With my recent review of the underwhelming Yashica digiFilm camera Y35, I started to wonder about the fate of some of the other crowdfunded cameras I remember reading about over the years. While the Yashica digiFilm camera Y35 was funded, released, and technically did everything that the creators promised it…
This is a Yashica digiFilm camera Y35, a compact digital camera made by 100 Enterprises International Group Company Limited in Hong Kong, China. The camera was announced and crowdfunded on Kickstarter from October 2017 until its release in 2018. The Yashica digiFilm camera Y35 evokes nostalgia through use of the…
This is an Olympus Ace, a 35mm interchangeable lens rangefinder camera produced by Olympus Optical Co., Ltd starting in 1958. The Ace was the first and only rangefinder camera produced by Olympus with interchangeable lenses and had features like an automatic exposure counter, rapid wind lever, projected frame lines, and…
This is an Argus Autronic II, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Argus in Ann Arbor, Michigan starting in March 1962. The Autronic II was a slight upgrade to the original Autronic 35, adding a faster f/2.8 Cintar lens and a bright frame viewfinder. The Autronic series shares a design…
This is a Tomioka Lausar, an interchangeable lens roll film camera made by Tomioka Kōgaku Kenkyūjo in Tokyo, Japan in 1937. The Lausar has a focal plane shutter and a body that is modeled to look like the Leica rangefinder, except it doesn’t have a rangefinder and it shoots 3cm…
This is a Zenit-6, a 35mm SLR camera made by Krasnogorski Mekhanicheskii Zavod (KMZ) in the former Soviet Union between the years of 1964 and 1968. The Zenit-6 was part of a series of new leaf shutter SLR cameras produced by KMZ that use the Zenit C-mount which is a…
This is a Minolta V3, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko K.K. starting in September 1960. The Minolta V3 was the follow up to the earlier Minolta V2 from 1958, expanding the top shutter speed to a record high 1/3000 with the clever use of its Optiper-Citizen-HS…
This is a PCA Prismat V-90, a 35mm SLR made by Mamiya Camera Co. Ltd. for the Photronic Corporation of America of Takoma Park, MD starting in 1961. The PCA Prismat V-90 is a rebadge of the Mamiya Prismat PH, which itself was part of Mamiya’s robust Prismat SLR family. …
This is a Monte 35A, a 35mm scale focus camera produced by Shinsei Optical Works in Tokyo, Japan starting in 1953. The Monte 35A was a subtle update to an earlier Monte 35 in which the shutter release was relocated to the top plate, an accessory shoe was added, and…
This is a Eumigetta, a collapsible lens medium format camera made by Eumig in Vienna, Austria between the years 1951 and 1954. The Eumigetta shoots 6cm x 6cm images on 120 format roll film and has a full focusing lens, adjustable diaphragm, and a single speed shutter. A more advanced…
This is a Leica M5, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Ernst Leitz GmBH in Wetzlar, West Germany between the years 1971 and 1975. The Leica M5 was the company’s first metered rangefinder, and the first ever rangefinder camera with TTL metering. In addition to its metering system, the M5…
This is a Ducati Sogno, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by S.S.R. Ducati in Milan, Italy between the years 1947 and 1952. The word “Sogno” translates to “dream” and was a very tiny interchangeable lens rangefinder camera which shoots 18mm x 24mm “half frame” images on regular 35mm film loaded…
