Minicameras...micro optics at the service of the spies

Teddy Bloat's [...] packing inside his stylish kangaroohide musette bag and threaded
around the odd necessities— midget spy-camera


Tacked to the wall next to Slothrop's desk is a map of London, which Bloat is now busy
photographing with his tiny camera [...] It takes him four exposures, click zippety
click, my how very efficient at this he's become

Quotes from Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

He has access to the entire battle plan for Case Blue. We know something about it, but Moscow
needs the details.’
Frieda was making a bewildering set of assumptions, but Carla went along with it. ‘I can ask him .
. .’
‘No. You have to make him bring you the battle plan.’
‘I’m not sure that’s possible. He’s not completely stupid. Don’t you think—’
Frieda was not even listening. ‘Then you have to photograph it,’ she interrupted. She produced
from the pocket of her uniform a stainless-steel box about Infthe size of a pack of cigarettes, but longer
and narrower. ‘This is a miniature camera specially designed for photographing documents.’ Carla
noticed the name ‘Minox’ on the side. ‘You’ll get eleven pictures on one film. Here are three films.’
She brought out three cassettes, the shape of dumbbells but small enough to fit into the little camera.
‘This is how you load the film.’ Frieda demonstrated. ‘To take a picture, you look through this
window. If you’re not sure, read this manual.’

Quote from Winter of the World by Ken Follet

Miniature cameras have revolutionized the world of espionage making some missions much faster to accomplish, but equally dangerous, and the data obtained from them more reliable and accurate.

If you're interested in miniature cameras, into their evolution, their structure and their application on the espionage field go ahead and check the link below:

http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Bl-Ch/Cameras-Miniature.html


P.S. In this blog as you can see I added a quote coming from another book which plot is set more or less in the same historical period of Gravity's Rainbow.
It is Winter of the World by Ken Follet, second chapter of the Century Trilogy, preceded by Fall of Giants. They are both historical thriller ad I found them amazing and really catching. Their dimension exceed the 800 pages, but the narration is fluent, so I haven't really felt the weight, except for the physical one!

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