Cameras made in Japan
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…
This is a Contax RTS III, a semi-professional 35mm SLR camera produced by Kyocera of Japan starting in 1990. The Contax name was licensed to Yashica in 1973, at which time a series of well equipped camera bodies using the Contax name were sold. The original Contax RTS first debuted…
This is a Pigeon 35 Model J, made by Shinano Camera Company Ltd. in Japan, starting in 1954. The Pigeon 35 Model J is a slightly improved version of the earlier Pigeon 35 from 1952 with a better lens and shutter. All Pigeon cameras shared a similar feature set and…
This is a Super Fujica-6, a medium format folding camera made by Fuji Photo Industries in Japan starting in 1955. The Super Fujica-6 shoots 6×6 images on 120 format roll film and is an upgraded version of the original Fujica Six series that first went on sale in 1948, adding…
This is a Leotax Model K, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Shōwa Kōgaku Seiki K.K. between 1955 and 1958. The Model K was the economy model in the Leotax series, sold with a slower f/3.5 Topcor lens and omitting all slow speeds and the top 1/1000 shutter speed found…
This is a Canon 7, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Canon starting in September 1961. The Canon 7 would be the last new model to use the Leica Thread Mount which they had been using since the release of the Canon S-II in 1946. Canon took a big risk…
This is an Aires 35-V, a 35mm rangefinder camera produced by Aires Camera Ind. Co., LTD in 1958. The Aires 35-V was part of Aires’s line of 35mm rangefinder cameras and is the only one with an interchangeable lens mount. Only four lenses were made using it’s proprietary lens mount,…
This is a Konica Auto S1.6, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Konishiroku Photo Industries starting in 1967. The Auto S1.6 is a revised version of the earlier Auto S2 with a slightly faster 7-element f/1.6 lens, an improved shutter, and a flash hot shoe. It was the final model…
