Dawe was an electronics company based in West London. After the war, they produced and promoted electronic flash equipment and produced two cameras, the Universal Press and the Nelrod Liteflash. The company was founded in 1945 by Frank Walter Dawe.

The Nelrod is a very strange camera manufactured by G.H. Williamson Photographic Appliances Ltd of Wheatley near Oxford¹. The camera was marketed by Dawe Instruments as a way of promoting their electronic flash products. It was said to have been designed by a press photographer and was sometimes styled 'The Electronic Press camera'.

Three versions of the camera were made, designated A, B and C.

In the base of the camera is a battery compartment that, on the original model, held two 9-volt 5-amp batteries, by the time of the model C these were replaced by 5 smaller batteries. The batteries fire flashbulbs and tubes connected directly to the camera, fire the front shutter (model C), illuminate the range-finder (model A) and illuminate the focusing scale. The scale itself is made of Perspex.

Its main feature is the ability to plug flash tubes and bulbs directly to the camera which included the necessary circuitry and synchronisation. Electronic flash units of 100 and 200 Joules were sold alongside the camera, the 200 Joules model was powered by a separate power pack.

On the top of the camera is a four-pin valve socket to connect the flash units. The valve socket is protected by a removable cover that screws to the top or side of the camera when not in use. The main source of information on the camera is the review in the 1950 British Journal of Photography Almanac, there, it is stated that flash bulbs connect directly to the camera and are synchronised 'by a solenoid inside the shutter case'. There is also a two-pin flash connection on the side of the camera presumably to accept non-Dawe devices or extension appliances.

On the front standard of the model C there is a solenoid to fire the leaf shutter, an insulated wire runs from the back of the shutter to the inside of the camera, presumably part of the circuit indicating that the blades are fully open. A release button on the camera body would fire either the focal plane or front shutter depending on the position of a switch.

In the first version of the camera, the operation of the rangefinder could be reversed, light shone into the rangefinder would emerge as two beams, their coincidence was controlled by the focusing wheel. A similar device was manufactured by Kalart as the Focuspot.

Other lenses were available for the model C including telephoto up to 24" focal length.

The camera is extremely heavy and at £155 expensive. The appeal of the camera must have been very limited, press photographers were used to operating their cameras with the flash equipment then available synchronised either by an external synchroniser or with a small modification to the camera. Electronic flash was developing quite rapidly at the time, there must have been the thought that the Nelrod would be out-of-date in a short time. Internal synchronisation of shutters was also becoming normal. What were the benefits of the Nelrod? Presumably, not many as the camera sold in only small numbers, the highest serial number known is the 150s.

Model A

The front shutter must have been operated by the normal Compur shutter release as there is no mechanical linkage between the body release and the shutter. There are electrical connections at the back of the shutter. The flash shown is the smaller 100 Joules model.

The cross hairs on the finder have been added possibly when the back was changed to take single slides.

The camera was sold second-hand for £80 in 1953.