Cameras made in Japan
This is the Konica AiBORG super-zoom point and shoot camera. It was introduced in September 1991 as the world’s first moving frame auto focus camera. Loaded with many buttons, a large LCD screen, and a joystick, it was a very ambitious camera boasting a wide array of features and shooting modes…
This is a Zenobia C a compact folding camera made by Daiichi Kōgaku in Tokyo, Japan around 1954. It is a compact folding camera that uses 120 roll film and makes 4.5cm x 6cm exposures. The history of Daiichi Kōgaku and the Zenobia is a bit confusing, but what is…
This is a Kuribayashi Karoron folding medium format camera made by K.K. Kuribayashi Shashin Kikai Seisakusho in 1949. It shoots 16 exposures of 6cm x 4.5cm on a roll of 120 film. The Karoron is not a common camera outside of Japan, but it looks to be well built with some advanced…
What is it? This is a Canon P 35mm rangefinder which was sold between 1959 and 1961. The P stands for “Populaire”, meaning it was marketed as a budget (or popular) choice compared to higher spec Canon cameras. The P was very similar to the Canon VI-L, but lacking some of it’s features…
This is a Nikon FA 35mm SLR camera which was one of the most technologically advanced cameras of it’s day. Upon it’s release in 1983, Nikon advertised it as the “Technocamera” due to it’s many innovative electronic features. Several of the FA’s features are still considered relevant today like it’s CPU controlled matrix metering…
This is a TL-Super 35mm SLR camera made by the Japanese camera company Yashica. In the 1950s and 60s, Yashica was well known for their successful line of TLRs and Rangefinder cameras, but in the 1960s, they also had a line of SLRs that used the same 42mm screw mount…
What is it? This is a Canon T50 35mm SLR film camera. It was the first in Canon’s T-series lineup which would be the last Canon SLRs to use the aging manual focus FD mount. The T50 was an entry level camera with full program mode auto exposure and almost no…
What is it? This is a Nikon EM 35mm SLR camera, which is the Rodney Dangerfield of Nikon SLRs. It came out at a time when the amateur market was exploding and various companies were designing cameras catering to them. Nikon was known for high end pro-level cameras, and when this…
This is an Aires 35-III L fixed lens rangefinder camera made by the Aires Camera Works corporation out of Tokyo, Japan. The design loosely resembles the Leica M series of the same era. This model was very popular in Japan and received glowing reviews from the media. The “L” in…
This is a Canon AV-1 35mm SLR camera which was the fourth in the family of Canon A-series film SLRs released in the late 1970s. The A-series was one of the most popular line of cameras in the world and helped cement Canon as one of the top camera makers…
What is it? This is a Miranda Sensomat 35mm SLR camera made by the Japanese Miranda Camera corporation. Although marketed as a budget model, the Sensomat line of cameras featured several features found in much more expensive cameras such as an interchangeable prism and stop down TTL metering. The Miranda…
This is a Pentax Sv 35mm SLR film camera made by the Asahi Optical Company, based in Tokyo, Japan. The significant feature of the Sv is it’s inclusion of a self-timer which was not available on earlier models. It was one the last models of the Pentax S-series and was…
