35 mm Archives - Page 10 of 26 - Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

April 14, 2024

Yamato TAC Deluxe

Yamato TAC Deluxe After the 1955 launch of the Pax Ruby / Konair Ruby twins and their sisters, Yamato Added a fresh lot. The newcomers were named TAC Deluxe, Atlas Deluxe, Pax M4, Pal M4, and Rex M4. All are the same except for the nameplates and perhaps lens markings. Yamato built the rebranding option in the design, where the...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Yamato Comments: 2

April 14, 2024

Yamato Pax Ruby

Yamato Pax Ruby / Konair Ruby Three years after the successful 1952 launch of the Pax triplets, Yamato took a step back from coping Leica and introduced a set of down-to-earth-looking rangefinder models. Two of the newly born are identical twins, the Conair Rubi and the Pax Rubi. The other four are dissimilar with a different style top cover: the...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Yamato Comments: 0

April 12, 2024

Yamato Pax

Yamato Pax The Pax, also named Pax I and Pax 35, is the first 35mm camera made by Yamato Koki Kogyo. Earlier models seemed to have been borrowed from other manufacturers and were in Bolta format. There were two additional identical models, the gold-plated Pax Golden View and the Super Dan 35. Yamato used the Pax for several other models,...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Yamato Comments: 0

April 8, 2024

Yamato model list

Yamato model list I go through my camera shelves, trying to keep an order of what I pick, looking at the simple to review one-off models. I am at the post-war viewfinder/rangefinder models, so I picked up a shy camera from the corner, a Tower. But instead of finishing a page quickly and easily, I got more than I bid...

35 mm/Bolta/Japan/Rangefinder/Viewfinder/Yamato Comments: 0

April 8, 2024

Fujica GER

Fujica GER Today, Fuji is among the top digital camera makers. It was not always like that. Like Kia Motors, it had climbed uphill from the backwaters to the front line in terms of quality and reputation. In the second half of the last century, Fuji offered a mix of low-end point-and-shoots, under-estimated SLRs, professional cameras, and an endless line...

35 mm/Fuji/Japan/Rangefinder Comment: 1

April 4, 2024

Futura Standard

Futura Standard I look at cameras daily; most are similar, different only on the margin. Now and then, a camera stands out, which is the case here. The outstanding cameras have a common denomination: a modest manufacturer of a few models with different take on technology and features. Offering an uncommon feature to a mass-market item is a tall order,...

35 mm/Germany/Rangefinder Comment: 1

March 29, 2024

Iloca Rapid

Iloca Rapid / Iloca Quick Iloca was a short-lived camera maker, lasting for about a decade in the 1950s. It was established in Hamburg, a city known for its heavy industry and peppered with several very early camera makers. The company was founded as a machine shop by Walter Illing, who lent it his name styled as Ilca, short for...

35 mm/Germany/Iloca/Rangefinder/Viewfinder Comment: 1

March 20, 2024

Carl Braun Paxette

Carl Braun Paxette The Carl Braun Paxette seems to have been a popular camera, judging by the number of available cameras on eBay and the abundance of online articles about it. All began with a Pax, a 1950 box model wishing peace upon a troubled post-war world. The closely named Paxina followed in the same year as a no-frills 120-format...

35 mm/Carl Braun/Germany/Rangefinder/Viewfinder Comments: 0

March 19, 2024

Balda Baldina

Balda Baldina Balda carried over the Baldina name from a 1935 klapp model, but this model has nothing to do with the original. The Baldina came in three flavours: Baldina, a viewfinder, mock rangefinder Baldina B, a viewfinder with an integral meter Super Baldina, a rangefinder. The viewfinder and the rangefinder look the same and share the exact top, but...

35 mm/Balda/Germany/Viewfinder Comments: 0

March 18, 2024

Balda Baldessa

Balda Baldessa For the past half-century, I have written about cameras and camera makers. The evolution of two distinct groups, the post-war Japanese and the prewar German, follows a clear pattern. Manufacturers within both groups follow a pattern as if fate was preset for them. Balda, a camera maker who has been active for about fifty years in the middle...

35 mm/Balda/Germany/Rangefinder Comments: 2

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