Corfield Periflex1953

History

K.G. Corfield Ltd was founded by Kenneth Corfield and operated in Wolverhampton from the early 1950s. The Periflex was the firm's primary camera product, designed to offer through-the-lens focusing capability to photographers using Leica-thread lenses at a price below that of the Leica itself and without the mechanical complexity of a mirror-box SLR.

The Periflex 1 appeared in 1953 and was followed by the Periflex 2 with minor improvements, and then the Periflex 3 (1957), which introduced a more refined periscope mechanism and an optional exposure meter. A "Gold Star" variant offered further specification. Corfield also produced its own range of lenses in M39 mount — the Corfield Lumar lenses — designed to work with the Periflex, though the camera accepted any LTM lens.

Production continued into the early 1960s. Corfield later shifted focus toward other photographic products and eventually ceased camera production. The total production run across all Periflex variants is estimated in the low tens of thousands.

Why It Matters

The Periflex is significant as a creative engineering response to a genuine problem: how to provide through-the-lens focusing for a Leica-compatible camera without a mirror and pentaprism. The periscope solution is entirely original and demonstrates the inventive pragmatism of small British camera manufacturers in the 1950s working outside the dominant German and Japanese frameworks.

It also matters as an M39-compatible body. Any LTM lens — including Leitz, Canon, Nikon (pre-F), Voigtländer, and numerous others — can be used on the Periflex. For collectors building LTM lens sets, the Periflex offers a focusing verification tool that a pure rangefinder body cannot: because the periscope displays the actual optical image, there is no rangefinder calibration to worry about. A lens that focuses correctly on the Periflex ground glass is at focus, full stop.

As a curiosity of camera engineering history, the Periflex has no close rivals. No other manufacturer adopted the periscope focusing approach for a production 35mm camera.

Lenses & Accessories

The Periflex uses standard M39 LTM mount at the Leica flange distance (28.8mm), accepting the full range of Leica-thread lenses. Native Corfield Lumar lenses were produced in 45mm and other focal lengths; these are uncommon and of modest optical quality. The LTM ecosystem provides access to Leitz Summitar, Summicron, and Elmar lenses; Canon rangefinder lenses; Nikon Nikkor-S and Nikkor-H lenses (via the LTM versions produced in the 1950s); and Voigtländer Color-Skopar lenses in LTM. The periscope focuser is particularly useful with lenses that are not coupled to a rangefinder, since focus is confirmed directly on the ground glass.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used by British amateur and semi-professional photographers in the mid-to-late 1950s as a cost-effective way to access the LTM lens ecosystem with through-the-lens focusing confirmation.
• Held in museum collections and private camera collections as an example of postwar British camera engineering ingenuity.
• Occasionally used today by LTM lens collectors as a focusing confirmation tool for lenses with uncertain rangefinder calibration.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Periflex
• Wikipedia: Corfield