Cameras made in Japan
This is a Mamiya Sketch, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Mamiya Optical Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan in 1959. The Sketch was the first ever Japanese camera to shoot 24mm x 24mm images on regular 35mm film, a format that would never gain popularity among Japanese photographers. The Sketch…
This is a Minolta-ER, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko K.K. in 1962. The Minolta-ER was a milestone camera as it was the first Minolta SLR with automatic exposure and was also the company’s first and only leaf shutter SLR. It offered shutter priority automatic…
This is a Fujifilm GA645Wi Professional, an advanced medium format point and shoot camera made in Japan by Fuji starting in 1997. The GA645Wi was an updated version of the original GS645W, first introduced in 1983, featuring a 45mm wide angle lens, but adding almost every modern convenience such as…
This is a Yashica J-3, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera made by Yashica Co., Ltd. in 1963. It was an update to the earlier Yashica Penta J, adding a coupled CdS exposure meter and top plate readout, but retaining that model’s M42 screw mount. The Yashica J-3 was an…
This is a Gelto DIII, a collapsible lens viewfinder camera made by Tōa Kōki Seisakusho starting in 1937 and produced until at least 1952. The Gelto DIII shoots 3cm x 4cm images on 127 format roll film. A large number of variations exist for the Gelto, some with leather covered…
This is the Nikon F3, a 35mm single lens reflex camera produced by Nippon Kogaku of Tokyo, Japan between the years 1980 and 2001, making it the longest list Nikon camera ever made and one of the longest ever produced cameras in history. The Nikon F3 was the third in…
This is an Auto Terra Super, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by K.K. Teraoka Seikōjo in Japan between the years 1959 and 1960. The Auto Terra Super was one of the last and most advanced in a line of Auto Terra cameras made between 1954 and 1960. The signature feature…
This is a Zenobia 35 F2, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Zenobia Optical Co.,LTD of Japan between 1957 and 1958. This version of the camera has an upgraded f/2 lens compared to a second model, simply called the Zenobia 35 that has a 46mm f/2.8 Zenobia O-Hesper lens, but…
This is a Miranda A, a 35mm single lens reflex camera made by the Miranda Camera Company in Japan starting in 1958. The Miranda A was the first Miranda camera to have a film advance lever, instead of a knob, but still shared many characteristics of their earlier models such…
In my last lens review for the Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar 135mm f/3.5 in April 2021, I mention that I do not try, nor do I want, to review lenses. However, in this hobby, sometimes a lens shows up in a box, or in the deep bowels of the online marketplace that…
This is a Canonet 19, a 35mm rangefinder camera built by Canon of Japan starting in January 1961 and sold in the United States by Bell & Howell. When sold with the Bell & Howell name, it was known as the Canonet 19, but when sold by Canon, it was…
This is a Koni-Omega Rapid, a medium format rangefinder press camera that shoots 6cm x 7cm images on 120 and 220 roll film. The Koni-Omega Rapid is the successor to the original Omega 120 made by Simmon Bros Inc in 1954, which itself was based off an earlier military camera…
