Viewfinder – Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

June 26, 2025

Minolta Hi-Matic family list

Minolta Hi-Matic family list The Hi-Matic models were a line of entry-level cameras aimed at the growing market of casual photographers, offered from the 1960s to the late 1980s. The cameras were positioned against similar camera class such as the Yashica Electro, Cosina Hi-lite, Canon Canonet, Konica C line, and Olympus 35 series. As with other camera makers, the Hi-Matic...

35 mm/Japan/Minolta/Rangefinder/Viewfinder Comments: 0

June 22, 2025

Yashica EZ Matic

Yashica EZ Matic In 1963 Kodak introduced the simplest camera possible, eliminated the agony of loading a #135 cartridge, and, on the way, also eliminated all other settings. Camera use was dead simple: open the back, drop the Kodapak cartridge, close, aim, and shoot. It was aptly named Instamatic, meaning from zero to 100 in an instant. I had one...

126/Japan/Viewfinder/Yashica Comments: 0

May 28, 2025

Steiner Brelland – Hunter 35

Steiner Brelland – Hunter 35 A couple of almost identical cameras have landed on my bench. The Hunter 35, a 35mm rangefinder, and the Brelland, a 35mm viewfinder. Other than the viewer and the engraved name, both are the same. Tracing back the manufacturer was easy, although searching for ‘Hunter Camera’ yielded tons of hunting/trail/wildlife cameras. However, once I ignored...

35 mm/Germany/Rangefinder/UK/Viewfinder Comments: 0

May 3, 2025

Druopta Vega

Druopta Vega camera Druopta camera list Czechoslovakia was a country artificially put together in 1918 in a shotgun marriage as a break out of the fallen Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was made up of several reluctant ethnic groups, much as the make of post-war Yugoslavia. It was disintegrated in 1993, split into Czechia and Slovakia, the largest ethnicities. In an overall...

35 mm/Czechoslovakia/Viewfinder Comments: 0

April 30, 2025

Mimosa Mimosa II

Mimosa – Mimosa II Camera Camera collecting, as with collecting any other subject, can be a sign of some mental disorder, I hope minor. An entirely normal person will not invest resources in a collection of, say, matchboxes, spoons, lighters, or cameras. Having a pet takes less effort, costs less, and gives much more in return. I am yet to...

35 mm/DDR/Viewfinder Comments: 0

April 9, 2025

Closter Family list

Closter IIa / Princess Junior Closter IIa Closter Princess Junior Closter family list Images The Italian photographic industry saw pioneers making cameras since the early last century, but products were meant for professionals. Mass market production began at the ‘Italian economic miracle,’ a decade that started some about five years after WWII had ended, where fresh faces entered the field....

35 mm/Italy/Viewfinder Comments: 0

April 7, 2025

ELOP Ucanett

ELOP Ucanett The Ucanette roots go back to Jena, Germany, where Franz Robert Neubert, a Zeiss engineer, found himself in the wrong part of post-war Germany. Hoping for a better future, he set up his shop under the Neubert name and began production of two camera models: the Elca, a simple 35mm camera, and the Neuca, a Leica clone leaning...

35 mm/Germany/Viewfinder Comments: 0

February 26, 2025

Corfield Periflex

Corfield Periflex The story of Corfield Cameras resembles the case of Clarus in the US. Both companies began about the same time as the brainchild or obsession of an undercapitalized founder trying to punch above his weight. Both created a product without previous experience in the field, both companies were relocated from their breeding grounds, both needed external funding, which...

35 mm/Corfield/SLR/UK/Viewfinder Comments: 0

February 5, 2025

Zeiss Ikon Contina II Monoblock

Zeiss Ikon Contina II Monoblock / IIc Kodak is known for recycling model names in a confusing manner, using similar sames over different style cameras with secondary version suffixes. Kodak marked most models with particular names to keep them recognizable, so the madness had some order. Zeiss has gone the other way, using the same name over different models, marked...

35 mm/Germany/Viewfinder/Zeiss Ikon Comments: 0

February 3, 2025

Zeiss Ikon Contina IIa

Zeiss Ikon Contina IIa The Contina IIa was a step up over the Contina Ia, adding an uncoupled light meter, and was successfully positioned at the forefront of the midrange German cameras market, say against the Vito line. The 1952 Contina II, aka Mess Contina, was a capable camera, klapp rangefinder style. It was slotted a notch below the Ikonta...