C41
Kodak Gold 200
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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half-frame
The Tessina is a subminiature camera designed and manufactured by Concava SA in Lugano, Switzerland, introduced in 1957. It uses standard 35mm film but advances it in a proprietary drop-in cartridge yielding 14x21mm frames - smaller than the standard half-frame format, fitting more than 60 frames on a standard 35mm cassette when loaded via a Tessina daylight-loading cassette. Its most distinctive feature is a spring-wound motor drive that advances film automatically after each exposure, and a twin-lens periscope design that allows the photographer to hold the camera at waist or wrist level and compose through a small reflex finder on the top face. A matching wristwatch strap and wrist holder were available, giving the Tessina a genuine "spy camera" identity that was not purely marketing. Production continued in small numbers for several decades, with various models and color variants issued.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the half-frame-35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Develop half-frame-35mm film
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Before you buy used
About this camera
Swiss sub-miniature that runs on a spring motor and hides in a wristwatch case.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 14x21mm on 35mm film (proprietary cartridge) |
| Mount | Fixed |
| Years | 1957 - ~1996 |
| Lens | ~Tessinon 25mm f/2.8 |
| Shutter | ~1/2s - 1/500s, leaf |
| Flash sync | ~ |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | ~115 g |
| Motor | Spring-wound auto-advance |
| Battery | None |
Concava introduced the Tessina at a moment when the European subminiature market was dominated by Minox from West Germany. Where Minox used a proprietary 9.5mm film format, Concava chose standard 35mm stock loaded into a small proprietary cartridge, giving users a path to commercial film even as they sacrificed some frame size. The spring motor was both a practical feature - allowing rapid sequential exposures without taking the camera away from eye or wrist - and a selling point that distinguished the Tessina from the manually advanced Minox.
The camera was offered in several color variants including chrome, black, and gold, and could be accessorized with a wristwatch mounting strap, a prism finder for eye-level use, and an exposure meter that clipped to the body. The Tessina L, a later variant, added a CdS light meter. Production at Concava was artisanal in scale, and the camera remained in the catalog at low volumes for an unusually long time relative to the subminiature market's general collapse in the 1970s.
The Tessina occupies a narrow category: genuinely Swiss-made precision instruments in a market dominated by Japanese and German manufacturers. Its build quality is consistently described by collectors as exceptional, with close tolerances and a feel that justifies its position above most Japanese subminiatures. The wristwatch mounting accessory gave the camera a cultural resonance as a literal spy gadget that manufacturers like Minolta and Steky could not match with comparably sized products. The twin-lens periscope layout, allowing truly concealed shooting at waist level, made the Tessina useful in documentary contexts where a raised camera would change subject behavior.
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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