M.P.P., or Micro Precision Products, was a British manufacturer of optical accessories that dabbled in several related industries.

• The company was founded as early as 1941 and passed away in 1982, rest in peace (it had a slightly changed name since 1976).
• As well as large format monorail, field and press cameras not dissimilar to the American Graflex (read previous article!), the company also developed successful medium format cameras, namely the double-eyed Microcords, Microflex etc (the only post-war company in Britain to produce medium format TLRs!). But they also flirted with enlargers, projectors and other related things.
• TLRs (twin-lens reflex cameras) were also fitted with top-quality optics, e.g. from Ross or Taylor, Taylor & Hobson. Yum yum!

However, we won't torture the kind reader with the details of the portfolio from this British photographic national treasure and we'll jump to the protagonist of today's article. The Micro Technical Camera is the name of this box, here specifically in the (mark/mk.) VI subtype that saw the light of day in 1952.

• There were six types, marked I (1948) - VIII (1963). Versions IV and V were not produced and so these numbers were skipped for some undoubtedly sophisticated reason.

These were almost certainly the most advanced machines of this type ever produced in the British Isles, boasting, moreover, very good workmanship. Each successive version was an evolution of the previous one, and all had common denominators: light weight, small size and versatility.

Where the mk. dominated, however, were the uncompromising movement options for a folding camera. Apart from the obligatory ones on the front standard, the base could be negatively tilted or the rear section with the bellows additionally extended. This de facto allowed movements even on the rear side or to extend the bellows lift and thus allow the use of longer focal length lenses to satisfy the tastes of portraitists or tele-photographers.

• The term "movements" means the deflection of the front and rear standards in different directions and angles. Each movement has its own name (tilt, shift, swing, slide, rise, etc.) and serves a different purpose - to correct parallax, vertical lines correction, play with depth of field, focus/defocus only parts of the image, and other nice little thingies. The possibilities are far-reaching, and mastering them will open up whole new universes of photography. The undisputed king of motion are monorail cameras, whose design allows for much more dramatic degrees of movement than field or press cameras. But even these can show off. I recommend a comprehensive and illustrative article here.