"SRZ Orion 500"

Forrest Conifer · Apr 20, 2014

I collect trashy/lo-fi 35mm cameras; when I saw this at a local thrift store yesterday, I just couldn't resist.

I haven't heard of "SRZ" and can't find anything about them online. It looks a bit like a rebranded Canon T-series, but it's focus-free. It has some serious battery corrosion, but once I can clean that up I'm going to give it a try. I'm intrigued!

bsdunek · Apr 20, 2014

New to me. I see one on e-bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SRZ-ORION-5...303938549?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item27e282a9f5

There are some Orion rangefinders that look like Smenas from Russia.

Some of these odd cameras are interesting, and you can collect them on a budget. Looks like fun!

bsdunek · Apr 20, 2014

This from Etsy:https://www.etsy.com/listing/81381745/vintage-srz-orion-500-camera

In 1946 (Orion Seiki Company) was established in Tokyo. Initially it manufactured a limited line of photographic products, but most of its business was as a top notch service center for professional photographic equipment. The company continued to produce photographic accessories for 35mm rangefinder cameras, but in 1948 they very quietly began investigation and development of a revolutionary 35mm SLR. <...> The world was unaware when the Orion Camera Co. introduced the Phoenix in 1953. Although only a few handmade samples were available, word spread like wildfire that a new type of camera had been born. The actual production model rolled off the assembly line shortly thereafter, and was marketed in 1954 as the model 'T'. Instead of Phoenix the name MIRANDA was emblazoned on the viewfinder. The Miranda T was the pioneer of a new breed of camera, a 35mm SLR with a built-in mirror housing and upright image pentaprism. It was the first modern Japanese SLR as we know it today.

I must say, it doesn't look like a Miranda.

bsdunek · Apr 20, 2014

This is interesting too: Dead Link Removed

AgX · Apr 20, 2014

Do not bother with the brand. It belongs to a family of fake SLRs. Sometime they got brands resembling that of a major manufacturer. There also is a model with a dedicated rod-flashlight. Such cameras were also sold in complete sets including a small tripod. I come across such kind of camera about every second fleamarket or so.

At least one of such model should be included in any serious camera collection...

snapguy · Apr 20, 2014

I agree. It looks to me to be a cheap plastic-lens fake with a phony brand name illegally stuck onto it. There are thousand of these out there. I have one that is a double fake. It is a fake "Canon" and a fake SLR. The SLR bulge actually houses not one but two viewfinders. The one viewfinder shows one view and the other shows a very different field of view.These are said to be sold as new at over $300 but that is pure sliced baloney. I have seen them as "Canon" fakes and "Pentax" fakes. I hope you did not pay more than $3 for your fake.

Forrest Conifer · Apr 20, 2014

bsdunek said:
New to me. I see one on e-bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SRZ-ORION-5...303938549?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item27e282a9f5

There are some Orion rangefinders that look like Smenas from Russia.

Interesting. So perhaps Orion were in the business of making plastic knockoffs of better-known cameras.

bsdunek said:
Some of these odd cameras are interesting, and you can collect them on a budget. Looks like fun!

They're fascinating! I'm trying to get rid of most of my point-and-shoots because I bought most of them before I knew anything about anything and some of them are from the late 90s/early 2000s (fully automatic, but just average quality with no light leaks).

bsdunek said:
This from Etsy:https://www.etsy.com/listing/81381745/vintage-srz-orion-500-camera

Interesting, that's the second sold Etsy listing for this camera that I've seen.

bsdunek said:
In 1946 (Orion Seiki Company) was established in Tokyo. Initially it manufactured a limited line of photographic products, but most of its business was as a top notch service center for professional photographic equipment. The company continued to produce photographic accessories for 35mm rangefinder cameras, but in 1948 they very quietly began investigation and development of a revolutionary 35mm SLR. <...> The world was unaware when the Orion Camera Co. introduced the Phoenix in 1953. Although only a few handmade samples were available, word spread like wildfire that a new type of camera had been born. The actual production model rolled off the assembly line shortly thereafter, and was marketed in 1954 as the model 'T'. Instead of Phoenix the name MIRANDA was emblazoned on the viewfinder. The Miranda T was the pioneer of a new breed of camera, a 35mm SLR with a built-in mirror housing and upright image pentaprism. It was the first modern Japanese SLR as we know it today.

I must say, it doesn't look like a Miranda.

