• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Fixed lens SLR?

Contaflex I and II .
 
Canon Canonex, two Agfa Agfaflexes, KMZ Narciss etc. ....
 
Last edited:
Another way to go between both worlds was to use tele- and wide-angle attachment lenses. At least the Minolta ER went that path.

One thus must differenciate between rather generic attachments that basically would fit any standard lens, and those attachment optically and mechanically designed for the rear group remaining in-camera, as in Macfred's hint.
 
Last edited:
Kowa made a wide and short tele attachment as well. I have a set that camera I found, not very useful. I do like the SE, great walk around camera.
 
Mamiya 528TL . My second camera, quite a step up from my Kodak Tourist.
 
Ian Grant said:
Kowa SE, there were quite a few others as well.

Ian
Click to expand...

The Kawa SE and Kowa E. The lenses were very good, but let down by a complicated between the lens shutter, auto diaphragm and instant return mirror. All in motion one after another and a mirror shock registering somewhere high up on the Richter scale. The lens may not have been removable but there were screw on accessory wide and tele lenses.
 

I had a Kowa SE the lens quality was excellent, it was a cheap second hand camera I bought as a stop gap when my Prakticamat failed. Fixed lens SLRs had very low second hand value by the early 1970's because the market place was full of reasonably priced new and second hand inter changeable lens SLRs.

Ian
 
Another ex Kowa owner here, fixed lens was ok, the wide and tele attachments were not so good.

What I do remember about it was when I fired the shutter it made a sound as if the air was being sucked out of the camera!
 
When you think of the sequence that had to take place when taking a photograph it was actually a marvel of mechanical complexity to actually get it to work.

1. Press the release
2. The diaphagm closes down
3. The mirror goes up
4. The shutter opens and closes
5. Mirror drops down
6. The diaphagm opens up

Of course this will happen with most film type reflexes, but most of the actions are not all contained/confined within the lens barrel with a leaf shutter.
 

Put like that it reminds me of Wallace and Gromit's breakfast machine.
 
The Kowa SET (the TTL version) was £50 17s in 1969, compared to £129 19s 6d for a Spotmatic and f1.8 Takumar.

Part of the sound of the Kowa SE and SET was the Compur/Prontor type leaf shutter, I've always found Japanese leaf shutters have a less smooth sound than German shutters.

Ian
 

Cameras such as the Voigtländer Bessamatic, with a leaf-shutter lens had a more complex sequence:

Initial state for viewing:

Shutter is open, aperture is wide open, mirror is down, film baffle is down.

1. Press shutter release.
2. Mirror raises.
3. Shutter closes.
4. Aperture stops down.
5. Film baffle raises.
6. Shutter opens and closes.

Winding the film then closes the baffle, opens the aperture and shutter, and lowers the mirror.
 
AgX said:
As all "bridge" cameras. (Bridging the gap between compact AF camera and AF SLRs.)
Click to expand...
Most bridge cameras are not SLR. They are mostly fixed lens mirrorless although the Olympus E-10 and E-20 are DSLR with fixed lens and the IS series are 35mm film SLR with fixed lens.
 
The term "bridge camera" originates from times of film photography, and described what I said above.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register