OTS Zeisig I

Very small (36 x 16 x 21mm) clandestine camera for Minox film (darkroom loading using special spools), negative format 8x11mm, lens Carl Zeiss Tessar 2.8/16mm (unengraved), fixed focus. The camera body was milled from solid aluminium and is black anodized, the other parts are chrome plated brass. Self-cocking lamellar shutter. The film is transported by turning a dial by 180°. The make of the Zeisig prototype is simple, but it is definitely high precision and easily usable. Built by the OTS (the workshop for design and manufacture of spy devices of the East German secret service) for the HVA (the East German foreign secret service) in the 1960s. The very rare device was not produced in series.