When Oskar Barnack completed the first Leica prototype in the mid 1920s, his goal was to make a high quality compact camera that could make high quality images using double perforated 35mm film. At the time, the idea of a mass produced 35mm camera was one that nobody was thinking…
This is a Panda DF, a 35mm single lens reflex camera made by the Harbin Electric Meter Instrument Factory in the city of Harbin of the People’s Republic of China between the years 1975 and 1979. The Panda is very closely related to the Seagull DF-1 produced by the Shanghai…
This is the Yashica YF, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Yashica Co., Ltd. in Japan starting in 1959. The Yashica YF was built very shortly after Yashica’s acquisition of Nicca the year before and although credited to Yashica, is a mostly cosmetic refresh of Nicca’s earlier type III rangefinders. …
This is a Nikon 28Ti, a premium point and shoot 35mm camera made in Japan by the Nikon Corporation starting in 1994. The Nikon 28Ti was the follow-up to the Nikon 35Ti from the year prior, widening the focal length to 28mm and adding a new flash mode and all…
This is a Wrayflex Ia, a 35mm SLR camera made by Wray Optical Works Ltd. in Bromley, London, UK between the years 1953 and 1958. The Wrayflex Ia is an update to the original Wrayflex I whose only change was that it exposed 24mm x 36mm images instead of 24mm…
This is a Contax N1, a semi-professional 35mm SLR camera made by Kyocera in Japan starting in 2001. The Contax N1 was the very last 35mm film SLR ever made using the Contax name and one of the final Contax cameras of any kind. The Contax N1 uses a new…
This is a Yashica Electro AX, a 35mm SLR made by Yashica Co., Ltd. in Tokyo Japan starting in 1972. The Electro AX was the second to last in Yashica’s TL-series of SLRs and the only model with aperture priority auto exposure. Like other Yashica SLRs, the Electro AX uses…
This is a Kowa SW, a 35mm scale focus camera made in Japan by Kowa Optical Works in 1964. The Kowa SW was a short lived camera designed around a wide angle 28mm f/3.2 lens which had an unusually wide 75 degree angle of coverage. The Kowa SW supported a…
This is a Tanack Type-V3, a 35mm rangefinder camera made in Japan by Tanaka Optical Co., Ltd. in 1959. The Tanack Type-V3 was the last commercially released camera made by Tanaka, who was known for a series of Leica rangefinder copies which they made throughout the 1950s. The Tanack Type-V3…
Earlier this year a group of film photography bloggers had the idea where each of us would write an article discussing our five favorite cameras, and sharing them all together and see what we came up with. Never one to miss out on the opportunity to discuss some of the…
This is a Miranda Automex a 35mm SLR camera made by Miranda Camera K.K. in Japan between the years 1960 and 1962. The Automex was Miranda’s first metered cameras and also the first in what was then a new body design which had a single shutter speed dial for fast…
This is a TDC Stereo Vivid, a 35mm stereo camera produced by the Three Dimension Company, a subsidiary of Bell & Howell in Chicago, IL, USA between the years 1954 and 1960. The Stereo Vivid exposes 24mm x 23mm stereo images on regular 35mm film, for use with stereo slide…