Oh! So looks like the company name is Orion, not SRZ. My mistake.

bsdunek said:
This is interesting too: Dead Link Removed

Wow. That looks almost identical. It's beginning to look like there were a collection of companies producing very similar plastic cameras all of which may have been modeled off the Canon T-series?

snapguy · Apr 20, 2014

not real

I would not spend my money betting on the fiction that this cynical ripoff "camera" was made by any even semi-established camera maker. It's probably made in a back alley in China by some two-bit plastic bender. Some people trace their ancestry back to kings of England based on a "family crest" purchased for a couple of bucks. This so-called camera's alleged lineage is similar. Why not call it a "Canon" or "Pentax" like is says on some models on the fake pentaprism? I did notice they never use "Nikon." Nikon probably sued them.

Forrest Conifer · Apr 20, 2014

^ Oh, I have no doubt. I'm interested in it nonetheless.

snapguy · Apr 20, 2014

Just the facts....

As long as you are looking at it with eyes wide open. Heck, I have one of those darn things myself. I used to have a $100 bill with Bill Clinton's picture on it, too. I never tried to spend it....

AgX · Apr 20, 2014

As indicated above there are different viewfinder designs with these kind of cameras.
For instance I got a sample that got a one-element optical finder, with the "diopter" window at the back of the fake mirror housing and the element behind a swinging flap at the front of that housing.

There are models with thumb-wheel transport/cocking, but also motorized ones.

Probably all models have a weight installed to give it the feel of a true SLR. With one sample that weight even rattles inside...

Forrest Conifer · Apr 20, 2014

snapguy said:
As long as you are looking at it with eyes wide open. Heck, I have one of those darn things myself. I used to have a $100 bill with Bill Clinton's picture on it, too. I never tried to spend it....

dehk · Apr 20, 2014

I laughed so hard at a thrift store the other day at a "Lenon" Camera, however I didn't bother to look up who made it.

pen s · Apr 20, 2014

These type of fake SLR's are later iterations of the "TIME" 35mm camera orginally given away as a premium with a subscription to TIME magazine. Later on there were all sorts of versions with names like "OLYMPIC" and "CAANON" and most with that 50mm f6.3 fixed focus lens.
These were often sold through "special offers" featureing full page ads in magazines extolling the camera as a "professional grade" 35mm camera and offered with several accessories such as cheap vinyl gaget bags, wretched plastic junk tripods and a tiny 2 cell electronic flash wraped up to look like a big side mount flash. All available for 4 eazy payments of only $29.99 plus $12.95 shipping of course.

These had 30 day money back guarantees. All the mark...excuse me I mean customer had to do was call for a RMA # and send the package back at their expense. I'm sure no one ever got their money back from these crooks.

Bill Burk · Apr 21, 2014

Hey Forrest Conifer,

You're interested in Lo-Fi aspects of photography, so probably aren't interested in the OM-1 that I recommended earlier. The Olympus XA might not be what you are looking for either.

I don't know if your Orion camera even qualifies for Lo-Fi.

It's not a Diana or Holga. Those were designed to be cheap. At least they are honest about being cheap.

Your Orion is a scam camera. Might work fine, and the lens quality might even be "too good" for your purposes. If you use it for artistic expression, you might be the first. I think the gears would wear out in a few rolls.

Terry Christian · Apr 21, 2014

This is indeed a fake, a "scam camera." I'm a Miranda lover and have seen photos of the Orion. What you have is not one of those Orions!

E. von Hoegh · Apr 21, 2014

Forrest Conifer said:
I collect trashy/lo-fi 35mm cameras; when I saw this at a local thrift store yesterday, I just couldn't resist.

View attachment 86518 View attachment 86519

I haven't heard of "SRZ" and can't find anything about them online. It looks a bit like a rebranded Canon T-series, but it's focus-free. It has some serious battery corrosion, but once I can clean that up I'm going to give it a try. I'm intrigued!

Well, you picked a winner right there. It's not even an SLR.

Charles Wass · Apr 21, 2014

Around two years ago somebody was advertising a similar camera labelled "Canon" on a Spanish site like Craigslist, for a mere 125 euros. While looking on the site for other things from time to time, I kept tabs on it. Fortunately it apparently never sold. At the same time a pawnshop in Barcelona was offering similar ones labelled "Olympus" for a perhaps realistic 5 euros.

AgX · Apr 21, 2014

I only saw such cameras at "import" shops with cheaply made stuff. Never saw them advertized.

One of my models is very similar to the one above. It got a light seal at the hinge side. Though cut about a cemtimeter too short...

Forrest Conifer · May 3, 2014

similar: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iambrendalee/13707719805/in/pool-358786@N25

"SRZ Orion 500"

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