Cosina/Phenix Adventures

Late last year or earlier this year I bought a Braun SR2000 MD from an eBay seller in Portugal. It arrived on excellent condition. I wanted a body that would fit Minolta mount manual focus lenses and that would have a top shutter speed of 1/2000. Although the camera is marked MD, it is really an MC mount, which is fine. The only Minolta manual focus film cameras with a top speed of 1/2000 were the XKs. I was talked out of getting one of those many years ago by my repairman. I wanted a camera with interchangeable finders and screens and I got a Canon F-1 instead. Earlier this month I tried to buy another Braun SR2000 MD. These were apparently not exported to the U.S. but I found some on the German and English eBay sites. For reasons I do not understand, the German eBay sellers would not ship yo the U.S. I wound up buying one from an eBay seller in England. It arrived today and here's when things got interesting.
It turns out that the Braun SR2000 which arrived today is a PK model and not an MD model. The PK letters stand for Pentax K. At first I was disappointed because I already had many Cosina/ Phenix models with the Pentax K mount. The Braun PK model is most similar to the Promaster 2500PK Super. There seems to be one difference. The Braun has a button on the left side of the prism, which is a meter switch. Depressing the shutter button also activates the meter. The subclub website is a good resource for information on the Cosina/Phenix cameras but finding them requires some luck. From what I have been able to find out, all of these cameras have many common parts so I am not worried about finding non-working ones and getting them repaired. I don't suppose that any one person has all of these odd cameras. They do not have the feel of a Nikkormat or a Minolta SRT or a Canon F-1 but if you are over a certain age and want to take pictures on a long walk or on a hot day, a camera which is light and works nicely can be a welcome thing.

The Braun SR2000 is somewhat confusing for people. It is marked on the pentaprism as "BRAUN" and on the front, under the rewind knob, as SR2000. So most people refer to it simply as the Braun SR2000.

It was made by Phenix (NOT Phoenix), and was sold under other names. It is the exact same camera as the Phenix DC901 and DC20.

But there were three different versions of the Braun SR2000. One was made for Minolta Rokkor lenses and on the front of the camera, next to the lens mount it is marked "MD".

The Braun SR2000 was also sold with a Pentax K mount in a SLIGHTLY different body style, with SLIGHTLY different features. Like the Braun 2000 MD, that model is also often referred to as simply the Braun SR2000 -- but sometimes as the Braun SR2000 PK because it is marked next to the lens mount as "PK". Needless to say, this leads to some confusion. There were other Pentax K models of the Braun 2000 PK, as well, such as the Promaster 2500, the Hikari 2002, and the Vivitar V3800N.

The Braun SR2000 was also sold with a Contax/Yashica mount in a SLIGHTLY different body style and with SLIGHTLY different features. This version is only referred to as the Braun SR2000Y because it is clearly marked as such. Why it was not marked as "SR2000CY", or why the "Y" was not placed next to the lens mount, we will never know.

But the Braun SR2000 is not the only Chinese-made SLR camera with a 1/2000 top speed. There were several others -- all mechanical, metal, vertical shutter. The ones with a Minolta lens mount are listed on my website:

http://www.subclub.org/minchin/

The Seagull DF-200 has all mechanical speeds and 1/2000, but the meter doesnt go past ISO 400

To be more specific, the DF-200 only has locking positions at ISO 50, 100, 200 & 400. There are no intermediate settings. Who knows what that's all about?!?!?!

Fortunately, there is a DF-200A which, unlike the DF-200, has ISO settings from 12-3200 with intermediate settings.

There is also a DF-200D which is a DF-200 with a databack.

I would still like one more of these Phenix SLRs with the manual focus Minolta mount. It looks to me like these were sold mostly in markets outside of the U.S. I wonder whether they are on eBay Japan.

dynachrome said:

I would still like one more of these Phenix SLRs with the manual focus Minolta mount. It looks to me like these were sold mostly in markets outside of the U.S. I wonder whether they are on eBay Japan.

Click to expand...

how about this

While there are several Phenix cameras with a Minolta mount -- a couple under other brand names as well -- they all had metal, vertical shutters, some with 1/2,000 speed. Not all of them had meters, and none of them had automatic exposure or autowinders. And while there are other brands, like Seagull, with a 1/2,000 speed these are mechanical shutters as well without any auto-exposure.