Condor Camera Condor

After the Italian Condor by Galileo,  I pulled out another Condor, this time from Japan.  Where the Italian Condor has a good information trail, the Japanese Condor family is confusing, with little information available.

It is best to consult the Condor Camera entry on the Camera Wiki. The article there describes the Condor as a part of the Doris Universe. I tend to believe the Klapp models belong to the Doris family, as another Camera Wiki article links them to the Victor Klapp cameras, which are also known to have been made by Doris. Just to add to the confusion, another article notes that Neumann and Heilemann, a pre-war French distributor, sold both the Condor monoblocks and the Victor Klapp models, which supports the Doris’s connection. Further, the camera on my bench has the lens marked AC Delta lens, which is by Condor, and on top it is inscribed “Deltar,” which is assumed to be a Neumann and Heilemann brand, but that brand ceased to exist before Condor was born. Go figure.

Another Camera Wiki article, this time seems more to the point, is at Condor (35mm).

In print, McKewon’s relates only the Rafuray and the Condor to this brand, referring to the Condor as ‘inexpensive’, for which I beg to differ. Kadlubek and Sugiyama have only one Condor entry, and at Michel Auer it does not exist. As a sidenote, if Michel Auer or his colleagues are reading this, an Index would be nice to have.

With Japanese cameras, all versions could be correct, as models flowed between makers and distributors, amalgamations were commonplace, brand and model names interchanged, and model or brand names were butchered once anglicized. As such, naming conventions were a free-for-all. A few samples from my database are Tomioka Kiko-Do and Tomioka Kiko, and the trifecta Asahi Shoten, Asahi Musen and Asahi Bussan. Which is correct is anybody’s guess.

The Condor range is inspired by the Nikon S design, with the Zeiss Contax spirit hovering above. As with the crop of Leica-inspired cameras, the Contax design cues were adopted by several Japanese post-war makers, including Yashica, Neoca, Beauty, and Ricoh, to name just a few.

The company known as Condor Camera was one of the many camera makers that flourished after the war, catering to the half-million GI contingent in Japan, all with deep pockets and looking to buy and bring back home souvenirs. Companies with no background in the industry but had some production capacity saw cameras as an immediate revenue opportunity, resulting in dozens upon dozens of manufacturers, only a handful of which survived for over a decade. Excluding that, the Condor Camera company dates back to 1937 as Motodori Shashin Kikai Kogyo-sho; regrettably, no further data is available.

The Condor 35mm cameras comprise seven very similar models uder varying names, all introduced between 1957 and 1959; thereafter, the company went silent.

The four rangefinders were Condor, Condor IIIS, Condor V2 and the elusive Corvette. The V2 has an additional opaque front window to house the parallax frame, a red dot at the front, and is marked “Condor V2” and “Sanyo Kogaku Kikai” at the bottom front. The IIIS is similarly marked but lacks the added parallax lens. I cannot find further information about other differences. The Corvette appears to be identical to the Condor; since no data is available, I would assume it was sold by another party. Muuseo.com lists more models, all variations of the same melody.

The three viewfinder models appear identical, except for their nameplates. Other than the missing front 2nd rangefinder window, they are identical to the Condor rangefinder. On the model marked Condor, I found only an image, no further information. One Avigo was sold on Catawiki, and another was offered at the Leitz Auction at an asking price of Euro 400, with no takers.  The Rafuray was seen on three occasions, fetching prices all over the board. See more in the table below.

The camera on my bench is a serious-looking, impressive model. Other than the lack of a shutter speed dial on top, it is a dead ringer for the Nikon S2. It is well proportioned, good weight and easy to handle, kudos to Nikon.

• The body is all metal, a blend of punched steel and cast aluminum. The metal parts are immaculately finished, just a few rust dots, which is much more than I could say about other off-brand Japanese cameras of the time. The skin is all in place, intact.
• Top has a solid lever winder, a prominent trigger, a manually adjusted frame counter, a cold shoe and a rewind knob surrounded by a memo film speed dial. On the Nikon S2, the Condor’s spiritual father, the shutter speed dial is also here. While the S2 used a curtain focal plane shutter, here is a leaf shutter set within the lens assembly, so the speed selector dial moved there.
• As mentioned above, a logo marked ‘Delter’ is inscribed on the top. Have not seen a reference to that.
• The front finder lens is mirror-like coated, guess to assist in selfies or whatever it was called at the time.
• The viewer is tiny, typical of the era’s cameras. The smallish patch takes time to identify, but usable.
• The fixed lens barrel carries all the settings, all easy to purchase and clearly marked:
  • Closest to the body is the focusing dial, marked in feet, an indicator of the target market. Travel could be longer to assist with precise focusing.
  • Next is the aperture setting dial.
  • Further front is the shutter speed selector dial, offering generous B, 1-500 speeds.
  • The package is complete with a 3.8/45 lens.
  • At the bottom of the lens barrel are the sync toggle lever, X/M, and a self-timer.
• The selection here is much better than the common offering on the off-brand post-war cameras, so I wonder why McKeone and Sugiyama have high-browed this model.
• The hinged back opens via a side bolt.
• Inside are the usual two film bays, machined film tracks, twin cogs to guide the film and a good-sized, easy-to-reach take-off drum. On the back are an additional guide roller, a spring-loaded pressure plate, and a spring arm to support the film cartridge.

For the collector, the Condor is a well-made and eye-catching camera. The model I have clicks, buzzes and hums, yet shutter is temperamental. Being 65 years old, which is much better than, say, the PAX or Exakta models I have, made at the same time, and most of which were frozen solid.

Value-wise, this model has a split personality: it was described by McKeown

and Sugiyama as “inexpensive” or “cheap” respectively, yet it fetched a nice penny at many auctions. The sale transactions recorded on camdex.ca show a unique pattern unlike any other camera. All other cameras present a well-defined curve with minor outliers. Here, for the Condor, the transaction figures are scattered all over, with three distinct plateaus. There should be something about it I do not see.  Here are the actual transaction figures for the Condor:

Data from camdex.ca, as of April 2026. All sales were converted to USD at the transaction date.

Condor camera passport: