La Rochelle, by Robin Pywell(click either image to see it larger)
"I buy and sell old cameras on eBay regularly and this happened to be my most recent purchase when the Forgotten Camera challenge was first posted. It's from the 'sixties, before Japanese camera makers became multinational corporations and cameras often bore their importer's names (remember Honeywell Pentax for example?). This is a Rank Aldis rangefinder, based on a Mamiya 4B but modernised to include a CDS sensor and built in Korea to keep the price down. (Click here for more information.)
"The camera was a joy to use but the uncoated lens does colour shots no favours and even lends B&W a quaint, old-fashioned look. My sample image was taken on holiday and is probably the type of tourist 'record shot' that the original owner bought the camera for.
"A great reminder that eBay is a losers game—I bought the camera for £5.99 ($12) and despite advertising it as 'film tested' sold it for £4.99!"
Robin Pywell
Gloucestershire, England
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1 comments:
So good to see oldies being used. Thanks for sharing Robin. I would doubt the lens is uncoated on a 1960's camera, from about WW-2 most complex lenses were coated. It looks like the frame counter is concentric with the wind on shaft. Influence of the Leica M-2 layout perchance?
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