Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki Leica

[eawriter]

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I visited the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway earlier this month and came across this exhibit. I'm not an expert on historic Leicas, so I thought I'd post this and ask if you can identify it. As the caption says, this is the actual camera Heyerdahl used to document his 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian Islands.

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[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello eawriter,

The English WIKI at the top of this page writes that the red dial IIIf #668165 in the photo above was made in 1953 in a batch of 18,000 cameras.

Nice camera.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited September 16, 2024 by Michael Geschlecht

[alan mcfall]

Camera serial Number is from 1953. His Polynesian expedition was in 1947, with a book in 1948.  So, doubt if this is the camera for that one. Most articles say a 16mm movie camers was used there. Maybe this camera was used in his 1955 expedition to Easter Island.

[eawriter]

1 hour ago, alan mcfall said:

Camera serial Number is from 1953. His Polynesian expedition was in 1947, with a book in 1948.  So, doubt if this is the camera for that one. Most articles say a 16mm movie camers was used there. Maybe this camera was used in his 1955 expedition to Easter Island.

Good research. I don't remember in what section of the museum I came across this camera, so it might have been in the section on his trip to Easter Island. Thanks for the info. 

[romanus53]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robot_camera_Erik_Hellesberg_KonTiki_IMG_8099.JPG

[Anbaric]

8 hours ago, eawriter said:

Good research. I don't remember in what section of the museum I came across this camera, so it might have been in the section on his trip to Easter Island. Thanks for the info. 

I see this camera described as the Kon-Tiki Leica on multiple sites, so perhaps the way it's presented in the museum is misleading. Maybe Heyerdahl really did use an earlier Leica on that expedition and upgraded to this one later? Either way, the curators may be unaware that he could not have had a IIIf and Summicron in 1947. Anyone who visits the museum in future might want to check how it is displayed and have a word with the staff if necessary!

Edited September 16, 2024 by Anbaric

[jimofnyc]

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The Robot looks more like a camera that has been subjected to thousands of kilometers of salt spray.  The IIIf looks too pristine..

[Anbaric]

According to Erik Hesselberg's Wikipedia entry and a different shot of the museum display of the Robot camera from 2014, he was a photographer and artist and 'half the photographs from the expedition' were taken with his (Robot) camera. Is that model 24x24 or 24x36?

 

[luigi bertolotti]

The Viewfinder looks square,... a 24x24 I'd say

 

[wizard]

vor 31 Minuten schrieb luigi bertolotti:

The Viewfinder looks square,... a 24x24 I'd say

I agree. Most Robot cameras were 24x24 anyway, with the Robot Royal 36 being the notable exception.

[Anbaric]

I'd wondered if there might be a collection of photos taken on the voyage where it might be possible to guess which camera was used from the aspect ratio (though of course photos can always be cropped!). Searching for this, I found a dissertation on Heyerdahl  that includes some high quality shots he or his wife took on an earlier expedition/romantic adventure to Fatu Hiva in 1937. Several are 3:2 or close to it. 35mm full frame would probably have been the commonest format with this aspect ratio at the time. Perhaps Heyerdahl had been a Leica user for several years, using an earlier model he might also have taken on the Kon-Tiki.