Simmon bros Omega 120, my beauty !

[Mael]

A tribute to a camera I love…

Yes, you will think I’m a crazy donut guy but this is the way it is:
I fell in love with the Simmon brother Omega 120. Some will say it is the ugliest camera on earth, I know, but I don’t care. It is just a masterpiece. First, the magnesium body makes it a relatively light camera in its day, compared to the Medalist and Chevron RF. The 4 elements in 3 groups Omicron lens is just an incredible performer, and it is in practical use much more comfortable as a Leica III for example. Big bright RF patch, big parallax automatically corrected viewfinder…And the quick advance mechanism… yes all this makes me fond of this camera !

Here are some pictures I took with it, scan from FB prints :

 

[spyder2000]

That's not ugly at all! It's easy to see the origination of the Rapid Omega series in your model. I think it's very cool indeed.

 

[zuikologist]

Very cool industrial design. It does what it is supposed to. The photos look great.

 

[Mael]

Oh, there are some other people than me thinking it' a nice camera ! I feel less alone !🙂

I did some nice color slides shots too, but I did not have scanned them yet.

As I was looking for accessories for this camera, I finally found a full Haliburton case specially designed to receive the Simmon Bros, and the flash designed for it. There was a second camera, and lot of stuff.

It is some sort of a revolving flashbulb coupled to the advance mechanism. It is working too after I replaced the capacitor. I'll post some shots made with the flash soon.

 

[Abbazz]

Great pictures Mael.

I love the look of this camera. I have a later model, one Japan-made Koni-Omega, so I understand what you mean when you say that the lens is an incredible performer.

The revolving flash is a clever contraption too. What a nice set!

Cheers!

Abbazz

 

[ChrisN]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing - I would never have known such a camera existed! It is a classic example of form following function.

PS - nice prints, too.

 

[Mael]

Yes, i love it ! 🙂 Thanks to all !

 

[spyder2000]

Man, the flash gun is over the top!

 

[Mael]

The flash gun is the most amazing I have ever seen. There is a spare revolving wheel in the Haliburton case fitted with 6 others bulb.

You can watch this little movie I made showing the whole stuff working (I did not wire the flash gun in order to prevent the bulbs from flashing ! 🙄)

http://www.photo-technique.com/documentation/omega.avi