Leica Screw Mount Lenses (M39) SuperWide - Wide-Standard-Tele
Leica
Mount
SuperWide Angle
Lenses
(<30 mm)
by Karen Nakamura
SuperWide Angle Lenses (<28mm)
Super-wide-angle lenses are specialized lenses that have limited use in day-to-day photography. They excel in some types of environmental portraiture, but can easily be over-used.
I have a second-version Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 in my lens collection, made 1973 given the serial number. It's an 8-element retrofocus design, which means it works with the Leica M7, M5, and CL unlike the first version. It's a nice lens and I got it inexpensively because it was a real beater. A quick CLA by DAG has restored it to it good working condition. I'm annoyed however that there isn't a widely available hood (at a reasonable price) for this lens because it does seem to flare easily. In general, I prefer the 35/2 Summicron to this unless I need the slightly wider perspective.
Voigtlander Super-Wides
Cosina surprised the camera world in 2000 when it released the Voigtlander
Bessa L camera with two ultra-wide lenses in Leica M39 screwmount: the 15mm
f/4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar Aspherical and the 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar. Resolution
and
contrast on both
were excellent -- and the 15mm was rectilinear, not fisheye. The Bessa L
had no built-in rangefindrangefinder or viewfinder, so these lenses both came with tiny
albada
type accessory
viewfinders.
I recently obtained a Cosina-Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar and am excited to give it a spin. It's definitely a special purpose lens, but I think it will be excellent for photographing crowds and protests. Next to it, my widest lens is the 17mm f/4 Fish-Eye Takumar from Pentax (in M42 mount), which of course is a fisheye with more limited utility.
From one of my Leica list pals, I bought a Cosina-Voigtlander 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar. It's a much more practical lens than the 15mm Super-Wide-Heliar. The viewfinder is the older type, without the brightlines. Still, it's accurate enough for most purposes.
Manufacturer
|
Cosina Voigtländer
|
||
---|---|---|---|
Lens
|
12mm f/5.6 Ultra-Wide Heliar Aspherical | 15mm f/4.5 Super-Wide Heliar Aspherical | 21mm f/4 Color-Skopar |
Serial #
|
|||
Place
of Manufacture
|
Japan
|
||
Date
of Manufacture
|
2000.7~ | ||
Lens Construction
|
10 elements in 8 groups 1 aspherical element |
8 elements in 6 groups 1 aspherical element |
8 elements in 6 groups |
Lens
Mount
|
Leica screw mount |
Leica screw mount RF coupled to 0.7m |
|
Focusing range
|
0.3 meter - infinity |
0.3 meter - infinity |
0.5 meter - infinity |
Apertures
|
f/5.6~22
(x stop steps) |
f/4.5~22
(x stop steps) |
f/4
~ 22 (x stop steps) |
Filter
Mount
|
Filter:
xxmm threaded |
Filter:
xxmm threaded |
Filter:
39mm threaded |
Body Construction
|
|||
Dimensions
and weight
|
50.5mm D x 38.2mm L 162g |
49.6mm D x 30.7mm L (with hood) 105g |
49.6mm D x 29.1mm L 109g |
Retail
price
|
¥ |
¥65,000 (MSRP) |
|
Viewfinder |
Reverse-Galileo |
Reverse-Galileo |
Reverse-Galileo |
Manufacturer
|
Cosina Voigtländer
|
||
---|---|---|---|
Lens
|
25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar | ||
Serial #
|
994070x | ||
Place
of Manufacture
|
Japan
|
||
Date
of Manufacture
|
|||
Lens Construction
|
7 elements in 5 groups |
||
Lens
Mount
|
Leica screw mount |
||
Focusing range
|
0.7 meter - infinity |
||
Apertures
|
f/4~22
(0.5 stop steps) |
||
Filter
Mount
|
Filter:
39mm threaded |
||
Body Construction
|
Chromed brass and alloy | ||
Dimensions
and weight
|
49.5mm D x 29.5mm L 90g |
||
Retail
price
|
¥45,000 |
||
Viewfinder
|
Reverse-Galileo |
Manufacturer
|
Leitz
|
Leica
|
||
---|---|---|---|---|
Lens
|
28mm f/2.8 Elmarit (I) | 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit (II) | 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit (III) |
28mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M (IV) |
Serial#
|
33968xx | |||
Place
of Manufacture
|
Germany /
Canada
|
Canada | Germany
|
|
Date
of Manufacture
|
1965-72 | 1972-79 My one: 1973 (given serial#) |
1979~93 |
1993~ |
Lens Construction
|
9 elements in 6 groups | 8 elements in 6 groups | 8 elements in 6 groups | 8 elements in 7 groups |
Lens
Mount
|
Leica M bayonet mount |
|||
Focusing range
|
0.7 meter - infinity |
|||
Apertures
|
f/2.8
- f/22 |
f/2.8
- f/22 |
f/2.8 ~ f/22 |
f/2.8-f/22 |
Filter
Mount
|
Filter:
E48 |
Filter: E48 Hood: 12501 Finder: 12007 |
Filter: E49 |
Filter:
A |
Body Construction
|
Black
painted brass |
Black painted alloy |
||
Dimensions
and weight
|
225g | 235g |
250g |
53mm x 41.4 |
Retail
price
|
|
Other Camera Lens Mounts
Canon FD/FL Breechlock Mount
Contax / Nikon RF Bayonet Mount
Leica RF Mount (M39/M)
Pentax Screw Mount (M42)
The Micro-Four-Thirds....
Under construction
Standard Lenses
The standard kit lenses....
Technical Details - Standard Kit Lenses
Lens
|
LUMIX G VARIO |
LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140 mm / F4.0-5.8 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. |
---|---|---|
Camera Kit
|
GH2; G10 | GH2 |
Manufacturer
|
Panasonic | |
Place of Manufacture
|
?
|
|
Date of Manufacture
|
2010 | |
Lens Construction
|
12 elements in 9 groups 1 aspherical element |
17 elements in 13 groups 4 aspherical elements 2 ED lenses |
Lens Mount
|
Micro-four-thirds (bayonet) |
|
Focusing range
|
0.3m - infinity (1 feet - infinity) |
0.5m - infinity |
Apertures
|
f/3.5 ~ f/22 (stepless) |
f/4.0 ~ f/22 (stepless) 7 aperture blades |
Filter Mount
|
52mm threaded mount |
62mm threaded mount |
Dimensions and weight
|
60.6mm (2.5") diameter x 63.6 mm height 165g |
70mm diameter x 84 mm height 460g |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
Lens
|
LUMIX G VARIO |
LUMIX G FISHEYE 8 mm / F3.5 |
---|---|---|
Model #
|
H-F007014 |
H-F008 |
Manufacturer
|
Panasonic | |
Place of Manufacture
|
?
|
|
Date of Manufacture
|
||
Lens Construction
|
16 elements in 12 groups 2 aspherical elements 4 ED elements |
10 elements in 9 groups |
Lens Mount
|
Micro-four-thirds (bayonet) |
|
Focusing range
|
0.25m - infinity |
0.1m - infinity |
Apertures
|
f/4.0 ~ f/22 (stepless) |
f/3.5 ~ f/22 (stepless) 7 aperture blades |
Filter Mount
|
n/a (no filter possible) |
Rear 22mm square filter mount |
Dimensions and weight
|
70mm diameter x 83.1 mm length 300g |
60.7mm diameter x 51.7 mm length 165g |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
Lens
|
LUMIX G VARIO |
LUMIX G VARIO HD 100-300 mm / F4.0-5.6 / MEGA O.I.S. |
---|---|---|
Model #
|
H-FS100300 |
|
Manufacturer
|
Panasonic | |
Place of Manufacture
|
?
