A rare and intriguing 'dial recording camera' built for use by the British Admiralty in the 1940s/50s. It was used for close up work, specifically recording the instrumentation dials of naval vessels such as battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers and the like. The instrument is fitted with an 80mm Agilux Anastigmat f4.5 lens, which was built in-house by Aeronautical & General Instruments (AGI) of Croydon. The company, which was established in 1915, began as a maker of radio communication equipment, but by World War 2 had begun specialising in military equipment, notably cameras for surveillance and high-altitude reconnaissance. This particular instrument - which comes with a 1950 press advertisement for a supplier of military surplus from which it was most likely sourced - is a Mark V Dial Camera, Pattern Number AP5938. It was intended for use with 120 roll film, and focussed down to 1¾" or thereabouts. Shutter deployment was by means of the plunger to the side of the body, or by electric solenoid where access was impeded. For similar reasons, the film advance knob could also be bypassed by pulling on the draw cord provided. There are dual focusing controls to each side of the camera body and the separate viewfinder can be adjusted for parallax. The camera comes complete with its original bayonet bracket, ground glass focussing screen and a couple of other attachments, housed within original fitted transit case with military markings. Height: 27cm (includes bracket) 14cm wide, heavily engineered with a weight of around 4.6kg (10lbs), excluding the transit case.

Condition: Cosmetically very good with only light wear to the original crackled black paint finish. All original makers plates are present. The condition of the optics are hard to assess but would appear to be clear, free from chips, cracks, haze or fungus - having only some light cleaning marks to the front lens. The focussing is operational, as is the iris, and the shutter release works but requires manually resetting, possibly with a defective spring. The original transit case is structurally sound but has paint losses, scruffs, scratches etc. consistent with and use.