Could the Vivitar be the longest production run of a film camera?

[NickTrop]

My first "real" camera. A birthday gift from my father back in the late-80's. For a long time this was my only camera -- fully manual with a "nifty fifty" that was a good performer. This was the family snapper for many a year/decade until internet blogs, the onslaught of digital, and eBay opened the GAS floodgates. I remember we were in one of those now nearly defunct "camera shops", and I had a hard time choosing between this and a used Pentax K1000. I went with the Cosina-made Vivitar because it was shiny and new and had a 1/2000 shutter speed... and my dad's oft-used advice, "new is new".

I recently lent (possibly "gave") this camera along with its current lens line-up to my daughter who's at university in DC (I have passed down her dad's "film gene" to her it now appears...) along with its current lens line-up: the (non-radioactive) 50/1.4 Tak, a permanently modded screw-mount>K-mount Jupiter 9 85/2, and a Vivitar 19mm/3.8 ultra-wide.

This camera is, apparently, still in production let's conservatively say 25 years later with the same 50/1.7 lens. Pretty much the same all manual "student camera" with identical looks/specs to the one I own.

Could the Vivitar 3800 be the single longest production run of any film camera? Feel free to make me look dumb -- I'm trying to think of other cameras with this long a run but I'm coming up empty.
http://www.vivitar.com/products/8/professional-and-slr/34/v3800-50

 

[btgc]

Lens reminds me Rikenon 50/1.7
Body could be built somewhere from where late Ricoh bodies originated. Cosina, maybe?

 

[Particular]

The Linhof Master Technika is still in production.

 

[sevo]

That would be the Cosina C1 derivative series - which may give it a even earlier start. Nonetheless, the Nikon F3, FM2/FM2n and Pentax LX may have exceeded it, among recent 35mm SLRs. The Mamiya RB67 was marketed for 45 years, and is still sold by Mamiya Germany. Being slightly more generous regarding model variations, we could consider the Hasselblad 500 series up to the 503 one camera, making that 55 years. Some makers of large format cameras like Gandolfi operated longer than 100 years and were able to supply some of the designs from their early years through to the end (arguably, they sold different, more modern cameras for a long hiatus, until a revival set in).

 

[gb hill]

Only one that I could think of that might give the Vivitar a run is the Nikon FM10 which is still available. Research shows it's release in 1995 so it may be 2nd place, least in the SLR bracket.

 

[sevo]

Only one that I could think of that might give the Vivitar a run is the Nikon FM10 which is still available.

As a matter of fact, that is the same camera, with a different branded cladding...

 

[zuikologist]

As a matter of fact, that is the same camera, with a different branded cladding...

Is the Bessa RF series also from the same chassis/shutter mech.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Nah. Gandolfi Precision, c. 1900 - c. 2010 (special order by then). MAY still be available: can't get hold of Eddie.

Cheers,

R.

 

[gb hill]

Is the Bessa RF series also from the same chassis/shutter mech.

I know the Bessa R & L are the same. According to Wikipedia so is the Epson R-d1. I didn't know that.

 

[JoeV]

The Minolta X700 was in production from the early 1980s until the mid-00s, after Sony took over. And the Olympus MJU/Stylus had a lengthy run as well.

~Joe

 

[rybolt]

Pentax K1000. Wiki says 1976-1997 but I think they were available a bit longer than that.

 

[rybolt]

By the way, if any of those Cosinas ever lock up there's a 75% chance that it's an easy fix. If anyone wants to know I can fill them in on how to do it.

 

[NickTrop]

By the way, if any of those Cosinas ever lock up there's a 75% chance that it's an easy fix. If anyone wants to know I can fill them in on how to do it.

The 3800 locked up on me and it sat on a shelf unused for a number of years. In fact, that's when I bought my first digital. However, I read on the Internet somewhere that if it locked up it could sometimes be fixed with a solid "thwack" to the back of the body.

Worked a charm, it did. Never needed another wack. That'll learn that camera to behave.

 

[NickTrop]

As a matter of fact, that is the same camera, with a different branded cladding...

Huh -- didn't know that.

 

[NickTrop]

Lens reminds me Rikenon 50/1.7
Body could be built somewhere from where late Ricoh bodies originated. Cosina, maybe?

Yes -- definitely Cosina-made.

 

[NickTrop]

Is the Bessa RF series also from the same chassis/shutter mech.

Rumor has it. And that's what put me off to those particular RF's. A quiet shutter this has not.

 

[NickTrop]

That would be the Cosina C1 derivative series - which may give it a even earlier start. Nonetheless, the Nikon F3, FM2/FM2n and Pentax LX may have exceeded it, among recent 35mm SLRs. The Mamiya RB67 was marketed for 45 years, and is still sold by Mamiya Germany. Being slightly more generous regarding model variations, we could consider the Hasselblad 500 series up to the 503 one camera, making that 55 years. Some makers of large format cameras like Gandolfi operated longer than 100 years and were able to supply some of the designs from their early years through to the end (arguably, they sold different, more modern cameras for a long hiatus, until a revival set in).

Great info. Thanks!

 

[NickTrop]

Nah. Gandolfi Precision, c. 1900 - c. 2010 (special order by then). MAY still be available: can't get hold of Eddie.

Cheers,

R.

Holy crap!

 

[rbsinto]

Everyone and his uncle took that basic Cosina body and had it re-branded and equipped with their particular lensmount: Canon T60, Yashica FX-3, FX-3 Super, and Super 2000, the Nikon FM-10 and FE-10, the Olympus OM-2000, Konica TC-X, various Vivitar models, Phoenix and a few others that I can't remember or find.

 

[NickTrop]

Everyone and his uncle took that basic Cosina body and had it re-branded and equipped with their particular lensmount: Canon T60, Yashica FX-3, FX-3 Super, and Super 2000, the Nikon FM-10 and FE-10, the Olympus OM-2000, Konica TC-X, various Vivitar models, Phoenix and a few others that I can't remember or find.

And it's still in production with two known badges -- Nikon and Vivitar! As long as there is film, there will be a market for a "student camera" (though I take exception to this positioning... That camera was so very simple and zen to shoot... And took great pics!)

Cosina has the world-wide film "student camera" market to itself. Kobayashi san is one smart cookie.