|
|
Date of Manufacture
|
||
Lens Construction
|
16 elements in 13 groups |
17 elements in 12 groups 1 ED element |
Lens Mount
|
Micro-four-thirds (bayonet) |
|
Focusing range
|
1.0m - infinity |
1.5m - infinity |
Apertures
|
f/4.0 ~ f/22 (stepless) |
f/4.0 ~ f/22 (stepless) 7 aperture blades |
Filter Mount
|
52mm threaded mount |
67mm threaded mount |
Dimensions and weight
|
70mm diameter x 100 mm length 380g |
73.6mm diameter x 126 mm length 520g |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
Lens
|
Panasonic Lumix G 20mm / F1.7 ASPH |
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux |
Leica D Summilux 25mm / F1.4 ASPH |
---|---|---|---|
Model #
|
H-X025
|
||
Manufacturer
|
Panasonic | ||
Place of Manufacture
|
Japan
|
||
Date of Manufacture
|
|||
Lens Construction
|
7 elements in 5 groups |
9 elements in 7 groups 1 UHRI element; 2 ASPH |
10 elements in 9 groups 1 ASPH; 1 Super-ED; 3 ED |
Lens Mount
|
Micro-four-thirds (bayonet) |
Four-thirds (bayonet) |
|
Focusing range
|
0.2m - infinity |
0.3m - - infinity |
0.38m - - infinity |
Apertures
|
f/1.7 ~ f/16 (stepless) |
f/1.4 ~ f/16 (stepless) 7 aperture blades |
|
Filter Mount
|
46mm threaded mount |
62mm threaded mount |
|
Dimensions and weight
|
63mm diameter x 25.5 mm length 100g |
63mm diameter x 54.5 mm length 200g |
75mm diameter x 78 mm length 510g |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
|
with some info on the Micro Four-Thirds (MFT) lens mount system
by Karen Nakamura
Overview and Personal Comments
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 is what many people call a "DEVIL" camera -- Digital Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens -- or EVIL, if you drop the 'D'. This is because while it looks like a traditional Single Lens Reflex (SLR), there is in fact no reflex mirror -- the eyepiece actually contains a small electronic viewfinder rather than an optical mechanism. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
The GH2 was released in November of 2010 and represented at the time the flagship model of Panasonic's micro-four-thirds (MFT) lineup. It was also specifically designed to appeal to videographers attracted to the flexibility and visual quality of digital SLRs as video recorders.
More TBA.
The Tunnel Effect: My main complaint of many prosumer digitals SLRS and DEVILs including the 20D, Nikon D70, etc. is that the viewfinder magnification is low. The 35mm film equivalent magnification of the GH2 is 0.71x -- while this is high for a digital camera, it is low compared to full-frame or analog SLRs which are usually 1.0x. This low magnification is the cause of the "tunnel effect" when you look in the viewfinder of most DSLRs except the full-frame ones. Going from the gorgeous full-field viewfinder of a rangefinder such as the Leica M7 to the tunnel vision of a DEVIL is difficult for me to get used to. If you want the shock of your life, look in the viewfinder of something like a Leicaflex SL or Leica R9, these SLRs have the best viewfinders of any SLR I've ever seen, bar none.
Under testing...
Battery Life: Panasonic says you should get just over 300 images with the standard battery and kit lenses. Not the greatest battery life. They don't publish figures on battery life while video recording, I'll have to find that out myself.
I have the kit 14 - 140mm zoom lens from the GH2 as well as the 14-42mm lens for the DMC-G10.
Normally, I hate kit lenses, especially as Panasonic has only released one lens (the 14-140mm kit lens) that they consider "HD Video" ready, by which they mean that it has faster focusing and smoother apertures when doing video work. For videographers, we're really stuck with the 14-140mm for the most part.
I suppose you think I'll sing the praises of other micro-four-thirds lenses, but I won't. You should buy a MFT camera not because there are great MFT lenses (there are a few), but...
because you can put almost EVERY SINGLE classic camera lens on your MFT body with an adapter! Read on.
Lens Adapters:
The MFT lens mount is unique in that it has the shortest flange-back (also called registration) distance of any interchangeable lens camera. This means that you can buy lens adapters that will allow you to use almost every classic camera lens in existence. So far I've bought adapters in the following mounts:
These lens adapters do not need any optical correction in order to let you use the other manufacturer lenses on the Pansonic body. Just mount and load.
You do have to tell the GH2 to allow you to use it with "no lens attached" -- since there are no electrical contacts on the lenses, the body thinks that there is no lens on it. But once you make that setting, the camera turns on one additional feature -- automatic focus enhancement. When you are in lens-off mode and touch the rear control dial, the camera automatically zooms in digitally to allow you focus more precisely. A great feature, thanks Panasonic!
Technical Details
Camera Name
|
DMC-GF2 |
DMC-GH2
|
DMC-G2
|
---|---|---|---|
Manufacturer
|
Panasonic
|
||
Place of Manufacture
|
Japan
|
Japan
|
Japan
|
Date of Manufacture
|
2010.11~ | 2010.10~ | 2010.07~ |
Focusing System
|
Digital Interchangeable Lens |
Digital Interchangeable Lens
1.42 magnification w/50mm lens 0.71 magnification (35mm equiv) 100% viewfinder coverage 17.5 mm eyepoint relief 1,530,000 dots -4 to +4 diopter adj. |
Digital Interchangeable Lens
1.4 magnification w 50mm 0.7 magnification (35mm equiv) 100% viewfinder coverage 17.5 mm eyepoint relief 1,440,000 dots -4 to +4 diopter adj. |
Rear Monitor
|
Fixed 460,000 dots | Tilt-swivel 460,000 dots Touch-sensitive |
Tilt-swivel 460,000 dots Touch-sensitive |
Lens Mount
|
Micro Four-Thirds (MFT) Mount (Four-Thirds compatible with adapter) |
||
Shutter
|
Vertical focal plane shutter |
||
Shutter Rate
|
xx |
40 fps SH continuous shooting (4MP or smaller) 5 fps H continuous Unlimited JPEG maximum burst 7 RAW burst |
3.2 fps H continuous Unlimited JPEG maximum burst |
Metering System
|
Multizone TTL meter |
Multizone TTL meter |
Multizone TTL meter |
Flash
|
External hot shoe 1/160 sec X flash sync Built-in GN6 (meters; ISO 100) manual pop-up flash
|
External hot shoe 1/160 sec X flash sync Built-in GN15.6 (meters; ISO 200) manual pop-up flash
|
External hot shoe 1/160 sec X flash sync Built-in GN11 (meters; ISO 100) manual pop-up flash
|
Sensor |
4/3 Type MOS Sensitivity: ISO 100-3200 (6400 selectable) |
4/3 Type MOS 18×13.5 mm @ 3:2 (2.0x focal length equivalent) Sensitivity: ISO 160-12800 |
4/3 Type MOS Sensitivity: ISO 100-3200 (6400 selectable) |
Memory Card
|
SD, SDHC, SDXC
|
||
Microphone
|
On-board mic | On-board stereo mic 2.5mm external mic jack |
On-board mono mic 2.5mm external mic jack |
Video rate
|
On-board mic | AVCHD 1920x1080p @ 24fps (23 Mbps max) AVCHD 1920x1080i @ 60fps (17 Mbps max) |
On-board mono mic 2.5mm external mic jack |
Battery type
|
DMW-BLD10 | DMW-BLC12 | DMW-BLB13 |
Dimensions and weight
|
Body: 113 x 68 x 33 mm |
Body: 142 x 90 x 76 mm 394g (excluding battery) 609 g (w/ battery+ 14-42mm kit lens) 904 g (w/ battery+ 14-140mm kit lens) |
Body: 124 x 84 x 74 mm 371g (excluding battery) 593g (w/ battery+kit lens) |
Retail price
|
$xxx MSRP (body only) |
$1499 MSRP (body+14-140mm kit) |
$799 MSRP (14-42mm lens kit body) |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. |
Panasonic was basically unknown as a consumer camera manufacturer until it started producing its Lumix series in partnership with Leica. Panasonic designed the bodies and the sensors, while Leica provided its optical know-how on the lenses. Its been a very successful partnership on both sides -- although perhaps benefitting Panasonic much more than Leica.
|
by Karen Nakamura
The Pacemaker Speed Graphic was one of the longest produced large format cameras, produced from 1947 to 1970 (twenty-three years). In April of 2004, I bought this Baby Pacemaker Speed Graphic 2x3, which takes 120 roll film. It came new in the box with a roll film back and ground glass.
The Speedgraphics were made famous by press photographers in the 1950s, such as "Weegee" (Arthur Fellig). With their Speedgraphics with leaf-shutter lenses set to f/8 and large flash bulbs, you could quickly take a photograph of anything without even bothering to focus or set the shutter speed. Weegee is famous for his aphorism in response to how to take good press photos: "f/8 and be there."
Dating the Graphic: There was a modification made in 1955 that put the rangefinder on the top of the camera to make it easier to attach a side-flash. Since my rangefinder is on the side, it is thus from 1947-1955.
Furthermore, it's possible to use the Kodak lens serial number to get a year of production. My lens serial number begins with 'ES' which puts it at 1947. There are numerous charts on the web for doing this lookup.
