Historical information

Displayed in History House.

The King Regula III series were a range of 35mm viewfinder and rangefinder cameras made by King between 1956-1959.

The Regula III series models all have a similar look and have a characteristic front plate. This is a flat rectangular Eloxal (ELectrolytic OXidation of ALuminum) plate, with distinctive chrome-black-chrome stripes each side. The King logo is at the top of the left-hand stripe, and a PC flash sync connector on the bottom right stripe. The other common things across the range are the film advance/film counter lever, a "cold" accessory shoe, rewind knob, 1/4" tripod socket, textured leatherette and having the model name engraved on the front of the camera.

The film counter on all models is on the film advance lever but has a reliability issue, it relies on a tiny rod in the film advance lever, and a fixed rod on the camera body pushing against each other every time the lever is advanced; the problem is the rods are so small that they wear down with repeated use until the film counter stops working.

Physical description

Regula IIIa Camera
Regula IIIa is a basic viewfinder camera with a Prontor-SVS shutter, but no focus aids, light meter, frame lines in the viewfinder or strap lugs on the body.

367.1 - Single lens reflex camera.
367.2 - Light metre in leather case.
367.3 - Brown leather case.

Inscriptions & markings

Front: Regula-werk king KG/Bad Liebenzell/Prontor - SVS (on lens)
Regula/IIIa (on body)