The Ami 66 is a toy viewfinder

Viewfinder

In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and in many cases to focus, the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main optical system. Viewfinders are used in many cameras of...

 camera made of plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

 during communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 era by the Polish firm Warszawskie Zakłady Fotooptyczne (Warsaw Photo-optical Works or WZFO). Simple and popular in the People's Republic of Poland

People's Republic of Poland

The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...

, examples of the Ami were nevertheless hard to get since their production was limited in the economy controlled by the government.

The Ami 66 came into existence when the earlier, slightly more complex model the Ami 2 was discontinued around 1970. (The Ami 2 replaced the Ami, which replaced an earlier camera produced by WZFO called Druh in 1962.) The body of the Ami 66 was redesigned, but most importantly, the shutter was simplified further. The Ami 66 has become a rare find nowadays, attracting numerous collectors.

The body of the camera was made from “styropol” or high impact polystyrene

Polystyrene

Polystyrene ) also known as Thermocole, abbreviated following ISO Standard PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...

, substantially reducing its weight and improving its aesthetics. A funky pop-art design with white dots around the lens (which resembled photocells) was meant to attract attention. A logo in its lower right corner printed on flame-red background depicted a dog (which some say, looked like a horse).

The camera has a B (bulb) option that allowed for keeping the exposure open indefinitely (a dark environment or indoors).

Ami 66 was accompanied by an all-leather case designed for this camera with production dates marked inside the snout of the case and inside the strap; a slightly tight fit. The convex back of the camera indicates that it was made for a camera without a film plane.

Ami 66 only takes 6×6 cm exposures on 120 film. It has a 75/8 simple, fixed-focus meniscus lens, and a choice between 1/50 sec (with flash synchronization) and B (Bulb). The aperture is f/8 for cloudy and f/16 for sunny.

Ami does not have any particular meaning in Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

, but French was a widely known language in Poland at the time and it is thus possible that the name refers to the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

word ami ("friend").

Technical data

Version Ami

• Film: 120
• Lens: meniscus lens 1:8/75mm, achromatic
• Aperture: f/8 (cloudy) and f/16 (sunny)
• Shutter: sector shutter ca. 1/50 only
• Focus: fixed
• Flash: mountable, synchronized for flash bulbs only
• Body: high-impact polystyrene

Version Ami 2

• Film: 6×6cm
• Lens: meniscus lens 1:8/75mm, achromatic
• Shutter: central at 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and B
• Focus: adjustable from 2.5 meters to hyper focal infinity
• Flash: mountable, synchronized for flash bulbs and electronic flashes
• Body: high-impact polystyrene