USA Archives - Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

April 18, 2024

Yamato Atlas 35

Yamato Atlas 35 / Sears Tower 55 After the PAX I, The Pax Ruby, and the Pax M 4 groups, the fourth generation of Yamato-own cameras is headed by the Yamato Atlas 35. I chose this model as the leader, as the other two do not carry the Yamato name and were made for different distributors. This group comprises the...

35 mm/Japan/Sears/USA/Viewfinder/Yamato Comments: 0

March 5, 2024

United States Camera USC 35

United States Camera USC 35 In the early last century, there were two photographic centres in the US. One was Rochester, NY, headquarters of Kodak and its predecessors, and the other was Chicago, IL, where a slew of small companies entered the up-and-coming industry. The very early ones were Burke and James in 1897, DeVry in 1913, and projector makers ...

35 mm/Germany/King Regula/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 31, 2024

Soligor 45

Soligor 45 Soligor was the brand name of products sold by Allied Import-Export, also named Allied Impex, or AiC, distributing photography hardware in the US. They had branch offices at most major centers at the height of their activity. The name Soligor is said to be based on the Japanese nickname of a lens series, Solid Gold, shortened to Soligor....

35 mm/Japan/Nihon Seiki/Soligor/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 28, 2024

Taisei Super Westomat 35

Taisei Super Westomat 35 There are two models under this name. The earlier is a three-windows version, viewfinder/rangefinder combination. The second has two windows, a rangefinder only, commonly called Super Westomat 35 II. It was sold as Welmy 35 M-3 and Super Welmy The naming convention echos the Welmy 35, also sold as Westomat 35. Taisei kept recycling model names,...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Taisei Koki/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 27, 2024

Kalimar Kolt 44

Kalimar Colt 44 / Hoei Anny 44 Paying tribute to the Kalimar brand, I pulled two identical cameras off the shelf, the Kalimar 44 and the Anny 44. Both are the same, just different name tags. Kalimar also sold the same camera under Kalimar 44. The 44 mark was popular with other camera models, relating to the frame size of...

127/Japan/Kalimar/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

January 24, 2024

Kalimar A

Kalimar A Kalimar was a photographic equipment distributor in the US, selling cameras and related paraphernalia. It was established in 1938 by MOT brothers Bob and Abe Lipshitz. Whatever value the brand had was taken over by Tiffen in 1999, just in time before the digital trend took over. The name appeared on many pieces of equipment; not much seemed...

35 mm/Japan/Kalimar/Taisei Koki/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

December 27, 2023

Brumberger 1651

Brumberger 1651 Camera Camera distributors do not attain much respect in history pages, be it in printed matter or online. If at all, they enjoy a brief mention on the fly. In a way, they deserve more appreciation for bringing photography to the masses, so much so in the transitional 1950s. Flourished in the post-war years, such distributors existed in...

35 mm/Japan/Rangefinder/Royal Camera/USA Comments: 0

September 24, 2023

GAF L-CM

GAF L-CM In the beginning, there was Edward Anthony, who was a pioneer in photography equipment in the US in the later part of the 1800s. The company became E. & H. T. Anthony & Company when his brother joined the venture. In 1902, they merged with Scovill and Adams, a company formed just a decade ago. The new entity...

35 mm/GAF/SLR/USA Comments: 0

April 13, 2022

Kodak Retina I – 013

Kodak Retina I – 013 Kodak Retina I – 013 current value| Korak Retina family page The Retina I 013 was the last designated at this name, but not the last in Kodak tradition of using the same name for different camera models. At the same time, it is the first of three similar-looking models, followed by the 1a and...

35 mm/Klapp/Kodak/USA Comments: 0

April 11, 2022

Kodak Retina Ia – 015

Kodak Retina Ia – 015 Kodak Retina Ia – 015 user manual Kodak Retina Ia – 015 current value Retina family page Made for the European market, the 015 is uncommon in the used market in Canada and the US. Other European models were manufactured in France, while this came out of Stuttgart. Similar overall appearance to the earlier 013,...

35 mm/Kodak/USA Comments: 0

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