Japan Archives - Camera Collector Pages

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 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: 2

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

Category: Japan