This is a Peggy II, a 35mm rangefinder camera produced by Gustav Adolf Krauss in Stuttgart, Germany starting in 1932. Two versions of the Peggy were made, the Peggy II upgrades the base model with a coupled rangefinder. The Peggy has a collapsible lens and shutter mounted to a metal…
This is LOMO 135BC, a 35mm scale focus camera made by Leningradskoe Optiko Mechanichesckoe Objedinenie, or LOMO for short, between the years 1975 and 1982 in the former Soviet city of Leningrad. The 135BC has a design that is loosely inspired by the Rollei 35, but adding a wind up…
This is a Zeiss-Ikon Hologon Ultrawide a 35mm camera made by Zeiss-Ikon AG in Stuttgart, West Germany starting in 1970. The Hologon Ultrawide is unusual as the camera itself is nothing more than a vessel to use the Carl Zeiss Hologon 15mm f/8 lens on a body other than the…
The 1950s camera industry was known for two major events, the first was the rise of Japan’s dominance in the market. What was just a curiosity in the years before, during, and immediately after World War II, by the end of the 1950s Japanese cameras were outselling many German models…
This is a Minolta SR-2, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko K.K. in 1958. The Minolta SR-2 was the very first SLR released by Chiyoda Kogaku, launching an era of highly successful SR-mount SLRs that would last through the 1980s. Despite being the first ever…
This is a Mamiya 6 Model V, a medium format roll film folding camera, produced by Mamiya Optical Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan between the years 1953 and 1955. The Mamiya 6 series dates back to 1940 and received continual updates throughout it’s life, this model being the first with…
Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of collecting and shooting cameras is the quality of lenses that have been around for well over a century. The formulas used in lenses we use today were perfected around the turn of the last century. Perhaps the most famous lens design of…
This is a Konica F, a 35mm SLR produced by Konishiroku Photo Industries, Ltd in Tokyo, Japan in 1960. The Konica F was the very first 35mm Konica SLR and was a very ambitious camera with features never before seen on another 35mm SLR before. It was intended to compete…
This is a Keystone K1020 SLR, a single lens reflex camera sold by Keystone Camera Company, Inc, of Boston, Massachusetts starting in 1966. Although branded and sold by an American company, the camera was made in Japan, most likely by Mamiya. The K1020 uses Kodak’s Instamatic type 126 instant-load cassettes…
This is an Adox 300, a 35mm viewfinder camera produced by Dr. C. Schleussner Fotowerke GmbH in Frankfurt, West Germany starting in 1956. The Adox 300 is a pretty unique camera in that it supported interchangeable magazine film backs, a feature not commonly found on 35mm cameras. In the Adox…
This is an Olympus FTL, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Olympus Optical Company of Japan in 1971. The FTL was Olympus’s first full frame 35mm SLR and was released a year before the Olympus OM-1. Unlike the later OM-series, the FTL uses a 42mm screw mount with…
This is Toko Tone, a subminiature camera made by Tōyō Kōki Seisakusho in Tokyo, Japan starting in 1948. The Toko Tone is part of a class of cameras often called “Midget” cameras, named after a simpler model called the Misuzu Shōkai originally released in 1937. All “Midget” style cameras use…
