35mm – Page 5 – John's Cameras. A collection of interesting and old cameras.

Asahi Pentax MX

This is a very nice, if rather simple, compact film SLR from Asahi. It is intended as a professional camera and gives full manual control of exposures. In fact, all the camera uses the battery for is the light meter and it works fine with no battery. Pentax MX (c) John Margetts lens: n/a focalContinue reading “Asahi Pentax MX”

Pentax ME Super

This is a very compact SLR from Pentax, Japan. By the time of the K-mount cameras, the company had changed its name from Asahi to Pentax. Originally, the Pentax name belonged to the East German Zeiss Ikon as a contraction of PENtaprism conTAX. This camera is a development of the Spotmatic series. lens: Sirius automaticContinue reading “Pentax ME Super”

Agfa Silette

Agfa Silette Agfa used the name ‘Silette’ for a large range of camera over many years. Mine is the Silette type 4 from (I think) 1958. It is a basic 35mm camera which seems to be well made. It has a Pronto leaf shutter and an Agfa Color-Agnar f2.8 lens. It has a double viewfinderContinue reading “Agfa Silette”

Agfa Karat 6.3

1936 Art Deco Karat – 1938 karat In many ways this is a very attractive camera. It is small (22cm wide, 17cm tall and 14.5cm thick), not too heavy (for a metal camera) and simple. It has two downsides – it uses a different cassette to other 35mm cameras and it is cheaply made. TheContinue reading “Agfa Karat 6.3”

Fed 5 (ФЭД 5)

This is a very sturdy camera. It is black, square, solid with no frills or cosmetics. Fed cameras started off as copies of German Leica cameras and while the design of a Fed might be identical to a 1930s Leica, manufacturing standards are certainly not. As I am being fairly negative here, I would likeContinue reading “Fed 5 (ФЭД 5)”

Zeiss Ikon Contaflex

I have been after a Contaflex for while now. Zeiss Ikon put a lot of thought into the design of their cameras and all that I have come across have been a joy to hold. The Contaflex is no exception. After WWII with the partition of Germany, Zeiss Ikon became two concerns. Both continued toContinue reading “Zeiss Ikon Contaflex”