A fixed-lens SLR? What?

[cmedin]

Picked up one of these for a song:
http://www.daniel.mitchell.name/cameras/mamiya528tl/mamiya528.html
http://herron.50megs.com/fixed-1.htm

528TL: a fixed-lens 48/2.8 SLR. Not sure what Mamiya was thinking producing this thing, other than making an economic SLR for the masses. It's not a collectible item, but I have to say that up until a few days ago I had never seen nor heard of it. It just seemed so weird and different that I had to acquire one. 🙂

Anybody else here have one, or will I be the first? 😛

 

[oftheherd]

One wonders if the manufacturers were testing the waters with some of the models they came out with. But indeed, fixed lens SLRs are almost a contradiction in terms.

Fujica came out with an odd camera before the ST models, called the Fujicarex. It did have interchangable lenses, but the lenses all shared the same shutter in the body, and 35mm, 50mm and 80mm were all I know of that were available. They also did not have a focal plane shutter. Since it was an SLR, the film plain had to be protected prior to exposure with a large flap that flipped out of the way.

Interesting in your links to see that Canon also had a version of the fixed lens SLR. Now I wonder how many other manufacturers did so? Anybody know?

Edit: Interesting to think that fixed lens rangefinders were also tested and are still popular to this day. That has to be food for thought.

 

[Gray Fox]

The first 35mm I owned was a Kowa SE which had a fixed lens and wide and tele ad ons similar to the ones for a 124 Mat G. I bought it from a guy in the Army unit to which I was assigned. Strangely enough, at my next unit, an intelligence unit in Schofield Barracks, HI circa 1968, I was issued a full M3 kit--body, 35mm, 50 & 135-- in a fitted metal case, and given the duty to set up the then defunct darkroom. I recall my biggest problem was trying to explain to superiors why I couldn't get ID quality photos of suspects from 100 yards away with a 135mm lens. Boy, I sure would like to have that kit now!

At that time the Army also had a portable darkroom kit that fit into a hinged box about the size of two foot lockers that included a Leitz enlarger, 50mm lens, 8x10 trays and a set of dark brown glass bottles for the chemicals. I wouldn't mind having that kit, either.

 

[payasam]

If I remember right, the Contaflex had a fixed lens, as did the Canon EX EE. Viewing through the lens has the advantage that one need not worry about parallax. Depth of field preview may also be available.

 

[rolleistef]

true about the first contaxflexes. It's a kind of compact SLR, but the central shutter had already been droped for SLR construction since it was so complicated to use - except the Hasselblad C, but it had a very simple raison d'être, it's being able to use a flash up to 1/500th.

 

[cmedin]

One curious thing about a leaf shutter SLR like this one is that the shutter had to stay open while viewing, then when taking the picture the shutter has to close, the mirror flop open (I guess the mirror must seal tight to keep the light off the film), the shutter open and close, mirror flop back, and shutter re-open again. Amazing that something like that still works decades later. 🙂

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Picked up one of these for a song:
http://www.daniel.mitchell.name/cameras/mamiya528tl/mamiya528.html
http://herron.50megs.com/fixed-1.htm

528TL: a fixed-lens 48/2.8 SLR. Not sure what Mamiya was thinking producing this thing, other than making an economic SLR for the masses. It's not a collectible item, but I have to say that up until a few days ago I had never seen nor heard of it. It just seemed so weird and different that I had to acquire one. 🙂

Anybody else here have one, or will I be the first? 😛

Well, I don't have any of the classic era fixed lens SLR's, but I do have an Olympus IS-300/IS-30/L-30, which is a fixed zoom lens SLR, sometimes called a ZLR (Zoom Lens Reflex). Olympus made several of those cameras between 1990 and 2003, some even in APS format. The first ZLR however was the Ricoh Mirai in 1989, which was also sold as the Olympus AZ-4 Zoom.

The ZLR's have conventional, vertical travel focal plane shutters, so they are not more complex mechanically than interchangeable lens SLR's. The elimination of the lens bayonet allowed them to be a little more compact and lighter than conventional SRL's with a similar zoom lens. The IS/L series cameras are also highly ergonomic thanks to the fact that the design does not have take account for lens changes.