The
Camera Name | Pacemaker 23 Speed Graphic | ||
---|---|---|---|
Manufacturer | Graflex
Inc. |
||
Place of Manufacture | Rochester,
NY |
||
Date of Manufacture | 1947-1955-1970 (my unit is a 1947-1955 model) |
||
Focusing System | Coupled Kalart Rangefinder |
||
Lens Mount | 2" x 2" lensboard |
||
Standard Lens | Kodak Ektar 105mm
f/3.7 (the lens serial # dates it as from 1947) |
||
Shutter | Dual
shutter system |
||
Flash |
|
||
Film type | Baby
models: 2.25" x 3.25", 3"x4" |
||
Dimensions and weight |
|
||
Note: Using the text, table, or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties.
|
On the Net
|
by Karen Nakamura
The Pacemaker Speed Graphic was one of the longest produced large format cameras, produced from 1947 to 1970 (twenty-three years). In August of 2003, I bought this Baby Pacemaker Speed Graphic, which takes 3x4" film. It came complete with several film holders and a flash. Later on, I found the original case for it at an auction.
The Speedgraphics were made famous by press photographers in the 1950s, such as "Weegee" (Arthur Fellig). With their Speedgraphics with leaf-shutter lenses set to f/8 and large flash bulbs, you could quickly take a photograph of anything without even bothering to focus or set the shutter speed. Weegee is famous for his aphorism in response to how to take good press photos: "f/8 and be there."
Dating the Graphic: There was a modification made in 1955 that put the rangefinder on the top of the camera to make it easier to attach a side-flash. My unit is thus from the 1947-1955.
Furthermore, it's possible to use the Kodak lens serial number to get a year of production. My lens serial number begins with 'EO' which puts it at 1946. There are numerous charts on the web for doing this lookup.
Camera Name | Anniversary
Speed Graphic |
Pacemaker Speed Graphic | |
---|---|---|---|
Manufacturer | Folmer
Graflex Corporation |
||
Place of Manufacture | Rochester,
NY |
||
Date of Manufacture | 1947-1955-1970 (my unit is a 1947-1955 model) |
||
Focusing System | Coupled Kalart Rangefinder |
||
Lens Mount | 4" x 4" lensboard |
||
Standard Lens | Kodak Ektar 127mm f/4.7 (the lens serial # dates it as from 1946) |
||
Shutter | Dual
shutter system |
||
Flash |
|
||
Film type | Baby
models: 2.25 x 3.25", 3"x4" |
||
Dimensions and weight |
|
||
Note: Using the text, table, or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties.
|
On the Net
|
Yashica RF history: Lynx 1000 - 5000 - 14 - 14e; Electro 35 - G - GS/GT - GSN/GTN; Electro GL - GX - MG1
Yashica Lynx 14
by
Karen Nakamura
The Yashica Lynx 14 is a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with a built-in coupled lightmeter for full-manual exposure and an astonishingly bright 50mm f1/.4 lens. The Lynx 14 was designed as an available light, high-end version of the Lynx 5000, which had a more mundane 45mm f/1.8 lens. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
The Lynx was released in 1965 by Yashica. The serial number of my body is #LIII 7121155 and it was made in Japan. The lens is a huge Yashinon DX 1:1.4 f=45mm lens made in Japan. It retailed in 1965 for ¥24,000. The exchange rate was fixed at ¥360/US$1 so that comes out to US$66. Taking inflation into account with the AIER calculator, that's $377 in 2002 dollars. So it was on the expensive side, perhaps a "prosumer" model, but certainly not out of the reach of the average person.
The Lynx 14 features a huge 50mm f/1.4 lens. Even now, that aperture lens is rare for a rangefinder, especially a fixed lens rangefinder. Furthermore, Yashica spared no expense, the lens is a 7 element, 5 group high quality design that is optimized for available light shooting. Because the lens is so large, the camera takes 58mm filters and weighs a ton (850g).
The Copal SVE shutter ranges from 1/500 to 1 seconds. It's not through-the-lens TTL metering, the metering cell is located by the rangefinder, right by the "Yashica" logo plate. Unlike the Electro series, the Lynx 14 shutter is fully mechanical and fully manual. Metering is match-needle with an analog needle (see photo below). The Lynx 14e ("IC" for Integrated Circuitry) which followed the Lynx 14 featured match-LED metering in much the same physical format.
The Lynx 14 takes the now discontinued PX 625 mercury batteries. I'm not sure if it is alkaline 1.5v compatible as I have my own stash of mercury batteries. My guess is that you'll most probably have to use an adaptor or adjust the ISO. See my battery page for more details.
The rangefinder is not only fully coupled (i.e., focusing the rangefinder focuses the lens) but it also has built-in parallax compensation. The common problem with rangefinders is that they aren't fully What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get because of the small amount of parallax difference between the rangefinder window and the taking lens. With the Yashica, as you focus closer, the viewfinder gridlines actually move to compensate for the amount of parallax. This is important when taking headshots or pictures of found objects.
Camera
Name |
Lynx 14 |
---|---|
Manufacturer |
Yashica |
Place
of Manufacture |
Body: Japan Lens: Japan |
Date
of Manufacture |
1965.4 ~ ? |
Focusing
System |
Fully coupled rangefinder with built-in parallax compensation Lens use helical focusing |
Fixed
Lens |
45mm, f/1.4, Yashinon DX lens (7 elements in 5 groups) Minimum focusing distance = 0.8 meters (~2.6 feet) Right focusing (infinity on right side) 58mm screw-in filter; 60mm push-on lens cap |
Shutter |
Copal SVE leaf shutter 1 secs - 1/500 (1 stop steps) X-flash sync at all speeds B setting |
Metering
System |
CdS
cell mounted on rangefinder EV ? - ? (at ISO 100) |
Apertures |
f/1.7
- f/16 stepless |
Flash |
External cold-shoe only PC cable connection X-M switch |
Film
type / speeds |
Type 135 film (35mm standard) ASA 10 to 800 |
Battery
type |
1.35v PX625 mercury-oxide (discontinued) |
Retail price |
¥24,000 (1965) |
Dimensions
and weight |
5 1/2" x 3 3/8 x 6 5/16"; 30 oz. |
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The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983.
|
Zeiss Ikon Contina
by Karen Nakamura
The Zeiss Ikon Contina is a simplified point-and-shoot made by the Zeiss Ikon corporation around 1956 (none of that complex rangefinder nonsense) as well as match-needle metering. Although this camera just says "Contina" it's more properly the Contina IIa (527/24). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
It featured a coupled-meter. You turn the shutter and aperture dials until the two needles align. It's a simple and effective system. The lens on the camera is a Nova-Anastigmat 45mm f/3.5.
Despite being a glorified point and shoot, the camera is incredibly well built, perhaps overbuilt. The inside the of camera is very solid. You could hit a mugger with this without leaving a dent in the solid chromework.
There's no rangefinder, you have to scale or zone focus.
Camera
Name |
Contina IIa (527/24) |
---|---|
Manufacturer |
Zeiss Ikon |
Place
of Manufacture |
West Germany |
Date
of Manufacture |
1956 |
Focusing
System |
Scale focusing Lens use helical focusing |
Fixed
Lens |
45mm, f/23.5, Novar-Anastigmat Minimum focusing distance = xx feet Right focusing (infinity on right side) |
Shutter |
Prontor SVS Shutter Flash sync at all speeds |
Metering
System |
Selenium
cell mounted on top right of camera body |
Apertures |
f/3.5 -
f/22 |
Flash |
Cold accessory
shoe mount on camera top |
Film
type / speeds |
Type 135
film (35mm standard) |
Battery
type |
hah! |
Dimensions
and weight |
|
Use of this chart, text, or any photographs in an eBay auction without permission will result in an immediate IP violation claim with eBay VeRO. Violators may have their eBay account cancelled. |
Zeiss Ikon was formed in 1926 out of the merger of five companies: Carl Zeiss/Jena A.G., ICA A.G., Erneman A.G., Goerz A.G, and Contessa-Nettel A.G.
Zeiss-Ikon was a huge corporation with offices in five cities in Germany and it offered a huge variety of cameras. Unfortunately, that was also its downfall. Various divisions competed against each other horribly and there was much, much reduplication of effort. It never really took advantage of its size.
Carl Zeiss, the main company, can actually trace its roots to 1846, to the very dawn of photography and is renowned for such designs as the Tessar and T* coating. Even now, Carl Zeiss lenses grace the very best cameras from Contax to Hasselblad.
In 1972, Zeiss formed into a partnership with Yashica Corporation of Japan. Zeiss now only does lens design and makes a small amount of photographic lenses. Yashica manufactures the Contax series of Zeiss cameras.
