Japan Archives - Camera Collector Pages

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 Comments: 0

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: 0

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: 0

September 13, 2020

Nikon EM

Nikon EM To build a new tech product it takes several factors. First, to define a need or use, thereafter technical capabilities, then cost constraints and design limitation. Need or use are defined by how the maker sees the market today and in the future. Technical capabilities are both external – what current technology is available and internal – what...

Japan/Nikon/SLR Comments: 0

September 3, 2020

Taron Chic

Taron Chic At the heels of the WZFO Alfa comes another odd, vertical camera, the Taron Chic. At the heels is not entirely correct as it refers to the order it is being presented on this site, where the Taron Chic was introduced a year earlier than the WZFO Alfa. The difference is that the Chic is a nicely balanced...

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

June 19, 2020

Yashica 35

Yashica 35 Online research is much like panning for gold. There is information like sand, but only a few and far between nuggets of any value. Moreover, most of the useful information is copied over and over, just to create a critical mass for the search engine to bite. About five years ago I looked for information about Linhof. Texts...