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Tower Branding

Tower Branding

Kim Coxon said:
It had to do with trade regulations etc at the time. Later on Pentax tied up with Honeywell and the Pentaprism models were sold under the Honeywell label rather than the Pentax one. As far as I understand it, the tax situation was different if a US company imported goods and sold them rather than a foreign company importing them from outside. As a result many companies tied up with a US one to avoid it. Some of the Early Canonets were also sold under the Honeywell name. I am not sure whether it was protectionism or how much it had to do also with goods coming from Japan not long after WWII.

Kim
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Probably someone noted this as the thread is long, almost everything photographic sold by Sears was called Tower.

We had a broken one at the shop, cleaned off the Tower sticker, sent it to Ricoh who returned a new model camera, keeping the one we sent in for their museum collection as they did not have that model.

I saw a few cameras with the Pentax scratched by Customs with a screwdriver when they spotted them coming in without Honeywell's trademark. If it has Pentax, it had to have Honeywell.

I think they scratched some Leicas as well, but I do not know why or how they would know if they had not been imported by the US Distributor. Meters?

Distributors had exclusive rights of import and it was enforced by customs. Bogen will not supply parts for Metz flashes not imported by them. Some other service centers check as well.


Notice my H1 has Pentax, Honeywell, and Heiland on the same camera.

Regards, John
 
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Sears' Tower

Sears' Tower

dmr said:
Trivia: Anybody know the significance of the brand name "Tower?" 🙂
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Well, it was part of the eventual plan for the Sears' Tower in Chicago. ;-)

Probably someone noted this as the thread is long, but I am still pissed at my brother in law who was a Sears Manager for never getting me some nice Nikon RFs or Pentaxes that must have come in for trade with the Tower name.

Almost everything photographic sold by Sears was called Tower, from plastic box cameras, to chemistry, paper, film, to Nikons, Asahis and a lot of Ricohs.

Regards, John
 
Mr_Flibble said:
Just purchased this little SLR. A KW Pilot 6. Can't wait to get my grubby paws on it.

pilot601.jpg
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Well, wear gloves on those grubby paws, really great camera find, I may have let one slip through my fingers once, but would like to see another up close.

Regards, John
 
John, I've seen some Pilot-6's in horrible states on Ebay. I take it they're really susceptible to rust? Gloves it is then!

Still waiting for it's arrival I'm afraid....probably some custom's officer putting his greasy fingerprints all over it at the moment 🙁

Cheers,

Rick

p.s. if by chance I do find a Pilot-Super some day, I'm sure we can work something out so you can see a Pilot-6 up close again. 😉
 
Mr_Flibble said:
John, I've seen some Pilot-6's in horrible states on Ebay. I take it they're really susceptible to rust? Gloves it is then!

Still waiting for it's arrival I'm afraid....probably some custom's officer putting his greasy fingerprints all over it at the moment 🙁

Cheers,

Rick

p.s. if by chance I do find a Pilot-Super some day, I'm sure we can work something out so you can see a Pilot-6 up close again. 😉
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I used to lurk about in the camera shops in Prague and Brno, maybe I saw one in the owner's collection.

I forgot you are not here, they must xray stuff coming to the US, as I have had Leicas just dropped on my porch without being opened. We have very low import tax, and they stopped collecting the first $10.

I once imported 5,000 sheets of photo paper and as they could not find the conversion from the CZ Crown, they just said to forget the duty and released the shipment.

I have sent Leicas to Germany, and my friend related his high price for duty, I do not think there is much here on used and antique materials.

Looks like a great find, a lot of good stuff is found in Slovakia, and I may get back to Prague and on to Slovakia, hopefully before the Euro debacle to come.
Have some film ready when it arrives.

;-) Regards, John
 
Got a couple more OM1's this week for an offer i just couldnt refuse.

om1sblack.jpg


One is in amazing condition, the other all nice and brassed. I cant get enough of these OM's (i have about 8 now), they're also smaller than my Bessa R3A =/
 
raid said:
Keith: Now looking back, do you still believe that it was "an unprecedentedly stupid move" to start such a [highly popular] thread here?
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I'm glad I did Raid ... there's some great looking cameras in this thread! 😀

What an unusual looking camera that Konica FT-1 is ... it has rounded shoulders! 😛
 
Here's my latest (but not last :bang🙂 camera in the collection. I am pleased with it and look forward to getting out and shooting with it and the lenses that I've gotten for it.

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I still got my first real camera (if I forget a Canon Prima Zoom 76), a Minolta X-300s (European market version of the X-9 minus DOF button) which is so much self-serviced that I cannot sell it so I use it when I need an SLR in low light conditions otherwise I stick to my original Minolta SRT 101 (black speed dial) which is in fact my second SRT... The first one was my father's and it died two years ago. I have tried other Minolta SLRs (including XD) but the SRT is the one.

Can I also say that my main camera at the moment is an Hi-Matic 7s? Why? Symply because it is a RF SRT!
 
In 1979 I received (as a very generous gift fom my parents) my first own SLR, the Nikon FM, equipped with a Tokina 35-70mm lens. I loved it, I used it for years with various lenses. In the 90s, in need of money I sold the whole stuff. I always felt guilty , it didn´t seem right to sell the first own camera. Now, after many other cameras another FM found its way to me and when I opened the package and used the controls it was like ...
 

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At the flower show, last weekend, there were a number of stalls selling all manner of... stuff. One stall had a camerabag, complete with an Olympus FTL body, FTL 50mm f/1.8, FTL 35mm, FTL 135mm and a Sun 200mm lens. This lot was being sold as "Open to offers". I offered £10 for it. The seller was asking for at least £50, and muttered something about going to sell it on eBay. To cut a long story short, I got the lot for £12.50.
ftl-1.jpg

Apparently it's not a common camera. I feel a bit guilty... I should feel guilty, but I don't. 😉
 
The Olympus FTL is historically an interesting camera.
Some say it wasn't made by Olympus itself.
I'm not so sure. At least the synch contact is identical to the PEN FT.
Nicer than a Spotmatic? I leave that up to you... when it comes to function it should be compared to a Spotmatic-F but there I have no black one present. You either can believe, or don't believe me that the FTL is at least as good made as the SP-F...
 
F100 and two Nikkors,

F100 and two Nikkors,

I have two film Nikon SRLs, this and FE. and a small apartment I share with a girl friend. been thinking often to sell either one, but just cannot decide which one. I like them both, but the amount of film I shoot, one SLR definitely should be enough. Lenses in the pic are Nikkors 50 f1.4, and 105 2.5, both of these are staying for sure 🙂
 

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