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Yashica RF history: Yashica Lynx 1000 - 5000 - 14 - 14e; Electro 35 - G - GS/GT - GSN/GTN; Electro GL - GX - MG1
Yashica Electro 35 GS/GT
by Karen Nakamura
The Yashica Electro 35 GS is a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with aperture-priority automatic exposure. The Electro 35 GS/GT was released in 1970 by Yashica. The lens is a Color-Yashinon DX 1:1.7 f=45mm lens made in Japan and is identical to the one on the Electro G that precedes it and the GSN that follows it. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
Oh, the difference between the GS vs. GT and the GSN and GTN is that the 'S' stands for silver chrome, while the 'T' stands for a black paint model. Collectors being the weird things they are (I'm a user not a collector), they value the black paint models more since they are more "professional." I can't tell the difference in the photos they took. Interestingly, the black bodied GT was actually cheaper than the silver GS (¥24,500 vs ¥27,000) because chrome is much more durable than paint.
The Yashica GS traces its lineage to the Yashica Lynx of 1960 (actually the Yashica 35 of 1958 is earlier, but the family resemblance is further). With the Electro 35 in 1968, the series added the new Copal-Electro shutter, which was electromagnetically controlled. The GS only existed for about 3 years. In 1973, Yashica added a hot-shoe and changed the design of the rewind lever and called it the GSN. Pretty minor if you ask me.
So... you might ask, what differentiates the GS from the GSN? Here's an evolution chart:
1966 Electro 35 | Original flagship model |
1968 Electro 35 G | + changes in cosmetic design + ASA now 12-500 + gold contacts |
1970 Electro 35 G (2nd ver) | + revised film door |
1970 Electro 35 GS | + cosmetic changes |
1973 Electro 35 GSN | + flash hotshoe + minor changes to rewind lever |
Note that there are "T" versions of the above (GT, GTN). The T indicates a black top plate as opposed to a chrome one. Source: Yashica-Guy et al. |
The Copal leaf shutter is entirely stepless from 1/500 to about 30 seconds. The camera is aperture-priority -- that is, you set the aperture from f/1.7 to f/16 and the camera will choose the shutter speed from 1/500 sec to 30 seconds automatically for you. It does not use through-the-lens (TTL) metering, the CdS cell is located to the right of the rangefinder, but it still does a great job. With negative film, I rarely have any imperfect exposures. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
Because it's a leaf shutter (the shutter diaphragm is located inside the lens unit rather than at the rear of the camera), the Yashica has all the benefits of leaf shutters:
If you're curious, the disadvantages of leaf shutters is:
But for fixed-lens rangefinders, leaf shutters are perfect.
The rangefinder on the GS is not only fully coupled (i.e., focusing the rangefinder focuses the lens) but it also has built-in parallax compensation. The common problem with rangefinders is that they aren't fully What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get because of the small amount of parallax difference between the rangefinder window and the taking lens. With the Yashica, as you focus closer, the viewfinder gridlines actually move to compensate for the amount of parallax. This is important when taking headshots or pictures of found objects.
GS/GTs take one 5.6v PX32 mercury battery, unfortunately these have been discontinued as have their PX32A alkaline counterparts. Fortunately, you can use a 6v PX28A alkaline battery which is readily available at any Walgreens or Radio Shack. The smaller PX28As last about a year of heavy use in my experience. The GSNs have a built in battery check feature which is very handy.
To the right, you can see the size difference between the PX28 and PX32. The spring that makes up the difference can be bought at any hardware store. I wrap the PX28 in a small cardboard tube (cut from a cereal box) to make up the diameter difference, put the PX28 in the camera, then follow with the spring to make up the difference in length. The camera handles the slight difference in voltage. More details are at Matt Denton's page.
Please note that I have noticed some unscrupulous vendors on eBay and MercardoLibre are plagiarizing this page. If you notice this page on eBay under anything except my eBay ID (nasukaren), please notify me and I will have eBay cancel the plagiarizer's account. It's plain fraud as they are not selling the cameras pictured (obviously since it's my camera).
Camera
Name |
Electro 35 GS |
---|---|
Manufacturer |
Yashica |
Place
of Manufacture |
Body:
Hong Kong |
Date
of Manufacture |
1970 ~ 1973 |
Focusing
System |
Fully
coupled rangefinder with built-in parallax compensation |
Fixed
Lens |
45mm,
f/1.7, Color-Yashinon lens (6 elements in 4 groups) |
Shutter |
Copal
shutter 30 (?) secs - 1/500 |
Metering
System |
CdS
cell mounted above next to rangefinder Lights on top of camera / rangefinder warn of under/over exposure conditions EV ? - ? (at ISO 100) |
Apertures |
f/1.7 - f/16 |
Flash |
External
accessory cold shoe + |
Film
type / speeds |
Type
135 film (35mm standard) |
Battery
type |
5.6v
PX32 (battery check feature) |
Dimensions
and weight |
697g |
Retail
price |
¥27,000 (1970) |
The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). They produced a very well regarded series of twin-lens-reflex (TLR) medium format cameras under the Yashica-Mat brand and 35mm rangefinders under the Yashica Electro name. Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983. For the next two decades, Kyocera continued to produce film cameras under the Contax marquee, including a very nice 35mm Contax SLR series (which used Zeiss lenses), a medium format system, and the Contax G1/G2 rangefinders (also with Zeiss glass).The Yashica name was only used for a small series of dental cameras and point and shoots. In March of 2005, Kyocera announced that it would cease production and sales of film and digital cameras under the Contax marquee. Thus ends 30 years of a wonderful camera line. The Contax name will most probably revert back to the Zeiss foundation, thus who knows what will happen in the future. Right now, the name "Yashica" appears to have been bought by a Chinese company for their inexpensive digital cameras.
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Yashica TL Electro
by Karen Nakamura
The Yashica TL Electro is a single-lens reflex (SLR) with interchangeable lenses sold by Yashica from 1972. It is almost an identical clone to the Pentax Spotmatic II, and uses the Pentax/Praktica M42 screw mount, which means you can use a wide variety of Pentax lenses as well as other brands. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
In fact the feature list makes this almost an identical clone of the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II: stop-down through the lens metering, full manual control of focus and shutter/aperture, flash hot shoe, etc. Even the layout is a practical clone of the Spotmatic. The only difference between this and a Spotmatic SPII that I can tell is that the TL Electro uses LEDs rather than the fragile analog needle of the Pentaxes. Having owned a Spotmatic SP for 15 years, I can tell you that that needle can and does break, so the LED is most probably more reliable over the long run.
With Spotmatics going for $200+, the TL Electro is an inexpensive way to get into the Pentax M42 system. This camera comes with the excellent quality Yashinon-DX 50mm f/1.7 standard lens and is perfect setup for a photography student who wants full control of her/his camera. This camera is built so solidly, I'd fully expect one to give another 15-30 years of dedicated service.
I purchased the TL Electro shown here as part of a larger lot of cameras from the estate of an elderly collector who had passed away. The body was in excellent shape,* clean, well preserved and in full working condition,. All of the shutter speeds including the often problematic 1 sec. shutter speed were absolutely spot on. The 1 second shutter speed sounded solid, with a smooth clockwork "whirrr." The leatherette was in great shape with no sign of peeling. This was not only an ideal collector's camera, it was also excellent for a student interested in photography who doesn't want to pay the now inflated prices for Spotmatics.
[The sticker inside reads: Fisher Photo 143 West Fourth Street, St. Paul Minnesota]
There are two models of the Yashica TL. One uses a single 6V PX28 battery and the other uses two 1.35v PX640 batteries. You have to determine which one your one is or you can risk burning out your camera if you use the wrong voltage. This page here gives more information: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~coreya/yashica/tlelectro.html
The meter is a standard center-weighted manual match-needle meter. It's coupled to the aperture and shutter speed, so you just dial in the correct settings until both the Up and Down arrow heads are ligted.
The camera that I bought came with an Auto Yashinon-DX 50mm f/1.7 lens. The front element is so recessed that it's protected from bumps and scratches -- and also obviates the need for a hood. It uses the standard Pentax/Praktica M42 mount so you can use it on your other Pentax screw mount cameras as well. It's a very nice lens that focuses down to 0.5 meters (1.5') for close-up photography.
