Show me your Kardons

[rgraphex]

Just had a recently had my newest Kardon camera cleaned. Can other Kardon owners post a picture? I like to see the differences in materials used. Unmarked one is late model 1443 and early 262 covering has a different texture, film counter has wider engraving of numbers

 

[neal3k]

It doesn't look like there was much of a response when this thread started in 2018 but I will revive it with a Kardon I received recently. Shutter speeds and focus tested fine. Everything is so smooth I wonder if it had a CLA in the last few years. Mine is the civilian version.

Kardon Rangefinder 35mm by Neal Wellons, on Flickr

Kardon Rangefinder 35mm (top) by Neal Wellons, on Flickr

Kardon Rangefinder 35mm (front) by Neal Wellons, on Flickr

 

[David Murphy]

I once owned a Civilian Kardon once and had it serviced, which was fairly costly. The camera had beautiful metal work, but was not too remarkable otherwise. It was different in some respects than a pure Leica III copy. Mine did not have an Ektar lens with it. I'm wondering if anyones experiences with the Ektar measure up to what I have read occasionally about it. They are not common or cheap on the used market, but are certainly unique looking and it appears to be a fairly advanced lens for its time (1940's).

 

[neal3k]

I have not had a chance to use mine much yet. So far, I like everything about it except the focus. I'm not a fan of the buzzsaw wheel (same with my Nikon S3) and using the focus ring around the lens is not as easy as most other lenses because of the small thickness of the ring. I've shot very few, just 12 exposure test rolls checking shutter speeds and focus but here are two.

From my first roll, using FP4+:

Resurrection Fern by Neal Wellons, on Flickr



Of course for color, the Ektar lens cries out for Kodak Ektar:

Late December 2021 by Neal Wellons, on Flickr

 

[Muggins]

Aesthetically speaking, lenses with exposed gears like that always make me think of traction engines - I only bought my Argus C3 because of the gearing!