Spiratone

Spiratone was a company specializing in low-cost lenses and filters for cameras, lighting, and darkroom equipment.

The company was started by Fred Spira in 1941 in the bathroom of his parents' apartment where he developed film.

In 1946, it relocated to a large loft on West 27th Street in Manhattan and then grew to a successful multimillion-dollar company.

Spiratone was an innovator in the industry, being one of the first companies to import Japanese photo equipment to the United States.

According to Herbert Keppler, tests of Spiratone lenses "often proved them equal to or superior to that of famous manufacturers' own products.