Camera Name | TL Electro |
---|---|
Manufacturer | Yashica |
Place of Manufacture |
Body: Japan |
Date of Manufacture | 1972 |
Focusing System |
Single lens reflex |
Lens Mount |
Standard (Pentax) M42 screw mount |
Shutter |
Rubberized
focal plane curtain. |
Metering System |
CdS
cell mounted through the lens |
Flash |
External hot-shoe accessory option only PC cable connection for X sync flash |
Film type / speeds |
Type 135 film (35mm standard) ASA 12 to 1600 |
Battery type | PX640 x 2 batteries (2.7 volts); PX640A x 2 (alkaline) should be fine |
Dimensions and weight | |
Use of this chart, text, or any photographs in an eBay auction without permission will result in an immediate IP violation claim with eBay VeRO. Violators may have their eBay account cancelled. |
My Pentax Screw
Mount Lens Collection
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The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). They produced a very well regarded series of twin-lens-reflex (TLR) medium format cameras under the Yashica-Mat brand and 35mm rangefinders under the Yashica Electro name. Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983. For the next two decades, Kyocera continued to produce film cameras under the Contax marquee, including a very nice 35mm Contax SLR series (which used Zeiss lenses), a medium format system, and the Contax G1/G2 rangefinders (also with Zeiss glass).The Yashica name was only used for a small series of dental cameras and point and shoots. In March of 2005, Kyocera announced that it would cease production and sales of film and digital cameras under the Contax marquee. Thus ends 30 years of a wonderful camera line. The Contax name will most probably revert back to the Zeiss foundation, thus who knows what will happen in the future. Right now, the name "Yashica" appears to have been bought by a Chinese company for their inexpensive digital cameras.
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by Karen Nakamura
The Kuribayashi Petri 7s is a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera that was introduced in 1963. In the photo to the right, I juxtapose the 7s against its ancestor the Petri 35MX of 1955. Compared to its predecessor, the 7s is very advanced. It has ATL (around the lens) selenium metering with a match-needle visible both in the viewfinder as well as the top of the camera. From the 7s came the compact Petri Color 35, which was wildly popular when released in 1968. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
.
My Petri 7s is the 45mm f/2.8 version. They also apparently produced a 45mm f/1.8 version which I assume is much nicer in available light situations. I purchased mine in excellent condition from a dealer at an antique fair in Lake Elmo, MN in May of 2003.
Interesting quirks:
Petri called their rangefinder focusing system the "Green-O-Matic." The overall finder is tinged green while the coincident focusing area is yellow. This makes focusing much easier. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
The match-needle system was called the "Circle-Eye System." Because the selenium cells circle the lens, they automatically compensate for any filters or the tele/wide extensions used.
The Petri 7s doesn't have the Kuribayashi name visible anywhere because the Kuribayashi Camera Company changed their name to the Petri Camera Company in 1962. This is quite sad as I was fond of the company name (see below). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
Camera
Name |
Petri 7s | |
---|---|---|
Manufacturer |
Petri Camera Company | |
Place
of Manufacture |
Japan |
|
Date
of Manufacture |
1963~1976 | |
Focusing
System |
Fully
coupled rangefinder |
|
Lens |
45mm
f/2.8 (4 elements in 3 groups?) |
45mm f/1.8 (6 elements?) coated 52mm filter thread mount |
Shutter |
Petri
MVE leaf (in-lens) shutter |
|
Metering
System |
Around the lens (ATL) selenium manual metering cell |
|
Apertures |
f/2.8~16 |
f/1.8~16 |
Flash |
"Cold"
flash shoe |
|
Film
type / speeds |
Standard 135 (35mm) film |
|
Battery
type |
n/a | |
Dimensions
and weight |
132 x 79 x 72mm xxxg |
132 x 79 x 72mm 635g |
Retail
price |
$59.50 (1963) | ¥18500 (1965) $79.50 (1963) |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
The company name means "Acorn Grove" and they are actually one of the older Japanese camera manufacturers. They started up in 1907 making accessories and went bankrupt in 1977. They made a bunch of plate cameras, folding roll film cameras, rangefinders, and finally SLRs. Like the Miranda Camera Company, they couldn't make the step up to mass production and electronization and competition from Nikon and Canon.
The mid-fifties seems to have been a good time for Japanese camera manufacturers. The occupation had ended in 1952. One of the side-effects of Germany's defeat was that all of their camera patents and innovations were put in the public domain. Things like lens coating and specialized lens designs pioneered by Zeiss could now be used by everyone. Furthermore, the German camera industry was in disarray as the Zeiss factories in Jena were taken by the East Germans but the engineers and opticians had fled to West Germany. In the brief period from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, there were many small Japanese camera companies producing quality equipment.
Unfortunately in 1955, Leica came out with the M3 and changed the scene for rangefinder cameras. The M3 set such a high bar that most of the leading Japanese manufacturers (Canon and Nikon) abandoned their rangefinder lines and decided to compete with SLRs instead. Kuribayashi was actually the first Japanese companyu to come out with an SLR, but the smaller Japanese companies couldn't keep up with the rapid pace of innovation in the 1960s by the larger corporations like Asahi, Canon, and Minolta and died out. Kuribayashi filed for final bankruptcy in 1977.
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Voigtländer Bessa
by Karen Nakamura
The original Voigtländer Bessa is a classic folding medium format camera. I bought mine at an antique show in Roseville, MN in the summer of 2002.
This Bessa I, produced from 1931-49, is scale focusing, which means you guesstimate the distance to your subject. The Bessa RF of 1936/1948 and Bessa II of 1950 had coupled rangefinders, which is nicer but raises the price of the camera several times over on the used market. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
The Bessa came with four lens options, in increasing quality: Voigtar, Vaskar, Skopar, and the Color Skopar. There were also three leaf shutter options, also in increasing quality: Prontor, Compur, Compur Rapid.
This camera came with the cheapest Voigtar, but I have to say I like the slightly dreamy, low-contrast image it provides. It's a welcome antidote to the hyper-contrasty, hyper-sharp images produced nowadays. And you can contact print the 6x9 negatives, they are so large. I have the feeling this unit was produced before the war because the lens appears uncoated (although surprisingly in pristine condition).
There are actually two ways to frame a photo with the Bessa. You can use the eye-level sports finder (shown popped out on the right) or the waist level finder in portrait or landscape orientations (shown above the lens at the 1 o'clock position).
There is no sophisticated winding mechanism on this camera. You simply wind the film until the next backing paper mark appears through the red window on the back of the camera. No double-exposure prevention, of course.
One of the things the Voigtländer company was famous was for recycling trademarks. The Bessa name was applied onto a variety of cameras, some of which shared no common lineage. Although Voigtländer bankrupted in the 1970s, the company that took over its name in the late 1990s (Ringfoto) continues the tradition -- of recycling product names. They just licensed the name to Cosina, which has come out with a very nice line of 35mm rangefinders using the Bessa moniker, just be assured that they have zilch to do with the classic, first Voigtländer Bessa folders.
Camera
Name |
Bessa I |
---|---|
Manufacturer |
Voigtländer |
Place
of Manufacture |
Germany / West Germany |
Date
of Manufacture |
1931-1949 |
Focusing
System |
Hah! Measure the distance to the subject and use scale focusing. |
Fixed
Lens |
110mm f/4.5 Anastigmatic Voigtar |
Shutter |
Compur leaf shutter |
Metering
System |
none |
Apertures |
f/4.5 - f/22 (no click stops) |
Flash
Connection |
|
Film
type / speeds |
Type 120
film (medium format) |
Battery
type |
hah! |
Dimensions
and weight |
|
Note: Using the text, table, or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
Voigtländer is one of the oldest names in camera history. It was founded in 1756 to produce optical instruments, from 1840 it started to make cameras and lenses. 1902 saw plate cameras. The Schering Gruppe takes over Voigtländer in 1924, then the Zeiss Ikon conglomerate took it over in 1956. In 1970, Zeiss Ikon and Voigtlander merge fully with Zeiss building cameras and Voigtlander only the lenses. In 1974 Rollei acquires the name with Voigtlander shutting down the next year. In the 1990s, the Japanese company Cosina licenses the name from the owner (Ringfoto) and produces a series of 35mm Leica-copy rangefinders and lenses under the Voigtländer marquee.
Zeiss: Zeiss Ikon was formed in 1926 out of the merger of five companies: Carl Zeiss/Jena A.G., ICA A.G., Erneman A.G., Goerz A.G, and Contessa-Nettel A.G. Zeiss-Ikon was a huge corporation with offices in five cities in Germany and it offered a huge variety of cameras. Unfortunately, that was also its downfall. Various divisions competed against each other horribly and there was much, much reduplication of effort. It never really took advantage of its size. Carl Zeiss, the main company, can actually trace its roots to 1846, to the very dawn of photography and is renowned for such designs as the Tessar and T* coating. Even now, Carl Zeiss lenses grace the very best cameras from Contax to Hasselblad.
In 1972, Zeiss formed into a partnership with Yashica Corporation of Japan. Zeiss now only does lens design and makes a small amount of photographic lenses. Yashica manufactures the Contax series of Zeiss cameras.
]]>
by Karen Nakamura
The Isolette is an inexpensive post-war German folding medium format camera built between 1951 and 1954. It featured scale focusing and a halfway decent Agna 85mm f/4.5 lens.
