Cameras - Page 8 of 35 - Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

February 26, 2025

Corfield Periflex

Corfield Periflex The story of Corfield Cameras resembles the case of Clarus in the US. Both companies began about the same time as the brainchild or obsession of an undercapitalized founder trying to punch above his weight. Both created a product without previous experience in the field, both companies were relocated from their breeding grounds, both needed external funding, which...

35 mm/Corfield/SLR/UK/Viewfinder Comments: 0

February 5, 2025

Zeiss Ikon Contina II Monoblock

Zeiss Ikon Contina II Monoblock / IIc Kodak is known for recycling model names in a confusing manner, using similar sames over different style cameras with secondary version suffixes. Kodak marked most models with particular names to keep them recognizable, so the madness had some order. Zeiss has gone the other way, using the same name over different models, marked...

35 mm/Germany/Viewfinder/Zeiss Ikon Comment: 1

February 3, 2025

Zeiss Ikon Contina IIa

Zeiss Ikon Contina IIa The Contina IIa was a step up over the Contina Ia, adding an uncoupled light meter, and was successfully positioned at the forefront of the midrange German cameras market, say against the Vito line. The 1952 Contina II, aka Mess Contina, was a capable camera, klapp rangefinder style. It was slotted a notch below the Ikonta...

35 mm/Germany/Viewfinder/Zeiss Ikon Comments: 0

February 1, 2025

Zeiss Ikon Contina Ia

Zeiss Ikon Contina Ia The Zeiss Ikon Contina Ic was the second Contina generation, introduced in 1956. The first Contina model was a klapp-style camera, which was common pre-war. The Ia was a monoblock, simplified model aimed at the up-and-coming mid-market user segment. It had all that the amateur shooter needed, on a budget. Specifications were similar to the Contina...

35 mm/Germany/Viewfinder/Zeiss Ikon Comment: 1

January 25, 2025

Debrie Sept

Debrie Sept The Sept camera came to fame by Debrie, an early cine camera maker in France. Debrie was active from the early 1900s, with late models still showing in the 1960s. The name still exists as a supplier of other photography-related products, likely in cooperation with the historical Pathe. The company offered a line of professional and amateur cine...

35 mm/France/Obscure Comments: 0

January 17, 2025

Taron VR

Taron VR Taron was a third-class camera maker that existed for a decade and a half in Japan’s post-war. Looking at the names Nikon, Minolta, and Canon as a premier class and Ricoh, Petri, and Topcon in a league behind, the likes of Taron, Neoca, and Aires are far at the list’s end. See the other Taron pages for more...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Taron Comments: 0

January 13, 2025

Taron 35 III MX

Taron 35 III MX At the heels of the classically styled Taron 35 I and II, in 1958, Taron introduced the Taron 35 III, marked as Taron MX, after which they paused till 1963 with the introduction of the meter-aided Taron Auto EE. The Taron VR is based on this model, with just slight changes. Borrowed from the above page,...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Taron Comments: 0

January 13, 2025

Taron 35

Taron 35 History has a sense of humour and good timing. In 2020, I wrote about the Taron Chic, and while looking online, I was swamped with data about a wunderkind, one Taron Egerton, who starred in the Kingsman movies. Four years later, the same Taron is now on everybody’s lips with Netflix’s Carry-On. Now, after doing the rebranded Taron...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Taron Comments: 0

January 11, 2025

Hanimex 35 Auto EE – Auto EE CdS

Hanimex 35 Auto EE / Auto EE CdS The journey at my camera shelves has taken me to unchartered lands. I found two cameras that were not in my database, which is odd. The cameras are sister models, the Hanimex 35 Auto EE and the Auto EE CdS. Hanimex of Australia was a distributor that rebranded cameras under their name,...

35 mm/Hanimex/Rangefinder/Taron Comments: 0

January 8, 2025

Neoca 35-K

Neoca 35-K Mizuho Koki Seisakusho began making klapp cameras in 1951 under the Mizuho brand. The Klapp cameras still belonged to the pre-war era, and the 35mm format became the common standard for hobbyists and professionals alike. In 1954, the company was renamed Neoca Kabushiki Kaisha, assumingly Neoca is derived from Neo (new) Camera. Under the new name, they concentrated...

35 mm/Japan/Viewfinder Comments: 0