SHOW US YOUR CAMERAS!!

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Uncommon Konica Autoreflex with the equally uncommon "half frame" zoom Konica AR 3.5/47-100mm:

Probably the only SLR which supports both "half frame" (18x24mm) and "full frame" (14x36mm) shooting. Note the corresponding switch on top of the body!

Here's another view:

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Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1015 Location: Winnipeg Canada

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Here are a few more Mamiya images.

I just got one of those incredibly rare Sekor E 4/300mm lenses (mine has S/N 10067, thus probably #67 produced). Since I already had the (less rare) Sekor CS 4/300mm we could put both of them on one picture. Probably the only image in the entire internet showing these two lenses together Wink

, and the only image I'm aware of with both the ZE-X multimode SLR plus Sekor E 4/300mm!

Here's another image of two really rare lenses. On the left we have the Sekor CS 3.5/45-90mm normal zoom, a lens that was abandoned quickly, probably due to a flawed construction: an internal light baffling dissolves into a tar-like mess, which in turn makes the lens pretty much useless. Very few were produced, and even less have survived. Mine has SN 10051, and I'm aware of another one with SN 10089.

On the right we have the beautiful Mamiya ZE-X multimode SLR again (plus winder), and the lens is an equally rare Mamiya Sekor E 3.5-4.3/35-105mm zoom. This lens has a SN 10100 - probably the 100st lens produced. While size, weight and lens speed would suggest that it is a simple clone of the Tamron 3.5-4.3/35-105mm, it is not: Not only does the Mamiya's number of lenses and elements not fit the Tokina's, but also the reflections on the glass surfaces are completely different. The Osawa 3.5-4.5/35-105mm must be a different beast as well, since it is a [13/11] computation while the Mamyia E is [15/13]. It seems that the Sekor E 35-105mm was a genuine Mamiya lens which - along with the pretty rare Sekor "new" E 4/80-200mm zoom - would have played a major role in the Mamiya lineup ... if Mamiya would have continued its 35mm SLR business!

Finally another image showing the ZM camera with the Sekor E 3.5/28-50mm and 3.8/80-200mm zoom lenses, plus the E 4/300mm tele prime lens. The Mamyia 28-50mm is a small and decent wide-to-normal zoom which has a nice and sturdy full metal barrel (unlike the Canon nFD 28-55mm!).

I hope u enjoy the images of these not-so-common SLRs, equipped with a few really rare lenses!
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Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1015 Location: Winnipeg Canada

Some interesting lenses there.

My very limited experience with Mamiya was all medium format (C-220, C-330, RB 67), and most of the glass was impeccable, especially the RB.
The "LOOK" of their fast 50's for 35mm film was something else, with the magenta appearance coatings being very eye catching.
This would have been right around the time that quartz regulated timing systems were all the rage, and I mostly looked from afar. I often wonder how much of their medium format glass experience "trickled down" to the 35mm format.

-D.S.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

An image I just found in my archives, taken in 2011 for the "Sony Fotospiegel". Sony Alpha 900 plus Zeiss ZA 2.8/16-35mm (left) and Minolta Dynax 9 plus Zeiss ZA 2/24mm (right). A combination of cameras and lenses you won't see that often - not even on an image! Picture taken with the Konica Minolta Dynax 7D, a sturdy 6MP DSLR still working well these days.

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stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Mamiya auto XTL (1971) and Mamiya X1000 (1975), two rather rare Mamiya SLRs with a large proprietary bayonet mount.

I was lucky to find a nearly new Mamiya X1000 several years ago, including the dedicated Sekor ES 1.8/55mm with its special checkerboard-pattern focusing grip. The auto XTL came in a bit later, and a like new 2.8/28mm was found pretty soon at the same thrift store. Later on I got the 1.4/55mm, then a 2.8/135mm and a 3.5/200mm, and finally the Sekor ES 4.5/90-230mm zoom. For quite some time there was a Sekor ES 6.3/400mm floating around locally, but I wasn't really inclined to spend CHF 100.-- for a (probably) rather average 6.3/400mm consiting of only three lenses (achromatic front doublet plus rear lens acting as field flattener).

The other Sekor ES lenses (ES 4/21mm, the 2.8/105 and the 8/800mm) are quite rare indeed.

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kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Here are two other cameras which just came to me ... I wouldn't have bought them on their own; both were included in tow separate lots of camera stuff.

First a Petri rangefinder - the Computor II from 1972:

The camera is pretty "standard" when itr comes to the body itself, but the "CC petri 1:1.7 f=40mm" seems to be a beautifully designed almost symmetrical double gauss. Would be interesting to see how it performs ... but my camera at the moment doesn't work. I'm not sure whether it would need batteries for the (electronic) shutter to work. The Computor II requires some relatively large mercury batteries which cannot be replace easily by ther types.

Ah yeah - here's the lens section:

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stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

And here's the second one - the better known Olympus-35 SP from 1969:

It too has a fast normal lens - a 1.7/42mm actually -, but that one is even more sophisticated than the Petri lens: It's a [7/5] construction! I didn't know that up to now ... My sample came with a lot of interesting stuff from an old German-Swiss guy who owned a very well doing HiFi/camera shop back in the days. I was lucky to have been invited to his rather modest house some years ago (he then was already > 90 years old). While he said that all his "interesting stuff" had been sold already, he nevertheless still had entire rooms full of camera gear, mostly German rangefinders from the 1950s and 1960s. Since I was mainly interested in lenses, I didn't buy as much as he was hoping for, but nevertheless ended up with some really nice things, including this Olympus classic. The camera itself probably never has been used at all, since the prvious owner had enough money to spen and to collect whatever he wanted (I heard stories from his close friend that he usually on Saturday left the house with CHF 20'000.-- cash in his pockets, just to spend that amount in one day, buying interesting cameras & lenses. That was bak in the 1970s ...).