It's pictured here with the Agfalux flash unit which uses #5 bulbs. The bulb here is a #5B which is daylight balanced. The #5s are astoundingly bright, enough to sear the eyebulbs of all your friends and enemies. The Agfalux folds up into a nice compact unit seen below.
Many guidebooks and collectors mistakenly identify these cameras as Jsolettes. The 'I' in script looks very much like a 'J' which accounts for that mistake. However, if you find a 'Isorette'* cameras, this is the first type of Isolette before the name change and is valuable.
* I like to kid that the 'Isorette' was the Japanese market model. Hahaha. I'm Japanese so I can make those sorts of jokes.
The Isolette series of cameras had a long history. The first Isolette was produced in 1938 and the last Super Isolette (with coupled rangefinder) was made between 1954-1960. The sixties brought the demise of the medium format rangefinder and the introduction of compact 35mm rangefinders and SLRs.
Nonetheless, folded up the Isolette is not much bigger than a Kodak Retina IIIc (a 35mm folding rangefinder) and could easily be describable as "pocketable" - more so than even the smallest Canon EOS.
The shutter uses an inexpensive Vario leaf shutter. The body appears to be made of aluminium. There is no double exposure prevention on it, so you can make ghost images to your heart's content. When you wind film, you must observe the little red window on the back and align numbers. Quite a simple mechanism, which means that most of these units still work.
There were three choices or grades of lenses from worst to best. With the 3-element lenses, stopping down to f/8 or f/11 will yield the best results. The 4-element Solinar is an excellent lens.
Camera
Name |
Isolette I | |
---|---|---|
Manufacturer |
Agfa | |
Place
of Manufacture |
Germany |
|
Date
of Manufacture |
1951-54 | |
Focusing
System |
Scale focusing |
|
Lens |
Agnar
85mm f/4.5 3 elements
in 3 groups |
|
Shutter |
Vario leaf shutter: 1/xx sec. - 1/xxx sec + B |
|
Metering
System |
n/a |
|
Apertures |
f/4.5-f/xx (x stop steps) |
|
Flash |
M
and X PC-type flash connection on lens |
|
Film
type / speeds |
Type
120 (medium format) |
|
Battery
type |
n/a | |
Dimensions
and weight |
xx
W x xx H x xx D mm |
|
Retail
price |
Agfa actually has quite a long history. It was formed in 1873 as the "Actien Gesellschaft für Anilin Fabrikation." Agfa USA joined with the Ansco corpation in 1928 (before the War for the history-impaired) and produced a series of Agfa-Ansco cameras, mostly inexpensive consumer models. After the war, they quickly jumped back in the camera (and film) business and produced a number of inexpensive consumer cameras under both the Agfa and Ansco marquees. Some time in the 1970s, the brand died, but I don't have more information on that.
On the Net |
by Karen Nakamura
The Contaflex IV is a leaf-shuttered 35mm single-lens reflex camera made by Zeiss-Ikon in West German between 1957-59.The camera uses a fixed 50mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. The lens is coated and the photos from this camera truly zing. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
I purchased mine in excellent condition at an antique fair at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in June of 2002.The body serial number is 32671xx and the lens serial number is 23245xx.
I love this camera! It has a very nice to feel it. It's small but heavy because it's made out of solid brass and steel. There's nothing like winding a German camera. It has a smoothness that is incomparable. The shutter has a resounding click and phew! It just feels like you're working with something quality. And this was their consumer series! I can only imagine what a Contarex would feel like.
OK, enough about the mechanics. The photos taken from this camera glow. Even though they were made 40 years ago, the lenses easily parallel the ones from my Canon EOS system. Not much has changed in basic optics in the last half century, the good lenses are still good.
p.s. It makes sense that the "feel" of the Zeiss photos are similar to that of my Canon. According to one mythology I heard, Canon imitated the "feel" of Zeiss lenses while Nikon went for the feel of Leitz/Leica lenses. Even now, you can tell that they are just subtly differently flavored.
The mirror is non-auto-return. This means that when you release the shutter, the mirror flips up, the view screen goes black and remains that way. I think this is why you see these cameras going for much less than they should - most people think they're broken!
Because the Contaflex uses Synchro-Compur leaf shutter, it can flash-synchronize at all speeds up to its maximum of 1/500.
Because the German engineers thoughtfully put a steel protective cap on the selenium meters, the meter still works on my unit. It's about 1 stop out of linearity over its whole range but that's not too bad.
The front element of the 50mm lens can be removed and alternate focal lengths installed. Since the rear elements remain the same, there are limitations but this was a wonderful way to be able to retain the Synchro-Compur leaf shutter while also offering lens interchangeability.
Camera
Name |
Contaflex IV |
---|---|
Manufacturer |
Zeiss Ikon |
Place
of Manufacture |
West Germany |
Date
of Manufacture |
1957-59 |
Focusing
System |
Single-lens reflex design Lens use helical focusing |
Fixed
Lens |
50mm, f/2.8, Carl Zeiss Tessar lens Minimum focusing distance = 0.75 meters (~2.5 feet) Left focusing (infinity on left side) |
Shutter |
Synchro-Compur shutter 1 sec - 1/500 B settings X-flash sync at all speeds V - X - M switch for "V-Self-timer" "X-electronic flash" and "M-bulb flash" |
Metering
System |
Selenium
cell mounted on top left of camera body, protected by a flip-up metal
cap. EV 3-18 |
Apertures |
f/2.8 - f/22 |
Flash |
PC cable connection No cold flash mount on pentaprism but this can be bought as an after-market item. |
Film
type / speeds |
Type 135 film (35mm standard) ASA 25 to 800 |
Battery
type |
hah! |
Dimensions
and weight |
|
Use of this chart, text, or any photographs in an eBay auction without permission will result in an immediate IP violation claim with eBay VeRO. Violators may have their eBay account cancelled. |
Zeiss Ikon was formed in 1926 out of the merger of five companies: Carl Zeiss/Jena A.G., ICA A.G., Erneman A.G., Goerz A.G, and Contessa-Nettel A.G.
Zeiss-Ikon was a huge corporation with offices in five cities in Germany and it offered a huge variety of cameras. Unfortunately, that was also its downfall. Various divisions competed against each other horribly and there was much, much reduplication of effort. It never really took advantage of its size.
Carl Zeiss, the main company, can actually trace its roots to 1846, to the very dawn of photography and is renowned for such designs as the Tessar and T* coating. Even now, Carl Zeiss lenses grace the very best cameras from Contax to Hasselblad.
In 1972, Zeiss formed into a partnership with Yashica Corporation of Japan. Zeiss now only does lens design and makes a small amount of photographic lenses. Yashica manufactures the Contax series of Zeiss cameras.
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Yashica RF history: Lynx 1000 - 5000 - 14 - 14e; Electro 35 - G - GS/GT - GSN/GTN; Electro GL - GX- MG1
Yashica Electro 35 GX
by Karen Nakamura
The Yashica Electro 35 GX is a small coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with aperture-priority automatic exposure. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
Released in 1975, 2 years after the Electro GSN (1973), the GX was the last of the Electro series and was placed at the top-class (it was also the most expensive). I have the feeling the GX was designed as the compact version of the GSN rather than as its replacement, as they were both manufactured during much of the same period. Unfortunately, sales of the GX must have been rather weak as it's very rare. It's a great little camera, so if you find one for sale, buy it!
The GX was smaller and lighter (697g=>580g; 17%) than the GSN. Furthermore, the lens is a 40mm f/1.7 rather than a 45mm f/1.7. I prefer the slightly wider angle of view of the 40mm. Some say that the 40mm was designed with the help of Zeiss/Contax, but that's only a rumor I heard on the web. Sigh... If only it were a f/1.4 instead of an f/1.7! Oh well, you can't have it all.
The other main beef is that the GX only takes up to ASA 800 film. Why design the perfect low-light camera and not have it compatible with ASA 3200 film such as Kodak's TMax P3200?
The lens on the camera really sparkles and is excellent in moderate to low-light. It's my camera of choice for street, available light indoor and twilight photography. This camera replaces the Yashica Electro 35 GSN that I've been using for casual street photography. My main beef with the GSN was that it was too big and heavy for carrying in your pocket. I loved everything about it but it just took up too much space (might as well bring the Canon EOS-3).
Unfortunately the GX's lens suffers from contrast reducing flare in direct sunlight (backlit situations, etc.). It really needs an auxiliary lens hood. B&H Photo has a $4.95 generic brand rubber hood that will fit the 52mm screw-in filter mount. I tried it but it covers too much of the viewfinder view. So it doesn't look like there's a good way to avoid flare except to not take this camera outdoors in the sun.
