Lomopedia: Ducati Sogno

The Ducati brand is known for its racing heritage. Any motorsports fan can easily identify their bikes by their iconic red color and a combination of thundering engine roar and high speeds but what if we tell you that the same Ducati brand also manufactured cameras back in the day? This is where the Ducati Sogno comes in.

Ducati Sogno © Izaakb via Wikimedia Commons

Made during World War II at their main factory in Bologna, Italy, the Ducati Sogno was rarer than the bikes they produced back in the day. Sogno meant "dream" in Italian and it was such a fitting name for this little rangefinder. It shoots half-frame shots using specially made 18mm by 24mm cartridges that are as rare if not more so than the camera themselves. Very few surviving units are seen in the market today if they're being sold at all. And that's a big "if."

Ducati produced high-quality bikes so it's easy to say that they poured the same dedication to detail and perfection into the Sogno. Build quality is impressive and can even be considered as a premier half-frame rangefinder (even likened to the Leica.) It features an interchangeable lens, a focal plane shutter, and a removable back. The Ducati camera line comes in eight models, all of them with interchangeable lenses.

Italians are known for their flair and affinity for the fine things in life, again the Ducati Sogno is proof of that. Serious collectors and camera fans with a penchant for camera history will surely love this ultra-rare rangefinder. Admiring it from afar or the computer screen can be enough to make anyone drool for it.

Ducati Sogno (Model 6401.1) Technical Specifications

Lens: Vitor f/3.5 35 mm
Focusing: manual telemetric
Shutter: 1/20 to 1/500, Bulb, focal plane
Film Type: special 18 mm × 24 mm 35 mm film, 15 exposures per roll
Winding Mechanism: manual film lever on the left side of the camera
Dimensions: 5.4 × 3.3 × 10 cm
Weight: 245 g

All information used in this article was sourced from Wikipedia, CameraQuest, Italian Ways, and Submin.

2018-01-16 #gear #lomopedia #rangefinder #half-frame #rare #lomopedia #ducati-sogno

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