Review: Tower 45 (1957)

[eckmanmj]

The Tower 45 was built by Nicca of Japan and sold by the US retailer Sears starting in 1957 as a lower cost alternative to a Leica with improved features like a Leica M3 style rear film door, a film advance lever, and improved locations of the shutter release and rewind button.

Many sites online suggest the Tower 45 is the Sears version of the Nicca 5L, but finding a Nicca 5L is really hard to do as only one is known to exist.

Check out my review of both the camera, Nicca's history, and some analysis of why calling the Tower 45 the Sears version of the Nicca 5L is not correct.

https://www.mikeeckman.com/2020/08/tower-45-1957/

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Nicely done, thanks for posting. (And the well developed section on the magnification/focusing advantages of separate rf/vf windows over a combined rf/vf window is something that many Barnack and M users likely don’t fully appreciate . i.e. those who use the term “squinty” when referring to the IIIb-IIIg rf window.) That bit alone was worth the price of admission.

 

[shawn]

Nice review, they are great cameras.

Shawn

 

[das]

Great review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and thanks for sharing. Who knew that Tower had such an interesting history?

 

[Calzone]

I own a Tower 45/Tower 46. I need to get a 50 Nikkor to make it one or the other.

I happen to love the magnification for focus accuracy. The diopter allows me to shoot without my glasses.

Cal

 

[xayraa33]

Some Nicca cameras were not very common, the mid to late 1950s ones like the Type 5 were never very numerous. Sears in the USA and Canada sold many Tower branded Niccas as their premium quality 35mm RF camera and even this paled in comparison to the quantity of name brand cameras like Canon , Leica, Nikon and Contax sold at proper camera stores.

By the very late 1950s SLR cameras were the latest and the best and had caught the attention of the buying public looking for a quality 35mm camera with interchangeable lenses .

 

[eckmanmj]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! Glad you all enjoyed it. If you haven't already, I strongly recommend checking out Paul Sokk's site as he has a ton more info about Nicca and Yashica TLRs.

http://www.yashicatlr.com/

 

[Calzone]

Well done. Thanks. I learned a lot I didn't know.

Cal

 

[KoNickon]

Yes, that Yashica TLR site is a really valuable resource.

 

[nikon_sam]

I own three Olympus 35-S Rangefinder cameras with the Tower logo...they all have the G. Zuiko 4.2cm 1.8 lens...when I bought the first one I had no clue what the Tower logo was about...