GX lens shade photographs courtesy of the NotReality.org blog |
Yashica Lens Shade
The hood for the Yashica GX is pretty rare. Cameron Stephen (who writes the NotReality.org blog) has kindly given me permission to use his photograph of his GX with the hood as well as a photograph of the box with the hood itself. Thanks!
p.s. René Olde Olthof wrote in saying: I read that you were looking for a lenshood for the Yashica GX. A tip from a GSN owner: try an Olympus lenshood for the f1,2/55mm lens. It's a rigid slip over hood with a fastening screw on the side. Fits perfectly well on my GSN. Thanks for the tip, René!
As mentioned above, the Electro 35 GX was released in 1975 by Yashica and was made until 1980. The serial number of my body is #8030000x and was made in Japan. The lens is a Color-Yashinon DX 1:1.7 f=40mm lens made in Japan. The GX retailed in 1975 for ¥35,000. The exchange rate was approx ¥292/US$1in 1975 so that comes out to US$119. Taking inflation into account with the AIER calculator, that's $400 in 2002 dollars. By the end of the model run in 1980, the yen-dollar rate had plummeted to about ¥200/$ but inflation in the U.S. intervened which made it $175 in 1980, or $381 in 2002 dollars. To put it into modern perspective, the GX was more expensive than a point-and-shoot, but was about the same price as a low-end SLR designed to introduce people into 'serious' photography. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
Ultimately, the GSN outlived the GX by 7 years. The GX was discontinued in 1980 after only 5 years of production, while the GSN lived on until 1987.
I purchased my GX at an auction in North Saint Paul, MN in January of 2003 for such ridiculously low price that I can't print it here (I was the only bidder). In the real world, GXs are pretty rare especially ones that are in mint condition like mine. I guess I was super-lucky. My Yashica rangefinder collection is now looking pretty complete: Electro 35, Electro G, Electro 35 GSN, 35 GX, MG-1, and the Lynx 14. There are more - the GL and the black GTN and GT - but they don't have much appeal for me right now. I guess after briefly owning 4 GSNs at the same time due to a quirk in the fabric of the universe, I'm getting a big of G-astric indigestion.
The Copal shutter is entirely stepless from 1/500 to 30 seconds. It's not TTL metering but ATL (above the lens) - the silicon cell is located on right above the lens on the lens mount, but it does a great job. Because the silicon cell is right above the lens, you can use filters (including polarizing, etc.) without having to make filter corrections like on its older brother, the GSN. The Copal shutter goes up to 30seconds automatically. It's too bad they removed the 'B' bulb setting from the GSN though.
The rangefinder is not only fully coupled (i.e., focusing the rangefinder focuses the lens) but it also has built-in parallax compensation. The common problem with rangefinders is that they aren't fully What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get because of the small amount of parallax difference between the rangefinder window and the taking lens. With the Yashica G series, as you focus closer, the viewfinder gridlines actually move to compensate for the amount of parallax. This is important when taking headshots or pictures of found objects. As far as I know, the GX is one of the most compact rangefinders with parallax correction (perhaps the Minolta CLE is smaller?). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
The camera uses discontinued 1.35v PX640 mercury batteries. You can still find PX640s but they are pretty expensive and usually expired. There are alkaline PX640As, but they are $10 each at B&H. Instead, I'm using two LR44 1.55v alkaline batteries ($2-3 each) with a generous amount of tinfoil padding. It seems to work fine and it's what other people are doing with their Hi-matics. Check my battery page for other solutions for PX-640s.
Camera Name | Electro 35 GX |
---|---|
Manufacturer | Yashica |
Place of Manufacture |
Body:
Japan |
Date of Manufacture | 1975.7 ~ 1980.8 |
Focusing System |
Fully
coupled rangefinder with built-in parallax compensation |
Fixed Lens |
40mm (AoV 56°), f/1.7, Color-Yashinon DX lens (6 elements in 4 groups) Minimum focusing
distance = 0.8 meters (~2.6 feet) 52mm screw-in filters; 54mm slip on cap |
Shutter |
Copal shutter 30 secs - 1/500 X-flash sync at all speeds 8 sec. self-timer on lens mount |
Metering System |
Silicon
cell mounted above lens Lights on top of camera / rangefinder warn of under/over exposure conditions EV 0 - 17 (at ISO 100) |
Apertures |
f/1.7 - f/16 |
Flash |
External
hot-shoe and PC cable connection. |
Film type / speeds |
Type 135 film (35mm standard) ASA 25 to 800 |
Battery type |
2
x 1.35v PX640 mercury cells (w/battery check feature) |
Dimensions and weight | 123 X 75.7 X 64mm; 580 grams |
Retail price | ¥35,000 in 1975 |
Copyright © 2005-7 Karen Nakamura / Photoethnography.com. Use of this chart, text, or any photographs in an eBay auction without permission will result in an immediate copyright violation claim with eBay VeRO. Violators may have their eBay account cancelled. |
The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). They produced a very well regarded series of twin-lens-reflex (TLR) medium format cameras under the Yashica-Mat brand and 35mm rangefinders under the Yashica Electro name. Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983. For the next two decades, Kyocera continued to produce film cameras under the Contax marquee, including a very nice 35mm Contax SLR series (which used Zeiss lenses), a medium format system, and the Contax G1/G2 rangefinders (also with Zeiss glass).The Yashica name was only used for a small series of dental cameras and point and shoots. In March of 2005, Kyocera announced that it would cease production and sales of film and digital cameras under the Contax marquee. Thus ends 30 years of a wonderful camera line. The Contax name will most probably revert back to the Zeiss foundation, thus who knows what will happen in the future. Right now, the name "Yashica" appears to have been bought by a Chinese company for their inexpensive digital cameras.
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The Hasselblad 500 series is a very successful line of single-lens reflex medium format cameras made by the Hasselbald Corporation of Sweden, using German-made Carl Zeiss lenses with built-in leaf shutters. There are two lines in the 500-series: the non-motorized 500C series and the motorized 500EL series. The motorized 500 EL series was widely used by studio photographers because it afforded excellent optics and great high-speed flash synchronization with the ease of a motor drive and remote control switch. The EL cameras are a bit heavy for handheld use. I wouldn't recommend one as your only 'blad but they make a nice second body for studio use. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.
This page covers just the motorized Hasselblad 500 EL body. If you want more information about the non-motorized 500C, 500CM, etc., want more information about lenses, backs or prisms, or aren't familiar with the Hasselblad 500 system as a whole, then please go to my Hasselblad 500 system page first for background reading. If you want more information about the focal-plane medium format series, go to my Hassselblad 200/2000 series page.
Like the non-motorized 500 series, the Hasselblad EL is a system camera. This means that almost everything is interchangeable: lens, prism/finder, and film back. This allows for tremendous flexibility. The square 6x6 format (56mm x 56mm) on medium format film makes the most of the image circle from smaller lens, means that you do not have to turn the camera sideways for portrait photographs, and allows for cropping flexibility later on. It also allows for 12 shots on a standard 120 roll; or 16 on a 120 roll using a 6x4.5 format back. For more information on film backs, please go to the Hasselblad 500 page, I also have a dedicated page for metered and non-metered Hassselblad prism finders.
Some people (most notably school photographers) used to use long-roll 70mm film backs on their motorized Hasselblads because they could get 200+ shots from a roll. But 70mm film is becoming increasingly hard to obtain and develop. As a result, 70mm film backs are very inexpensive on the used market. I would not recommend getting one, however, unless you can secure film for it at a reasonable cost.
History of the 'Blad
You can read about the early Hasselblad history on my Hasselblad 500 series page. In fact, you might want to go there right now before returning here.
The first motorized 500 model, the 500EL, came out in 19xx it was was made until 1970.The next model, the 500 EL/M, was produced from 1970 until 1989. The 'M' means Modified. One of the major changes was user-replaceable focusing screens. In the photograph right, you can see the two tabs that hold the screen in. Pushing these outwards with your fingernail allows the screen to pop out.
Much later on (in the late 1980s), Hasselblad replaced the older Hasselblad screens in the 500C/Ms with the brighter Minolta-made Acute-Matte fresnel focusing screen. You can recognize the second-generation Acute-Matte D screens by the two small D-shaped notches in the bottom right or left corner (barely visible in bottom right corner of the screen in the photo above). Many photographers with 500EL/Ms replaced their older dimmer screens with Acute Mattes when they came out, so you'll find many 500EL/Ms with them. Ask before buying, though!
The 500 ELs took a special ni-cad rechargeable battery that isn't sold anymore, but you can buy adapters so that it can take a 9v alkaline battery or lithium CR-P2 or 2CR5 battery instead. You can see an example of such an adapter to your right here.
