Cameras - Page 15 of 34 - Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

January 24, 2024

Taisei Koki Welmy 35

Taisei Koki Welmy 35 Preamble One language is understood worldwide, with no need for translation over cultures or borders. This is the decimal number system. The characters will be differently pronounced but will always carry the same value. To compliment that, keeping spelling within the Latin-based languages is straightforward; keep it as it is and pronounce it as you wish,...

35 mm/Japan/Taisei Koki/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 18, 2024

Shinano Pigeon J II

Shinano Pigeon J II Three Pigeon models were the last offered by Shinano: Pigeon J II, a viewfinder, which I deal with here. Pigeon 35 IIIc, a viewfinder, mentioned in McKeown, Kadlubek and Sugiyama, shows the same image as the Pigeon III. No further information is available; I have seen none for sale for the past decade or so. A...

35 mm/Japan/Shinano/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 16, 2024

Shinano Pigeon 35 IIa

Shinano Pigeon 35 IIa At the heels of the first Pigeon camera, came a flight of siblings. Most followed the leader as viewfinders, with a few nonconformists, a TLR and an elusive rangefinder. Some changed their names to Lacon, but all carried the same DNA, as evidenced by their looks. Shinano made cameras for a very short time, between the...

35 mm/Japan/Shinano/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 15, 2024

Shinano Pigeon

Shinano Pigeon camera Shinano began making cameras in Japan in 1951, with the wave of camera makers coming out of nowhere to cater to the GI contingent stationed in Japan. Most camera manufacturers of that era are just a historical footnote, with only a handful of brands that have survived. A detailed history of Shinano is described on Yashica TLR...

35 mm/Japan/Shinano/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 8, 2024

Shinano Lacon C

Shinano Lacon C Camera Shinano!!!! I was looking online for Shinano when information poured down at a rate I did not expect for a seventy-year-old, likely defunct, camera factory. It took a while to realize that the elves in Google corrected my search term to Shimano, the bicycle and fishing parts maker, which oddly also has a camera. Back to...

35 mm/Japan/Obscure/Shinano/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 7, 2024

Shinsei Monte 35

Shinsei Monte 35 The Monte 35 was made by Shinsei Optical, one of many Japanese post-ear camera makers of whom there is hardly any information. On the camera body, the name is marked as Monte35 or Monte-35. Per McKeown, there are two models, one with the trigger on the lens barrel and the other with the trigger on top. I...

35 mm/Japan/Obscure/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 6, 2024

Meopta Opema

Meopta Opema Camera In the 1950s, Meopta had no 35mm camera to offer, while the format’s popularity grew like a fire in the hay. The Etareta, a solid and able camera, was adopted by Meopta from Eta to plug the hole. But, the Etareta still subscribed to the classic fixed lens, leaf shutter class. Meopta had higher aspirations, so at...

35 mm/Czechoslovakia/Meopta/Viewfinder Comments: 2

January 5, 2024

Meopta Etareta

Meopta Etareta Camera The Etrareta is a lovely little 35mm viewfinder camera, a sterling example of old-world workmanship, an era when cameras were made to last, not to be ‘upgraded’ and replaced every 24 months or so. A very well built, meticulously finished, sure not typical to the mass-produced East Block products of the 1950s. Made in the now-defunct Czechoslovakia,...

35 mm/Czechoslovakia/Meopta/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 2, 2024

Meopta camera list

Meopta camera list Preamble In London of 1807, Andrew Pears, a chemist, compounded an all-natural, translucent soap. All-natural soap at the time was not a big deal; neither was being translucent. Yet, the Pears soap gained fame by being the first cosmetic sold via a marketing campaign promoted by street signs, newspaper ads and celebrity endorsements. The brand still exists...

Czechoslovakia/Meopta Comments: 0

December 29, 2023

Royal Camera Royal 35

Royal Camera Royal 35 Here is another camera maker that was established in Japan in the post-war years, mainly to cater to the spending habits of the 450,000 GI posted there. There is little information about it, just enough to see its name as a supplier to numerous camera distributors with a precious few models sold under its own name....

Germany/Japan/Rangefinder/Royal Camera/Wirgin Comments: 0