Behind the lens leaf shutter rangefinders - where do they start, where do they end?

[tunalegs]

This has interested me, but there's very little info online about this breed of camera. You can find all sorts of information about every which Leica clone, but not much about these cameras.

So far as I can tell, the 1938 Argus C pioneered the concept, but I am not certain of that. I simply can't find an earlier example of a 35mm camera with a rangefinder and a behind the lens leaf shutter.

When did this breed die out? The Olympus Ace clocked out in 1961, the Kodak Signet 80 in 1962, and the Argus C3 Standard and Werra III in 1966. Were there any survivors?

I've never seen a list of all behind the lens leaf shutter rangefinders, but here are a few I can think of. Anybody who knows of others should feel free to comment with them.

Agfa Ambi Silette (1957-1961)
Ansco Anscomark M (1960-1963)
Argus C,C2,C3,C4,C33,C44 (1938-1966)
Aries V (ended circa 1960)
Braun Paxette (1953-1958 for interchangeable lens models)
Diax IIa,IIb (1954-1957)
FED-11 "Atlas" (1966-1971 removable lens)
Kodak Signet 80 (1958-1962)
Kodak Retina IIIs (1958-1960?)
Leidolf Lordomat c35 (1953)
Minolta Super A (1957-19??)
Olympus Ace (1958?-1961)
Olympus Electroset (but not interchangeable lenses)
Regula IIIc, IIId (1956-1959?)
Robot Royal 36 (rotary shutter though - ended in 1976)
Voigtlander Prominent 1 (1952-1958) Prominent 2 (1958-1960)
Voigtlander Vitessa T (1956-1959?)
Werra III (1954-1966)
Zeiss Ikon Tenax II (square format though - 1938 - 19??)

 

[mooge]

Zeiss Ikon Tenax II

don't know much about it but I want one.

 

[tunalegs]

Added it to the list. It is square format, but I guess it is still 35mm. I left the early Robots off the list because although they used 35mm film, they weren't compatible with the 135 cartridge, and shot squares to boot.

 

[sevo]

Robots are rotary shutter - in its properties more like a focal plane shutter.

At least one of my fixed lens rangefinders was BTL, too, but I currently can't see which one - it obviously is one of the five still loaded.

 

[tunalegs]

The Robot is indeed with rotary shutter, but the shutter is positioned behind the lens mount rather than at the film gate.

 

[HoodedOne]

Does the Contax-T fit this category ?

 

[tunalegs]

Does the Contax-T fit this category ?

It doesn't have interchangeable lenses, but it's probably worth mentioning anyway.

 

[ruby.monkey]

The CZJ Werras had behind-the-lens leaf shutters (the Prestor RVS 750 on its own is worth a look). The last interchangeable-lens coupled-rangefinder versions were in production until the late 60s.

 

[tunalegs]

The CZJ Werras had behind-the-lens leaf shutters (the Prestor RVS 750 on its own is worth a look). The last interchangeable-lens coupled-rangefinder versions were in production until the late 60s.

Added. How could I have forgotten the Werra? (one who has seen one should never be able to forget it) Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[rxmd]

Here's a few Soviet cameras:

FED-10 (not interchangeable lens though), 1964-1967.
FED-11 "Atlas", 1966-1971.
Chaika series (half-frame though), 1965-1974.

The FED-11 and the Chaika series had interchangeable lenses, but there was only one lens for each model, an Industar-61 (50/2.8) for the FED and an Industar-69 (28/f2.8) for the Chaika.

 

[tunalegs]

Added the FED 11. What a truly unusual camera, I've never seen one. The lens is removable, but supposedly you're not supposed to remove it? It doesn't look like it'd mount on an enlarger either.

 

[rxmd]

If rotary shutters count, the Kiev-10, Kiev-11 and Kiev-15TEE were interchangeable-mount SLRs with a rotary shutter, made between 1965 and 1974. They are funny cameras, quite quirky. I have a Kiev-10 and a Kiev 15 standing around here.

The Kiev-10 in 1965 was one of the first SLRs with automatic exposure, it ties with the Konica Auto-Reflex of the same year. (To find out which was first one would have to look at introduction dates 😉)

 

[tunalegs]

I'm only putting rangefinders on the list.

There are also a few scale focussing cameras out there with behind the lens leaf shutters, and a few SLRs too.

 

[rxmd]

SLRs there were a lot indeed. I guessed I missed the rangefinders in the title 😱

 

[D.O'K.]

The Diax series?

Regards,
D.

 

[tunalegs]

Added Diax.

 

[FPjohn]

Prominent 1 & 2, 1952-58, '58-60.

yours
FPJ

 

[parrot_boy]

Don't forget the:

Anscomark M (1960)

Agfa Ambi Silette (1961)

Leidolf Lordomat c35 (1953)

 

[charjohncarter]

Here is a SLR with interchangable lenses, and a leaf shutter behind the lens. It is flash synced to 1/500 and is very useful outdoors when using fill flash: camera has to be set at f/11 for an f/8 auto flash and some flash are f/5.6. Even at f/11 400 film is 1/200. I'll show you a ringflash fill too with this camera:

 

[tunalegs]

Thanks, added a bunch. Seems the 50s was the golden age for this type of camera.