Cameras made in Japan
What is it? This is a Konica III, a 35mm rangefinder made by Konishiroku Photo Industries in Japan between the years of 1956 to 1958. As the name suggests, this camera is a third in a series of compact, solid bodied, 35mm rangefinder cameras made by Konishiroku. The entire Konica…
What is it? This is a Minolta Hi-Matic E 35mm rangefinder camera made by Minolta Camera Co. starting in 1971. It was one of the last quality Minolta rangefinder cameras with fast sub f/2 lenses before the line was replaced with cheap point and shoot models that were manufactured by third…
What is it? This is an Olympus XA2 scale focus point and shoot 35mm camera made by Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. between the years of 1980 and 1986. It was a simpler and less expensive version of the Olympus XA camera released a year earlier. The entire XA series was very…
This is the Topcon RE Super 35mm SLR made by Tokyo Kogaku of Japan between the years of 1963 and 1972. It was a historically significant camera as it was the very first 35mm SLR camera to offer through the lens (TTL) metering. The RE Super was a large and…
This is a Nikon S2, a 35mm rangefinder made by Nippon Kogaku of Tokyo, Japan. The S2 was a significant upgrade to the original Nikon S rangefinder from 1948 and was made between the years 1955 and 1957 when it was replaced by the Nikon SP. By the time the…
This is a Kowa SET-R single lens reflex 35mm camera made by Kowa Optical Works between the years of 1968 and 1970. It was the third to last model in a series of leaf shutter SLRs made by Kowa, starting with the Kowaflex from 1959. The SET-R was the first…
What is it? This is a Chinon CE-4 35mm SLR made by Chinon Industries Inc starting in 1980. It was Chinon’s first SLR using the Pentax K-mount, after they abandoned the M42 screw mount. The CE-4 was quickly upgraded to the CE-4s model which revised the shutter speeds and meter…
What is it? This is a Minolta A, a 35mm rangefinder made by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko starting in 1955. It was Minolta’s first attempt at an entry level 35mm rangefinder aimed at the amateur market. Despite it’s stance as an entry level camera, it had modern features like a 4-element…
What is it? This is a Ricoh FF-90 Super, an advanced and fully automatic 35mm point and shoot camera made by Ricoh Co., Ltd in 1987 The Super is a slight upgrade to the original FF-90 from two years earlier, and was very popular in it’s home country of Japan…
What is it? This is a Minolta Auto Wide 35mm camera made by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko K.K. in 1958. It was a scale focus camera that had a unique combination of a wide angle lens, a coupled selenium exposure meter, and a unique click stop focus system to simplify focus and exposure…
This is a Nikon F single lens reflex camera which was made by Nippon Kogaku in Japan from 1959 through 1973. It was Nippon Kogaku’s first attempt in the SLR market and was aimed at the professional photographer. The Nikon F both raised the bar for what a professional camera…
What is it? This is a Ricoh 519M 35mm rangefinder made by Riken Optical Industries Co., Ltd, which first went on sale in 1959. It is an evolution of the earlier Ricoh Five-One-Nine which was a very similar camera, except without a built in meter. The Ricoh 500-series cameras were very…
