In an age of never-ending comparisons, “which product is best for me”, “should I buy product A over product B”, and “top 10 products to buy for blah blah blah”, consumers are constantly in search for the best of everything. For photographers, gear is often the product to which we…
This is a Voigtländer Ultramatic CS, a 35mm SLR camera made by Voigtländer Braunschweig AG starting in 1965. The Ultramatic CS was the top of the line model in Voigtländer’s leaf shutter SLR lineup, starting with the lower cost Bessamatic. The Ultramatic CS was the first leaf shutter SLR with…
In last week’s Keppler’s Vault, we talked about the concept of a Beam Splitter Reflex in which an SLR viewfinder is designed to use an optical device called a beam splitter that would both pass light through to the film plane and up into the viewfinder without any moving parts. …
This is a Revere Eye-Matic EE 127, a fully automatic rangefinder camera that shoots square 4cm x 4cm images on 127 roll film. It was built by the Revere Camera Company of Chicago, IL, USA starting in 1958. This camera was one of the very first fully automatic “electric eye”…
I love prototypes! The promise of seeing concept models featuring designs or technologies that never came to be is very appealing as it offers a glimpse into what could have been. My recent post about a 53 page booklet from the Eastman Kodak company showed off some prototypes of cameras…
This is a Canon IV Sb 35mm rangefinder camera, produced by the Canon Camera Corporation of Tokyo, Japan starting in December 1952. The IV Sb was the world’s first 35mm camera to support flash sync for both flash bulbs and electronic X-sync through Canon’s proprietary rail mounted flash shoe. It…
Have you ever felt limited while shooting your favorite Mamiya M645, Rolleiflex, or Kodak Medalist by only getting 16, 12, or 8 exposures per roll of 120? What if I told you that there was an exciting new development in film that would allow you to get 32, 24, or…
This is a Minolta Super A, an interchangeable lens 35mm rangefinder made by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko K.K. starting in 1957. The name Super A suggests it’s part of the Minolta A-series of cameras which first debuted in 1955. Unlike the other A-series cameras, the Super A is much larger and…
Today, I have a quick post about five things you can buy online that come in 120mm sizes, and one that isn’t. Lets take a look shall we? Case Fans If you’re looking to build a PC, you’ll definitely need some case fans. Don’t settle for just any old 80mm…
This is a Taron Chic, a vertical half frame 35mm scale focus camera made by Taron Company Limited of Tokyo Japan starting in 1961. The Chic shoots 18mm x 24mm “half-frame” exposures on regular 35mm film. Unlike most half frame 35mm cameras, the film transports vertically, rather than horizontally which…
The late 1930s were an exciting time for Kodak. In 1934 the first commercially available day-light loading 35mm film was released, and was off to a great start as the most popular film format for “miniature” cameras. The German made Kodak Retina series was doing well and was establishing Kodak…
This is the Asahi Pentax, the very first 35mm SLR produced by the Asahi Optical Company of Japan to use a pentaprism viewfinder. The camera is often referred to as the Pentax AP by collectors even though that was never officially documented. The other camera is the Asahi Pentax K,…
