SLR – Page 4 – John's Cameras. A collection of interesting and old cameras.

Exakta RTL1000

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 fifthContinue reading “Exakta RTL1000”

Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL

A film 35mm camera from Mamiya in Japan.

Mamiya Korvette (aka Family)

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, theyContinue reading “Mamiya Korvette (aka Family)”

Praktica B100 electronic

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 secondContinue reading “Praktica B100 electronic”

Olympus OM1n

I already have an Olympus OM camera – the OM10. The OM10 is an amateur camera – aperture priority exposure meter and very clumsy manual mode. This OM1 is a professional camera. It is entirely manual and entirely mechanical. That means it will work with no battery and will even work if the meter dies.Continue reading “Olympus OM1n”

Fujica ST605

This is a 35mm SLR film camera from 1977. It is very reminescent of an Asahi Pentax. Interestingly, Fuji (as Fujifilm) are one of the few companies to still make film cameras – the Fuji Instax. So, this is an all manual film camera using the standard M42 lens mount thread introduced by eastern ZeissContinue reading “Fujica ST605”

Cosina CT–1

This is an amazing little 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 CT–1 has been produced, it has been sold in the slightly updated form of the CT–1 Super as the Nikon FM10,Continue reading “Cosina CT–1”

Yashica 230-AF SLR camera

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 –Continue reading “Yashica 230-AF SLR camera”

Cosina CSM

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. My other Cosina camerasContinue reading “Cosina CSM”

Praktica BC1 electronic

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 onContinue reading “Praktica BC1 electronic”