Japan Archives - Camera Collector Pages

September 12, 2021

Rich-Ray Richlet

An online search for a camera returns loads upon loads of entries. It is rare that only a few entries are found. Such is the case with the Richlet, made by Rich-Ray. I saw this camera while searching on Buyee, which is the online equivalent of a slot machine. The camera was odd, unlike any other I could think of. ...

Bolta/Japan/Mini camera Comments: 0

January 26, 2021

Topcon IC-1 Auto

Topcon IC-1 There are phenomena that science is yet to address. Some items regenerate themselves once you are sure that there is no more. For example, we have a robotic vacuum that roams the house like a drunken goat, till it docks into its port. After each run, the canister there is full of dust. Now, this is the time...

Japan/SLR/Topcon Comments: 0

January 21, 2021

Topcon Uni

Topcon Uni About two weeks ago I had looked into A Topcon Unirex, and reminisced about the encounters I had with the equipment made by Topcon. Little did I know, but yesterday I paid a visit to the eye doctor, to find that all the mighty optical instruments he uses are Topcon. At a USD 70,000 a pop, I don’t...

Japan/SLR/Taron Comments: 0

January 16, 2021

Yashica MG-1

Yashica MG-1 The Yashica Electro 35 camera line and its variants had gone strong for over ten years, till the novelty wore out and automatic cameras became a common feature. In 1975, Yashica introduced the two last cameras with the continues shutter and over / under exposure light alerts. The Electro 35 GX was the last full-featured Electro, and it’s...

Japan/Rangefinder/Yashica Comments: 0

January 1, 2021

Topcon Unirex

Topcon Unirex I first learned about the Topcon name in the early ’70s. Topcon and Nikon optical comparators were used in the tool shop to follow complex shapes. Nikon had been a well-known brand, Topcon not so. Fast forward twenty years, fate brought theodolites my way, Topcon again. It took another twenty years for me to realize that Topcon made...

Japan/SLR/Topcon Comments: 0

December 26, 2020

Yashica TL-Electro

Yashica TL-Electro After looking into the Yashica Electro camera line, I pulled out a Yashica TL-Electro that has been humbly sitting on the shelf for several years. The camera has al the good reasons to be humble, being one of a large group of almost indistinguishable compact SLRs that were churned out in the 70s. Before the Great War compact...

Japan/SLR/Yashica Comment: 1

December 3, 2020

Yashica Electro 35

Yashica Electro 35 Preamble I was looking for a camera among the rangefinders and realized that there are Yashica Electro cameras everywhere. Six of them. I remember where I got two of the lot, where one was the first in my collection. Till now I had not looked closely at them, and it seems that although they carry different model...

Japan/Rangefinder/Yashica Comments: 2

November 23, 2020

Walz / Lafayette Electrick

The Walz camera brand shows little at online search. It is mentioned on the fly as both a manufacturer and distributor with no hard evidence to either. From my two decades of dealing with Japanese corporations, I can vouch that they excel in record keeping, so lack of information here is odd. I incline to believe that Walz was a...

Japan/Rangefinder/Walz Comments: 0

October 30, 2020

Canon Dial 35

Preamble On a bright summer day sometime in the early 1980s, I was negotiating the narrow streets of Salzburg, Austria. Being a medieval city and spread around a hill, streets are winding to boot. As a navigation instrument, I used a large sheet of paper printed in many colours, which, for the benefit of the younger readers, was called a...

35mm half frame/Canon/Japan/Viewfinder Comments: 0

October 8, 2020

Yashica Rapide

Preamble The days are both early autumn and mid-Corona. Being of the at-risk population I stay mostly at home. As the weather changes it is the time to switch from summer shorts to track pants which are my winter at-home staple. However, my girth has shrunk from extra-large to a mere large, so all pants sort of don’t stay put....

Japan/Viewfinder/Yashica Comments: 2

Category: Japan