After the 500 EL/M, there were other models in the motorized 500 line, most with relatively minor revisions and some features removed for cost-cutting purposes. The 503EL/X with TTL OTF (through-the-lens off the film) metering was a god-send for some wedding photographers who shoot PJ (photo-journalist) style using wide, tele or other non-standard lenses; but it's not that critical (non-TTL auto-flash works well enough for most of us).
The latest EL model, the 500 EL/D was designed especially for digital film backs. It's still quite popular for this purpose, so they are much more rarer on the secondary market.
I believe the 500EL/M is the minimum model you should buy used. The 500EL models are now almost 40 years old and some were used pretty heavily in studio settings. Some are in good shape, but others need CLAs (clean-lube-adjusts). An Acute-Matte screen costs about $100-300 separately (depending on its vintage, D's are more expensive) so try to buy a 500EL/M which has one already installed. A good condition 500EL/M body should cost you less than $500, often much less.
Model | Years | C Equiv | Features |
500 EL | 1957-1969 | 500C | + in-lens leaf shutters |
500 EL/M | 1970-1989 | 500C/M | + user-interchangeable focusing screens - body flash synchronization removed |
500 EL/X | 1989- | 503CX | + TTL OTF flash metering |
500 EL/D | + Digital ready | ||
503CXi | + winder capability |
||
1994- | 501C | + new tripod mount - body cocked indicator removed - film removable crank removed |
|
1996- | 503 CW | + winder capability + gliding mirror system (GMS) to prevent vignetting in focusing with lens longer than 80mm |
|
1997- | 501CM | 501 C: + gliding mirror system (GMS) to prevent vignetting in focusing with lens longer than 80mm |
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Note: Using the text, images, or charts on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay or your ISP if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
Using a Hasselblad 500 EL
Using a 500 EL series camera is practically the same as a 500 series, the only difference is that you don't have to wind the film yourself. In the Hasselblad 500 series, the camera body is just the body, it provides very little functionality other than a mirror and film crank. With the mirror crank replaced by the motor drive, there isn't much left to do on the 500EL.
Right hand side of the camera: The main dial controls the motorized winding and mirror behavior: O = Single-shot (normal mode) |
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Right side of the camera (bottom half):
The L-O-T switch... The DIN-type connector on the right side is for running the camera on mains power. You need an adaptor which provides 500 mA at 6VDC and remove the internal batteries. Because the 500 EL motor always cocks the shutter automatically after each exposure, the EL doesn't have the lens-body jamming problem that occassionally crops up with the 500C series when you forget to cock the shutter properly each time. |
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Front right side of the camera:
The main shutter release button is located on the front right side of the camera (as you hold it). You can easily trip it with your right hand index finger. Above the shutter release button is a socket for the remote shutter release cord. Since the EL series is designed to be used in the studio on tripods, you'll want to use a remote release much of the time. Hasselblad sold remote releases with varying cord lengths. These are now getting a little bit difficult to find and since the connector is proprietary, it's hard to bodge together your own. |
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Left Side: The left side of the camera is relatively sparse. If you remove the battery cover on the bottom half, you can see where the two rather large proprietary NiCad batteries for the EL fit. You can either use one or two batteries at the same time. In general, since the batteries are wired in parallel, you want to make sure to have two batteries with the same amount of charge in them. Or just use one battery at a time -- it's safer that way. As mentioned above, the NiCad batteries used on the EL were proprietary and are now hard to obtain. It's much better to get a battery replacement kit so that you can use 9V alkaline or 6V lithium batteries instead. These are widely available on the internet or ebay. |
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Dating a Hasselblad
Don't go on a blind date and buy a camera that you don't know its age! You can date the manufacture of your Hasselblad bodies and backs using the following serial number
code. Using the first two letters of the serial number and converting them against the chart, I find that my 500EL body (serial #USExxxxx) was made in 1970; my 500C/M in 84 (#RI1293xxx);
and my film back (serial #UC47xxxx) in 1975:
V |
H |
P |
I |
C |
T |
U |
R |
E |
S |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Just as important as the age is how many rolls went through it. Cameras don't like to be abused - so don't buy a camera that's been retired from a professional photography studio. Cameras also don't like to not be used, so don't buy a shrinkwrapped camera from 1970 and expect it to work (keep it for its collectible value in the shrinkwrap). The best used camera is from a retired dentist who would use it once every few weeks to take a few snapshoots and otherwise babied it.
Dating Lenses: You can also date the lens manufacture for C and C T* lenses. Zeiss doesn't use Hasselblad's VHPICTURES, but if you take the lens off the camera and look at the rear element, there should be a 3-digit or 4-digit number in red lettering on the shroud. You may have to focus the lens to infinity or to the closest focus distance in order to reveal it. This is the manufacturing date code. In order to decode it:
So my 50mm Distagon has a date code of '806'. This means it was made in June of 1965. My 80mm C T* has a date code of '1605'. This means it was made in May of 1973.
CF lenses use a different code: one letter and two digits. The letter is the month (A=Jan; B = Feb; C=March; D= April) and the two digits are the year flipped. So 28 = 82 = 1982. So F58 = June 1985.
I haven't discovered the code for CFE lenses yet.
Camera
Name |
500 EL | 503 CW |
---|---|---|
Manufacturer |
Hasselblad |
|
Place
of Manufacture |
Sweden |
|
Date
of Manufacture |
1970-1989 | 1996~ |
Focusing
System |
Single-lens reflex |
|
Early: Hasselblad screen Late: Minolta Acute-Matte focusing screen |
Gliding Mirror System (prevents vignetting) |
|
Lens
Mount |
Hasselblad Bayonet Mount |
|
Body Shutter |
None |
|
Winding Mechanism |
Built-in motor-drive only |
Manual crank or optional auto-winder CW (max 1 fps) |
Metering
System |
No body internal metering (see meters above) |
|
Flash Metering |
None (flash auto-mode only) |
TTL/OTF center-weighted through SCA flash module |
Film
type / speeds |
Type 120 and 220 film
(medium format) as well as 70mm long-roll |
|
Battery
type |
hah! |
|
Dimensions
and weight |
Body: xx x xx x xx mm xxg. |
Body: 180 x 114 x 110 mm 620g. With 80mm Planar T* lens and 120 magazine: 1550g. |
Note: Using the text or images on this site in an ebay auction without permission is a violation of your ebay Terms of Service. I will report you to ebay if I discover such a violation taking place. This may result in your account being cancelled. I also reserve the right to file claim for civil penalties. |
Blah blah blah... from a press-release:
2003-01-30 Shriro acquires Hasselblad, the Swedish camera manufacturer. The Shriro Group acquires the majority shareholding in Victor Hasselblad AB. The purchase agreement was announced today at a press conference at the Hasselblad premises in the centre of Gothenburg.
Shriro is a 90 year old family business with production and distribution of several well-known and worldwide brands. The company has its major operation in the Asian Pacific region. The head-office is situated in Hong Kong and Shriro employs around 3,800 people in 13 countries and has a turnover of more than 2.5 billion Swedish Kronor, equal to 300 million US dollars.
- Shriro is well-known to Hasselblad, and has succeeded very well in selling our products into the key markets in Asia, says G?eY?Lan Bernhoff, President and CEO of Victor Hasselblad AB. Shriro is our distributor in several key Asian markets and has, amongst other things shown its capability together with Hasselblad in developing the Japanese and Chinese markets as major outlets for Hasselblad.The Hasselblad family started its company in 1841. Since mid 1870 Hasselblad has had its centre of operations in the same building downtown Gothenburg. In May this year the company will move to new office and production premises in a newly established high-tech industrial and university area, named Norra a^?vstranden, Gothenburg.
The company has recently carried through a successful, worldwide launch of a new unique camera system, built for traditional film as well as digital photography. The H1camera, which took nearly 6 years to develop from "idea" to a "finished product", opens up new markets for Hasselblad. Deliveries of the new system started in December 2002.
Hasselblad today has the most wide spread camera system in the world within the medium format, the so-called V system. This system originates from 1948 and will also in the future be an important part of the sales.
During the latter part of the 90:s Hasselblad has gone through extensive structural changes and when the company moves into the new premises the efficiency gain will be substantial. This move marks the completion of this period of manufacturing and product renewal, and the company is now ready to embark into a new era.
On August 12, 2004, Hasselblad surprised everyone by merging with digital image sensor developer Imacon. The new company will be called Hasselblad Imacon. This is very good news as Imacon is one of the leading vendors of digital backs for medium format systems. This means that we can expect even better incorporation of digital technology into Hasselblad's cameras (most probably only their H1 line since the V system seems to be a dead end).
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