Names of cameras in other contexts

vpwphoto · Sep 29, 2011

I have a tin box of GE Mazda-- light bulbs (not flash bulbs) for cars from the 1930's.

michaelbsc · Sep 29, 2011

AgX said:
I doubt this.

M seems to stand for medium response time
F for fast response
FP for focal plane (-shutter usability)

This all seems to be about light emittance characteristics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_(light_bulb)

Apparently GE acquired the Mazda name rather than coming up with it in a marketing campaign. Interestingly the Wiki article also has the religious reference.

You could be correct that it means "medium" instead of Mazda, but I researched it about as extensively as one can in a "casual armchair internet fashion" a few years ago. I admit that won't pass academic muster. But I was looking at shutter mechanism information, not light bulb information. Once I found the Mazda connection I had to track down the Persian god reference by myself. But who knows if the Mazda connection I found was right.

(I know it must be true because I found it on the internet!!!)

The "M" was supposedly indicative of flash bulbs with the Mazda style base, what has now become known as a medium style screw base, while the "X" was indicative of the Xenon strobe. I cannot say what shutter manufacturer was responsible for the markings originally.

MB

MDR · Sep 29, 2011

a few camera names

Zorki Mir = Peace or World

Rodina by Moskinap = Motherland or Motherland-National Patriotic Union

Eclair = Lightning or a long cream-filled French pastry

Zenith

and many more

charlief64 · Oct 17, 2011

I'm pretty sure Pentax is a surcharge on writing insturments .....

charlie

Steve Smith · Oct 17, 2011

Hasselblad = Hazel Leaf.

Steve.

Wilcoxson David L. · Oct 17, 2011

How about the FED camera? It was built in a factory in the former Soviet Union named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, the head of the Bolshevik secret police known as the Cheka.

Jim Jones · Oct 18, 2011

I once owned a Zenobia camera. They apparently were in production for fewer years than the reign of Queen Zenobia many centuries ago.

charlief64 · Oct 18, 2011

Growing a culture

I wonder if my beloved 1963 Petri was named after Julius Richard Petri, who came up with the lab dish ?

charlie

removed account4 · Oct 18, 2011

charlief64 said:
I wonder if my beloved 1963 Petri was named after Julius Richard Petri, who came up with the lab dish ?

charlie

and i thought it was rob petri(e) from the dick van dyke show

Ottrdaemmerung · Oct 18, 2011

And of course, a canon is piece of music with circular form (e.g., Pachelbel's Canon); or something that is official is referred to as being canon, or canonical.

flatulent1 · Oct 18, 2011

2F/2F said:
Ma-Mamiya!

lxdude · Oct 19, 2011

The Pentax ME... well, it wasn't named after me- if it had been it would be called the LX.

The Nikon F2 was named after the Nikon F... sort of. So was the F3 named after the F2 or the F?

Steve Smith · Oct 19, 2011

lxdude said:
So was the F3 named after the F2 or the F?

Yes.

Steve.

lxdude · Oct 19, 2011

Touche'.

Black Dog · Oct 19, 2011

Wasn't Kodak played by Telly Salvalas?

benjiboy · Oct 19, 2011

Francis in VT said:
EOS I was told is the Greek goddess of dawn.

That's true, but in the Canon context it also meant electro-optical system.

Names of cameras in other contexts

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