years.

so, on the basis that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, they sent a couple of Essex lads over to Germany to have a look round and do some negotiating. After about a year they found a fairly small but quite highly regarded camera factory in Reutlingen run by a Herr Dangelmaier. He had a new solid-bodied 35mm camera just about ready for launch under the name Dacora Digna. The lads from Essex looked at it, liked it, and phoned back home for the OK to ask Herr D to badge 1000 of them as the Ilford Sportsman.
     In 1957 it was launched on the UK market and, somewhat to Ilford’s surprise, sold out in no time flat. They ordered another 10,000, and they sold out. So they asked Herr D if he could supply 40,000 a year. Herr D took on more staff and obliged. He even sent some of his technicians over to Ilford’s factory in Essex to make sure quality was maintained by checking every camera as it came from the packing cases and before it went out to the dealers. The Sportsman took off, much to the discomfort of Agfa and Kodak who must have thought they had this sector of the UK market sewn up between them. Each time a new model of the Digna appeared it was also badged as an Ilford Sportsman, and at one time Ilford claimed over 50 per cent of the UK 35mm camera market.
     In my opinion Sportsmen are under-rated by many collectors, probably because Ilford is thought of as a film maker who also sold snapshotcameras. Also, many of them that turn up are basic models with Vario three-speed shutters giving 1/25, 1/50 and 1/100 sec. Like the basic Silette they were aimed at the amateur who wanted something just a bit above a basic snapshot camera. But they were well built, compact and quite sturdy cameras with good rigid diecast bodies and were very popular. The range ran for about 10 years
      The quality and accurate maching of the camera body obviously made it suitable for a better shutter with a wider range of speeds, and later came built-in meters and coupled rangefinders,

Later models 'grew up' with all enveloping top plates and a recessed lever wind in preparation for a rangefinder. This is a brightline model identified by a diamond shaped small window. On rangefinder models the window was larger and rectangular.

to suit the more ‘serious’ amateur. Lenses on the more basic models were f/3.5 Dignars, possibly made by Rodenstock from whom Dacora bought quite a few lenses, but I can’t say for certain. Later came models with the f/2.8 Dignar, probably because almost everyone else was offering a 2.8 lens at that time and, in the minds of many amateurs, a larger aperture automatically meant ‘better’ even if they never used the full aperture.
     Examples of them, even the up-range ones with Prontor SVS shutters, or with meters or rangefinders can be picked up quite cheaply at camera fairs, there so many of them about. Apart from a clean of the leaf shutters, which most cameras from this era need by now, you’re unlikely to find much going wrong with them. If they do go wrong it’s better and cheaper to get another one than have them repaired unless, of course you like tinkering, in which case see My Repairs page. They’re ideal cameras for tinkering because, if you do muck them up you just pick up another one.
     I’ve got several and, when I got them, the shutters were very much on the slow side, but the Vario is a very simple shutter to clean and lube, and even the ‘top’ shutter, the Prontor SVS isn’t all that difficult to tackle. Half an hour to an hour’s work on each of mine had them responding sweetly.
     In the early 1960s they were supplemented by the Sportsmaster models with square push buttons down the outside of the front to select various functions, including fully automatic aperture priority exposure, but I haven’t got any of those.
     The Dignar is a coated triplet, and though I haven’t put a film through any of the f/2.8 versions, I’ve got little to complain about the f/3.5 example. Whoever made it, the results are quite crisp and sharp.
     Examples can be picked up quite cheaply at camera fairs. On Ebay they often fail to get a bid. Apart from a clean of the leaf shutters, which most cameras from this era need by now, you’re unlikely to find much needs doing to them.
     If you want the complete rundown on all the Sportsman models have a look at Maurice Fisher’s definitive website at http://website.lineone.net/~mauricefisher/index.html
     Oh, by the way, don’t confuse the Ilford Sportsman with the Ilford Sporti, also from Dacora, a very cheap and cheerful (I almost said cheap and nasty) tin-can, later plastic, affair for 127 film. Very downmarket. I might possibly be doing it an injustice, but I don’t think so. I picked one up from a market stall to look at it, couldn’t find anything to commend it and decided: no, not even at 50p.