Cameras made in Japan
This is a Suzuki Press Van, a medium format folding camera made by Suzuki Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. in 1953. The Press Van is dual format, and can shoot both 6cm x 6cm images on 120 roll film and 24mm x 36mm images on 35mm film. This is the first version …
This is the Nikon F2, a 35mm single lens reflex camera produced by Nippon Kogaku in Tokyo, Japan from 1971 to 1980. The Nikon F2 was the follow up to the very successful Nikon F. It was a high end and rugged camera aimed at professional photographers with a huge …
This is a Minolta XD11, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Minolta of Japan from 1977 to 1984. The XD11 was the first model in Minolta’s new XD series of electronic manual focus cameras. It was the first SLR camera with both aperture and shutter priority auto exposure, …
This is a Fuji TW-3, a compact 35mm dual lens point and shoot camera that shoots half-frame 18mm x 24mm images on regular 35mm film. The Fuji TW-3 was produced by Fuji in Japan for a short while starting in 1985 and has a curious feature set of separate wide …
This is an Olympus-35 LC, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. from 1967 to 1969. The LC is the predecessor to the very successful Olympus 35 SP, sharing that model’s body and 7-element lens, but without auto exposure or the dual spot/averaging metering system of the …
This is a Bronica S2, a medium format single lens reflex camera produced by Zenza Bronica Kogyo from 1965 to 1969. Originally built as a discount option to the Hasselblad medium format SLR, the Bronica S2 was an upgrade to the earlier Bronica S with the most significant change being …
This is the Argus SLR, a fully mechanical 35mm single lens reflex camera. The Argus SLR was produced for the Argus Corporation of Ann Arbor, Michigan by Mamiya Optical in Tokyo, Japan and was produced from 1962 to 1964. The camera is a variant of the Mamiya Prismat NP which …
This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which features dead cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. This April, I will not be doing my usual “Halfway to Halloween” triple-feature, but didn’t want you to think I …
This is a Yashica T AF, a 35mm fully automatic point and shoot camera made by Kyocera of Japan starting in 1985. The Yashica T was the first in a long running Yashica T-series of cameras that all came with a Carl Zeiss Tessar T* lens. At the time this …
This is the Tower 41, a 35mm rangefinder camera built in Japan by Mamiya Optical Co., Ltd. for the Sears Roebuck and Company starting in 1961. The Tower 41 is similar to the earlier Tower 39, also built by Mamiya, but adding a combined coincident image rangefinder and a faster …
This is a Canon Dial 35-2, a compact scale focus camera made by Canon of Japan which shoots 18mm x 24mm half frame images on regular 35mm film. The Canon Dial has not only a very unique body with a shutter priority automatic exposure metering system shaped like a rotary …
This is a Petri Penta, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera made in Japan by Kuribayashi Shashin Kōgyō K.K. starting in September 1959. The Penta was Kuribayashi’s first 35mm SLR as they had been producing a line of scale focus and rangefinder cameras for about ten years prior. The Penta …
