Copal CV-1 (1984)

The Copal CV-1. Shown but not demonstrated at Photokina 1984. Copal was a supplier of camera parts and not per se a camera manufacturer. The Copal CV-1 remains a mystery since they had no intentions of ever releasing a still camera under their own brand name. After 1984 Copal produced components for still video cameras as well as peripheral devices. They were one of the main suppliers of parts for the Casio VS-101.

The Copal CV-1 could allegedly playback images directly to a TV set or to a printer (how in 1984?).  Also the two bladed focal plane shutter in this camera was electrostatically driven and it featured a prototype ceramic shutter that could produce shutter speeds up to 1/10,000s. The shutter was described working like this:

"By applying a high voltage (300v) to a transparent ceramic sandwich structure, a cross polarization effect provides an opaq structure. Changing the voltage clears the aperture allowing the light to pass. Although, at the stage of development back then, transmission was low (about 20%) so it is unclear if the shutter ever went into production"