Rethinking Miniature SLR History

Yashinoff said:

The U.S. importer for Wirgin/Edixa was Caspeco. Although they handled Exakta, they were not the sole U.S. importer of Exakta cameras.

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That name doesn't ring a bell.

I think the trend toward smaller SLRs was started by the Fujica ST701 and not by the later Olympus M1/OM1. There is always the idea that more than one company can be working on an idea at the same time but the ST701 predated the M1/OM1. When you look at various SLR features you can see that some companies stuck with older technology longer than others. In 1965 Konica had the Auto Reflex. It had shutter priority automation, a bayonet mount, automatic aperture indexing, full aperture metering, a vertical metal shutter and even the ability to switch from full frame to half frame. The one missing piece was TTL metering. This was corrected in 1970 with the Autoreflex T/FTA. The Minolta SRT 101 came out in 1966. It had the interesting CLC metering but still had a cloth shutter and match needle metering. The Canon FTb had limited area metering and the QL feature but still had match needle metering and a cloth shutter. Pentax was the stalwart. The Spotmatic II of 1971 still had a threaded mount, stop down metering and a cloth shutter. Pentax did not have a bayonet mount until 1975, ten years after the Konica Auto Reflex. Between the Pen series SLRs and the OM-1, Olympus briefly made the FTL. It had the M42 mount too. Nikon must have been stuck by a patent problem because its Automatic Indexing system did not apear until 1977. It looks just like the system which Minolta started using in 1966. The exciting SLR (DSLR) features today are very high ISO performance, frame burst speed, built-in HDR, very fast AF etc. If you aren't shooting an Indy race the old equipment can still do a fine job.

[ In 1965 Konica had the Auto Reflex. It had shutter priority automation, a bayonet mount, automatic aperture indexing, full aperture metering, a vertical metal shutter and even the ability to switch from full frame to half frame. The one missing piece was TTL metering. This was corrected in 1970 with the Autoreflex T/FTA.

My first SLR was a Spot, my second was a Konica T, great glass, flash sync 125th and I really liked the shutter priority, but I bought a Nikon F because I needed, or thought I needed a motor drive. In my mind Nikon put all the elements togeather for a complete system, great lens lineup, motor, viewfinder, you name it Nikon likley made it. Canon was not far behind. The Konica FS did have the first intergrated motor winder, but gave up the 125th flash sync and the shutter speed read out in the viewfinder. Nice camera but not the same quaility as the T T2s or T3s. I think Nikon just got better and better.

dynachrome said:

I think the trend toward smaller SLRs was started by the Fujica ST701 and not by the later Olympus M1/OM1. There is always the idea that more than one company can be working on an idea at the same time but the ST701 predated the M1/OM1.

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I agree about the ST701. It also had a big, bright viewfinder, and was fairly light and relatively quiet, which were other OM selling points in addition to size. Much credit to Olympus for popularizing those features in their immensely popular OM-1, through extensive advertising and offering a great product with a large system. The 701 had the first silicon blue cell meter, with match needle stop down metering. The ST801 (my first SLR) additionally had open aperture metering, the first LED meter indication and the new EBC multicoated lenses- IIRC they were second after Pentax with full multicoating.
Multicoating is another example of more than one company working on an idea at the same time.

Yashica may have been the only company to start with a bayonet mount and auto-diaphragm (Pentamatic with the Y bayonet in 1959), then switch to M42 thread mounted, and return to bayonet with the C/Y mount. The TL Electro-X was the first SLR with a stepless, electronically-controlled shutter, and the first to use an LED meter, it may also have introduced battery-dependence for features other than the light meter. I believe the AX was the first camera to offer aperture-priority operation with legacy lenses.

The Yashica did not have LED's. It used miniature light bulbs. It was, as far as I know, the first to use lights instead of a needle.