I was born in 1978, and for my whole life, Japanese products were always good. Cameras, televisions, stereos, watches, video game consoles, cars, and a huge number of other consumer products proudly proclaimed to be “Made in Japan”. This wasn’t always so. As recently as the late 1800s, Japan was…
Each time I pick up a classic camera, I am awestruck at the craftsmanship and build quality that these old devices have. Cameras from the early to middle of the 20th century were created by craftsmen (and women) who paid close attention to the various gears, levers, dials, and switches…
This is a Rolleiflex SL35 single lens reflex 35mm camera made by Franke & Heidecke of Braunschweig, Germany between the years 1970 and 1976. Earlier versions like this one were made in Germany, later ones in Singapore. The SL35 was the first 35mm SLR to bear the Rolleiflex name and…
The Argus C3 is one of those cameras that for American collectors is one you could accidentally collect. I cannot tell you how many Argus C3s (and their variants like the Matchmatic) I’ve picked up in job lots of cameras where I wanted something else. I’ve seen them at antique…
What is it? This is a Kodak Motormatic 35 camera. It is an updated version of Kodak’s first 35mm auto exposure camera, the Kodak Automatic 35 which was released the year before. The Motormatic added a spring motor advance, allowing a photographer to make exposures as fast as he or…
What if? Those two words form a question that has been pondered by almost every person in every industry likely since the first humans walked the Earth. Early cave men invented the wheel after wondering what if I could take this rock and put it on a stick and attach…
What is it? This is a Pentax PC35AF, a 35mm compact camera made by the Asahi Optical Co. in Tokyo Japan between the years of 1982 and 1984. It was the first compact Pentax camera capable of auto focus and was the first in a long running PC-series of cameras…
The month of April is the first full month in spring, and is often associated with things like warmer weather, the start of Major League Baseball, Easter (most years), and for many people, April Fool’s Day. The history of April Fool’s Day goes back quite a bit farther than most…
This is a Canon DL-9000 Professional 35mm camera made in Japan. The DL-9000 is a top of the line camera boasting well over 30 features that are essential for all pros such as a very large flash, an Optical Lens, Motor Drive, Red Eye Reduction, and many, many other…
This is a Contessa 35 (model 533/24), a compact folding 35mm rangefinder camera made in Stuttgart, Germany by Zeiss-Ikon between the years 1950 and 1955. The Contessa was designed as a premiere fixed lens compact folding camera that had the features and quality of the best of what Germany could…
It might come as a surprise to those who collect vintage cameras today that not everyone knows how to use a TLR like a Rolleiflex. With a huge amount of information available on the Internet with countless review blogs like mine, easily searchable user’s manuals, and groups like the Vintage Camera…
What is it? This is an Argus C33, a 35mm rangefinder produced by the Argus Corporation in Ann Arbor, Michigan between the years 1959 and 1961. The C33 was an oddly designed, but ambitious update to the original C3 which added many features that had become standard for rangefinders in…
