This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which I have been publishing every year on Halloween and “Halfway to” Halloween, featuring three cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. I am republishing each of those individual reviews…
This is a Nikonos II, an amphibious 35mm camera produced by Nippon Kogaku between 1968 and 1976 for underwater photography. The Nikonos series was originally designed by a company called La Spirotechnique in France in 1960, and sold as the Calypso-Phot. The Calypso was conceived by Jacques Cousteau and was…
This is a Wirgin Edixa Reflex B, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Wirgin Kamerawerk Wiesbaden, starting in 1956. This is the second revision to the original Wirgin Edixa Reflex first released in 1954, adding slow speeds down to 1 second and support for lenses with automatic diaphragms. …
This is a Start B, a Twin Lens Reflex camera produced in Warsaw, Poland by Warsaw Photo-Optical Works or WZFO for short between the years of 1960 and 1967. The Start B was an updated version of the original Start TLR from 1954. WZFO was Poland’s first and only consumer…
This is a Konica Auto-Reflex, a 35mm SLR camera produced by Konica of Japan starting in 1965. This model was the first in Konica’s long lived Autoreflex series and is the only one with a hyphenated name. It is also the only model that can seamlessly switch between shooting full…
This is a View-Master Personal Stereo Camera, made by Sawyer’s Inc., out of Portland, Oregon between the years of 1952 and 1955. The View-Master Personal Stereo Camera shoots 14mm x 12mm stereoscopic images on regular 35mm film for use in View-Master slides, slide viewers, and projectors. The circular View-Master slides…
This is a Nikkorex F, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Mamiya Optical Co. for Nippon Kogaku starting in 1962. The Nikkorex F was part of Nippon Kogaku’s Nikkorex line which was their first attempt at an entry level line of cameras and was the only one with…
This is a Zeiss-Ikon Contax III, a 35mm rangefinder camera built by Zeiss-Ikon in Dresden, Germany between the years 1936 and 1942. The Contax III was an upgrade to the Contax II from the same era, adding a selenium exposure meter to the top plate. The Contax II and III…
This is a Leicaflex, a 35mm SLR produced by Ernst Leitz Wetzlar between 1964 and 1968. It was the first in a series of Leicaflex SLRs that were produced through 1976 using the company’s all new Leica R bayonet lens mount that would continue with the Leica R series through…
This is an Ebner 4.5×6 folding camera produced by Albert Ebner & Co. in Stuttgart, Germany between the years 1933 and 1935. There were two Ebner cameras made, this one and a 6×9 version, neither of which were identified by any name other than the size of the images they…
This is a Tower 45, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Nicca Camera Co. Ltd. of Japan for sale by the American department store chain, Sears, Roebuck, & Co. The Tower 45 first appeared in the 1957 Sears Camera Catalog and featured a redesigned top plate with a film advance…
This is an Exakta Real, a 35mm SLR camera made by Ihagee Kamerawerk AG in West Berlin, Germany starting in 1966. The Exakta Real was an attempt at introducing an all new Exakta model with updated features that would have made it competitive with other cameras being sold at the…