 

[Murray Kelly]

One curious thing about a leaf shutter SLR like this one is that the shutter had to stay open while viewing, then when taking the picture the shutter has to close, the mirror flop open (I guess the mirror must seal tight to keep the light off the film), the shutter open and close, mirror flop back, and shutter re-open again. Amazing that something like that still works decades later. 🙂

I had an early model Contaflex w a Tessar 2.8 lens in about 1957 or thereabouts. The mirror stayed locked up after the shot and returning mirrors didn't come until a couple of years later.

All the diaphragm had to do was shut down to the chosen f stop while the mirror went up.

One thing about the setup was, you knew exactly when you'd taken the shot! 🙂 It was at the moment it all went black.

Murray

 

[rolleistef]

I used to have an IS200, which was my first camera.Impressive one but not exactly what we're looking for on this forum (except on that very part) : when the "on" button was activatd, the lens folded out of the body with the attached lens cap flipping down, in a great motor noise, the lens set up at infinity. The autofocus had a similar noise, as well as all the motors of the camera. it has many indeed : focus, zoom, advance, rewind, plus the shutter.
The 28-110 lens was absolutely superlative, as I later found out by comparing photos taken with my nikon F75, the metering excellent, and the aperture could be set manually (which I never actually used since I didn't know much about apertures. However, the autofocus was really slow, the max aperture of 4~5.6 only, the camera was much too noisy (zuuu...shlac tiditi tidiziuuu) and heavy (more than 700g), and the flash metering unpredictable.
A noticeable point is that it was designed by Maitani, the OM system's father (first M, but Leica threatened of a trial) : Olympus Maitani. (he also designed the olympus design as well as most zuiko lenses

 

[lubitel]

I had a mamiya 528, and it was a nice and quirky camera. It did have a wide angle and tele lens attachments!

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

The 28-110 lens was absolutely superlative, as I later found out by comparing photos taken with my nikon F75, the metering excellent, and the aperture could be set manually (which I never actually used since I didn't know much about apertures. However, the autofocus was really slow, the max aperture of 4~5.6 only, the camera was much too noisy (zuuu...shlac tiditi tidiziuuu) and heavy (more than 700g), and the flash metering unpredictable.
A noticeable point is that it was designed by Maitani, the OM system's father (first M, but Leica threatened of a trial) : Olympus Maitani. (he also designed the olympus design as well as most zuiko lenses

The IS-300 is basically the same camera, but it has much faster autofocus, stronger GN 25 flash and some additional features such as predictive AF in the stop action (sports) mode and fill-in flash with all shutter speeds (up to 1/2000 sec.) in portrait mode. The weight is about 700 g with batteries (650 g without). The IS-200 should be 10 grams lighter than the IS-200, so I think you remember the weight incorrectly.

700 grams is actually pretty light for a 35 mm film SLR with a 28-110 mm lens. I don't think you can replicate that with interchangeable lens SLRs. You cannot replicate it with a rangefinder either, since they don't come with zoom lenses 😀 Nowadays there of course are small sensor digicams which are lighter and have a longer zoom, but they have their own shortcomings.

I really like the IS-300 a lot as 'jack of all trades' camera for vacations and such. Thanks to the aperture priority mode and good lens it is also suitable for 'serious' use as well. Did I mention it has spot metering, too? The only significant problems are the motor noises and the relatively slow lens. However, the actual shutter & mirror flap noise is quite bearable for an SLR camera.

 

[KoNickon]

The Nikkorexes were fixed-lens SLRs (and made by Mamiya, I understand).

 

[shadowfox]

I had a mamiya 528, and it was a nice and quirky camera. It did have a wide angle and tele lens attachments!

Given this, I can see the argument for the fixed-lens SLR. Advantage? a really really compact outfit.

 

[cmedin]

Well, it arrived today and while it LOOKS very nice the front ring was all slippery and wobbly; turns out the focusing ring was held in place with one out of three screws. Also, the winding mechanism has a skip/grind halfway through. Luckily the seller gave me a full refund so I'll probably tear it down and see if I can fix it. Light seals are GONE too (no surprise there) but that's a simple enough repair.

 

[shadowfox]

Wow, the seller gave you a full refund and you get to keep the camera? What a nice seller.

Good luck with the project and keep us posted 🙂