This is my sixth Exakta camera. The first five (Varex IIb, Exa IIb, Exa Ia, Exa 500 Exakta TL500) were made by the still independent Ihagee company in Dresden (the TL500 was made by Ihagee West in West Germany). Eventually, Ihagee was absorbed into the Pentacon combine with Zeiss Ikon, KW and some others. This fifth … More Exakta RTL1000

A film 35mm camera from Mamiya in Japan. … More Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL

This is a heavy fixed lens SLR from Japan. It has a leaf shutter in the lens rather than the focal plane shutter most SLR cameras have. This uses the same system as used by Zeiss Ikon with their Contaflex cameras and Voigtlander with their Bessamatic cameras. In the case of the German cameras, they … More Mamiya Korvette (aka Family)

This is my second electronic Praktica – the other is the BC1. It has minimal controls – essentially the aperture – making it a very easy camera to use. lens:  Prakticar MC focal length:  50 mm apertures:  f/2.4 to f/16 focus range: 0.45 m lens fitting: Praktica bayonet shutter: metal focal plane speeds: 1 second … More Praktica B100 electronic

This is an amazing title camera. It was introduced by Cosina in 1979/80 and, amazingly, is still available new (rebadged as a Nikon FM10) in 2017. In those years, (nearly 40!), that the Cosina CT1 has been produced, it has been sold in the slightly updated form of the CT1 Super as the Nikon FM10, … More Cosina CT1

This camera dates from 1987 and was not very successful commercially. It is at the transition from the ‘standard’ manual SLR camera that was usual at the time to the later fully automatic cameras that were usual by the end of the 1980s. Unfortunately for Yashica, their approach to automation was a developmental dead-end – … More Yashica 230-AF SLR camera

As I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog, Cosina have an undeservedly poor reputation. In fact, in addition to their own designs made under their own name, they make cameras for the big-name camera companies. The Zeiss Ikon rangefinder was made by Cosina as are many Carl Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses. Cosina CSM This camera … More Cosina CSM

This was one of my better buys from Ebay. I have two BC1 bodies, a Prakticar 50mm lens and two straps for £5.00. With one camera, the internal meter agrees with my hand-held Ikophot light meter. The other is six stops or so out. It is quite possible that this is down to dirt on … More Praktica BC1 electronic