Anyway - nice camera and nice story behind it ... but now it should be used fro photography, finally!!

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Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1015 Location: Winnipeg Canada

Don't know a lot about these. It was affordable to me, and more or less a lens cap for another lens that I was interested in and bought. The 55mm f2 Super-Takumar on it is very well built...

Pentax screw mount of course, and there is an A/M switch on the lens.
It has the micro-prism spot focusing screen in it, and I have to wear my glasses in order to get near focus with it.

-D.S.

HansMoleman · Joined: 12 Jul 2019 Posts: 145 Location: MD USA

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1015 Location: Winnipeg Canada

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1015 Location: Winnipeg Canada

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Wow, guess it's been time to sell my Spotmatics ESII and F for a while now. 10 years ago they were less than $50 each. The 55/2 and 55/1.8 lenses sell alone now for less than $30...

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1015 Location: Winnipeg Canada

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Mamiya DSX 1000 and MSX 1000 with a series of SX (including a recently acquired SX 2.8/35mm):

Lenses in the front row: Mamiya SX 1.8/55mm, 2.8/28mm, 2.8/35mm, 2.8/105mm, 1.7/85mm, 2.8/135mm, and 3.5/200mm

The Mamiya SX series of lenses and cameras were introduced shortly after the (failed) XTL. The XTL was a heavily modified and improved TL series SLR with a new proprietary bayonet mount (instead of M42), a dual spot/integral metering system, and several other remarkable features. Mamiya customers didn't appreciate the new mount, and other didn't switch from their systems to Mamiya - and so the success of the XTL was quite limited.

Long story short - Mamiya took some of the XTL features, modified the M42 thread to allow for open aperture metering, and started selling it as the Mamiya DSX. It kept the dual spot / intergal metering system of the XTL. The simplified MSX 1000 had only an integral TTL metering, though.

Shown above the SX 2.8/28mm, the 2.8/35mm, the 1.8/55mm, the 1.7/85mm, the 2.5/105mm, the 2.8/135mm and the 3.5/200mm.
Mamiya did produce quite a nice lineup for the SX cameras including a 3.5/14mm Fisheye and a 4/21mm superwide, and a few long tele lenses.

Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 631 Location: New Zealand

I bought a less common variant of the Chinese SLR, said to made by a different company than the Seagull Reflex DF and DF-1 cameras, which were made in Shanghai. However it seems there was a lot of commonality between the types. This example turned up with a shutter that only ran at 1/1000s regardless of the setting. I first removed the bottom cover and observed that the mechanical arrangement is more or less identical to the Seagull camera. On removing the top cover I was able to identify and access the cam follower lever that sets the shutter second curtain delay. It had become slightly bent and was getting stuck, so it was a simple fix. I didn't remove it, but it appears to be the exact same removable shutter/mirror box assembly as in the Seagull camera, a good quality unit. The lens has had fungus and the coatings are permanently damaged, but I'm betting a spare Pearl River S-201 lens I have in another location will have elements that are a direct replacement, although ideally I would procure another Seagull lens as they are cheaper and far more numerous.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Here's a small Mamiya from the 1960s:

I got it yesterday from the wastebin of a local photo store, and it seems to work perfectly. It's one of these SLRs with a fixed, built-in Tessar type lens and an integrated selenium light meter. The camera looks like new and fits well into my small collection of Mamiya 35mm SLRs Wink

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stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3771 Location: Switzerland

Some time ago - here in this thread - digichromed has shown us some of his magnificient black Konica SLRs. Well, he made me slightly envious, and ever since I have been looking for some equally nice black Konica Autoreflex T, T2 and T3 cameras. I did have an early T, albeit pretty worn, and T3N, but no black T2 and T3. Recently I finally found a black T3 in pretty good shape - here they are:

Al these cameras are equipped with the corresponding f1.4 normal lenses (not sure about the Konica T - that lens might fit better to a T2 indeed).

Here's anpther image with the Konica T4:

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Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

On the hunt for a DKL Xenon to convert for my Bessamatic, I came across a Retina Reflex S with one fitted, for less than the price of the lens on its own.

However, it turns out the lens has an oily aperture which renders it slow to close so can only be used wide-open until I clean it.The bonus of the deal is the camera - it's absolutely spotless and works perfectly - which is unusual these days, for one of these. I'd hazard a guess the camera has had a proper service sometime in the past twenty years. Certainly, the overall condition suggests a camera that was used - it's no shelf queen, but has been very well looked after and likely CLA'd when needed. No sticky controls in the camera itself, and I suspect the Achilles Heel of the design - the thread that links the exposure controls isn't close to breaking, like many are.
I tested it with a Retina Curtagon 28/4 and camera /lens are a perfect combination.
So, once I sort out the sticky lens I'll have two DKL systems with working cameras and lenses Smile

kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

Is that selenium cell cover original?