Musing on 1970s budget Cosina SLRs - and economies of scale ...

dee

dee

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Further to my thread on my UK Dixons exclusive Prinzflex STTL, Cosina Hi-Lite clone , it was perfectly well made , if a little heavy and clunky.
I revisited 4 examples via e-bay at little money and all seem to work perfectly .

I wonder if selling so many with different names in different markets , with dealers ordering probably , a set batch with guaranteed sales , helped in economies of scale, keeping the cost below the well known brands ?

There seem to be a multitude of near identical cameras with many dealer specials together with Cosina and Chinon.

The Dixons Prinzflex SLR altered yearly , embracing several manufacturer- the previous incarnation being a Ricoh Singlex and prior to that Edixa .

dee
 
dee said:
Further to my thread on my UK Dixons exclusive Prinzflex STTL, Cosina Hi-Lite clone , it was perfectly well made , if a little heavy and clunky.
I revisited 4 examples via e-bay at little money and all seem to work perfectly .

I wonder if selling so many with different names in different markets , with dealers ordering probably , a set batch with guaranteed sales , helped in economies of scale, keeping the cost below the well known brands ?

There seem to be a multitude of near identical cameras with many dealer specials together with Cosina and Chinon.

The Dixons Prinzflex SLR altered yearly , embracing several manufacturer- the previous incarnation being a Ricoh Singlex and prior to that Edixa .

dee
Click to expand...

It appears to me that Cosina was a semi-hidden manufacturer of many name-brand cameras in the late 1970s to the early 1980s and beyond. As a result, a large number of name-brand cameras are essentially identical except for lens mount and nameplate.

Some of the earliest Cosina-made SLR cameras that I am aware of in the USA included the Argus-branded STL-1000 and the Vivitar 220/SL. Those were M42 screw-mount designs. Might have also included some Sears and Mamiya offerings, even Ricoh. The earliest were metal-bodied.

The later plastic-fantastic cameras were generically Pentax P/K mount, but were also offered by name-brand manufacturers with their own proprietary mount. For example, the Canon T60 is substantially identical to the Vivitar V2000 and the Voightlander Bessaflex TM. I have all three. Some parts interchange, including backs, which to me essentially proves they are the same basic camera, all made by Cosina.

I find nothing wrong with Cosina-made cameras. While generally not up to the build standards of major name-brands like Nikon and Canon, they tend to work well. I don't recall any of them that were not offered with variations of the Copal Square shutter, which tends to last and last. Every single Cosina-made SLR that I have ever owned has at the very least had a functional shutter; I can't say the same for my 'higher quality' Canon metal bodies in FD mount from the same era; they usually suffer from shutter capping or other issues.

So I never mind if I am offered a chance to pick up a Cosina-made camera at a bargain price; they tend to be functional in my experience, and while they do not represent a collector interest, they do make good reliable shooters.
 
One reason why there were so many Japanese OEMs releasing fairly similar cameras might have been that these cameras were made according to JCII drafts and requirements - Japan had a fair amount of central steering in their camera industry.

Edixa was one of the lesser West German makers, by the way - so that marks the point where Dixons moved over from West German to Japanese OEMs.
 
bmattock said:
It appears to me that Cosina was a semi-hidden manufacturer of many name-brand cameras in the late 1970s to the early 1980s and beyond.
Click to expand...

By the late seventies they were not all that hidden any more - both Cosina and Chinon also sold under their own brands, at least in Germany. Too late to establish their own brand to a degree where they could quit the OEM trade like Yashica, Minolta or Mamiya did. But they did have enough of a reputation for quality that they could sell their own cameras, with minor enhancements, at a higher price than the house brands they still supplied.
 
Thanks everyone , but what does JCII drafts and Japan's influence on the industry mean ?
I tended to think of my budget Chinon clone as a sub standard Pentax - but my Spotmatic dose not seem to have fared so well in respect of shutter speeds etc.
new respect for a camera which never let me down .
dee
 
As I recall, JCII was Japan Camera Inspection Institute. It set standards and to get their little sticker, one had to at least meet those standards. Those standards were, again if I recall correctly, part of the Japanese intent to prove they were no longer to be considered the same as the reputation of pre-WWII copy-cat productions.
 
sevo said:
By the late seventies they were not all that hidden any more - both Cosina and Chinon also sold under their own brands, at least in Germany. Too late to establish their own brand to a degree where they could quit the OEM trade like Yashica, Minolta or Mamiya did. But they did have enough of a reputation for quality that they could sell their own cameras, with minor enhancements, at a higher price than the house brands they still supplied.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, it was a hot topic online once upon a time. You could get banned for suggesting that any Nikon bodies were made by Cosina. Parts interchange was seen as coincidence and similar design. People got good and mad about it. Now it's understood that this happened routinely - for awhile, it seemed Cosina made everything. And, ya know, the Epson RD 1 and the Zeiss bodies... Suggest they were made by Cosina and heads would explode.
 
bmattock said:
Believe it or not, it was a hot topic online once upon a time. You could get banned for suggesting that any Nikon bodies were made by Cosina. Parts interchange was seen as coincidence and similar design. People got good and mad about it. Now it's understood that this happened routinely - for awhile, it seemed Cosina made everything. And, ya know, the Epson RD 1 and the Zeiss bodies... Suggest they were made by Cosina and heads would explode.
Click to expand...

Very true. Cosina made Nikons & Olympus OM2000 and IIRC Canon low end SLRs as well. Fan boys were in big denial mode.

And the cameras worked ok. Lots of folks bought an SLR, shot 3 rolls through it and then left them in a closet for a year before the next roll. Sometimes never to be used again.
 
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