[This guest review is written by Michelle Gienow, a Baltimore photo journalist of much renown, though she doesn't want me to say that. She calls this review her Al Gore imitation.]
The Ansco Shur Shot is a nifty little camera: the most basic of box cameras, with a very rudimentary lens that is actually behind the shutter. (You can watch the shutter trip from outside the camera, but you have to open it up if you want to see the lens!). It takes 120 film using a large, unwieldy roll film holder that must be carefully inserted into and extracted from the camera without dislodging the film. It's also tricky to make sure the take-up film spool connects with the external knob but the camera is otherwise simple to use. There are two viewfinders for composing either horizontal or vertical shots, and a simple lever to trip the shutter. Shutter speed seems to be about 1/60th of a second at about f8 or f11. There's a little red window on the back for viewing the picture number; it takes 8 approximately 6x9 cm shots.
The camera gives no clue as to its age, the only markings being the words "Ansco Shur Shot, Made in USA, Binghamton, New York" on its attractively pinstriped metal front. The rest of the body is made of wood and cardboard, covered in stippled black leather. Amazingly enough, considering its age and the fact that it came out of a garbage dump, the camera is light tight and produced relatively in-focus images. [Is anyone else wondering what Michelle was doing in a garbage dump?-MM] Not much close range capability, though, as seen by my arty but failed attempt to include a large iris flower in the foreground of the second image. I've been considering turning this camera into a pinhole box, but find I like it too much to yank out its funky lens/shutter arrangement.