Pentacon K16

A pocket camera from the GDR. It has the same image size as the usual pockets, but sadly it uses a different cassette size and transportation system. So until I can get some old film - no examples. The lens is fixfocus with fixed aperture (8). Four weather settings according to the shutter speeds 1/30-60-125-250 can be chosen. The camera has a real B-setting and a standard hot shoe. Nice features, but the film ... Update: I removed the lens and built a snapshot lens for my Lumix G1: Photos are here: Pentacon 27mm

Fuji Quicksnap Tele

The Quicksnap Tele is a disposable camera with a 100mm telephoto lens. The lightpath seems to be folded twice by mirrors to hold the body small. My model was distributed as a gift. Fuji recommendes the use under sunlight or stadium-light. For the use in sunlight the camera has a built-in grey-filter in the finder (eye protection?) and a smaller f-stop. The camera comes loaded with Superia 800 and has a surprisingly good lens quality.


The example was shot against the sun. I had expected more flare or reflections.

Voigtländer VF 101 (I)

A metal rangefinder-camera from the year 1974. Color-Skopar 2,8/40mm; aperture-priority AE with speeds from 4s-1/500s. Aperture and speed are shown in the finder. The lens has a built-in shade. A nice little camera. The original power source are four 1,5V button batteries, which are used so tricky that the power output is only 3V. This gives the ability to replace these batteries by a single CR123A lithium battery.

Canon 110ED

Canon showed in 1975 what could be packed in a 142 x 28 x 56mm-sized camera body. A 2/26mm lens, an aperture-priority AE, a date imprint function and a rangefinder made it a high-end camera for film 110. My camera has a dysfunctional AE which seems to fire the shutter with only one speed, but the manual aperture setting makes it a useable camera. The only existing 110-film is the Solaris 200, but my examples were shot on expired Superia 200.

Minolta SRT 303b

Another built-like-a-tank SLR from 1975. Came with a 50/1,7 and a Tamron Adaptall Zoom 85-210/4,5. I never saw a SLR with lens unlocking knob above the lens. It´s a wonderful, big, heavy camera with a very elegant prism finder.

Chrome

Two beautiful examples of the chrome age of photography. The Olympus OM-1 was released 1972, the Minolta SRT 303b 1975. In size and weight they represent the extremes of 35mm-SLRs in the 70s. Both had hard contact with the ground, causing big bumps on the body edges. But after more than 30 years all controls go smooth and the sound is still sexy!

Canon AF 35 ML (I)

This is a camera that was imho designed like an onion-donut. It has a very nice 1,9/40mm lens which would be perfect for available light photography, but the camera is so loud, that the use in many low light situations isn´t really funny. When the exposure is too long for handheld photography the camera sends a horrible beep, so that everyone 20 meters around you knows that a photo will be taken. After releasing the shutter the film is wound by a motor that could have been built by Caterpillar:-(








I received the camera with a tele/wide auxiliary lens set plus finders.




 How to cut the beep: The silence of the cam

Konica C35AF (I)

The worlds first serial-produced AF-camera. Member of a small group of cameras of the late 70s, with AF, but manual film advance. The AF is based on the Honeywell Visitronic system. The camera has programmed automatic exposure with apertures from 2,8-16 and a time range from 1/60-1/250s. The lens is a Hexanon 2,8/38mm.
The AF needs vertical lines and good light, but then it produces yery sharp pictures and is fast enough for (my) street photography. The manual film advance and the manual flash activation are other features that make the camera stealthy.
The camera is big, heavy, good to hold.






Kodak Farbwelt 400


Traumbild 200