The Most Technologically Advanced Rangefinder 35s Ever
Part 2: Everything but Leica—Nikons, Canons, and the unexpected
By Jason Schneider
Nikon SP. The Nikon SP of 1957-1960 is the ultimate iteration of the classic, interchangeable-lens Nikon rangefinder camera and perhaps the most acclaimed. Its signature feature is the distinctively shaped, wide window for the viewfinder, which includes user-selected, projected, parallax-compensating framelines for 50mm, 85mm, 105mm and 135mm focal lengths and a separate built-in viewfinder with fixed frame lines for 28mm and 35mm lenses. The SP was also the first professional level interchangeable lens rangefinder 35 compatible with an electric motor drive, one reason the SP was so popular among photojournalists and sports photographers. The S-36 motor drive was capable of continuous bursts up to 3 fps. Features include: Single stroke film-wind lever, cloth focal-plane shutter with speeds of 1/1000 sec plus B, and self-timer, and compatability with a coupled selenium meter. In 1959 the shutter was changed to titanium, similar to the Nikon F. The Nikon SP with S-36 is a professional quality combination, arguably the ONLY pro rangefinder 35mm motor drive ever, something which always eluded even the Leica M system. While in production the SP was backed up by an even larger rangefiner lens system than Leica or anyone else. Most common normal lenses: 50mm f/1.4 or f/2 Nikkor. A highly prized user collectible, the Nikon SP is most often found in chrome finish, but it was also made in black. Chrome versions in clean condition go for about $900-$1,200, Adding an original 50mm f/1.4 or f/2 lens brings it up to about $1,500. Black versions in pristine condition are rare and fetch fancy prices!
The Nikon SP: The "P" stood for professional, and it sure was, with finder frame lines from 28-135mm and the first accessory electric motor drive in its class.
It's worth noting that the revered Nikon SP didn’t just drive off into the sunset after its production run, which came to a respectable 22,348 units, ended in 1960. In 1958 while the SP was being made, Nikon came out with the basic Nikon S3 with 3 finder frame lines for 35mm, 50mm and 105mm lenses, and in 1959 brought forth the rare Nikon S4, a simplified S3 with 2 finder frame lines for 50 amd 105mm lenses and no self-timer. In 1960 they introduced the exceeedingly rare Nikon S3M, the only Nikon rangefinder 35 with a half-frame 17.5 x 34mm format and motor drive compatability. The Nikon S-series legend continued with a commemorative Year 2000 Edition of the Nikon S3 in both chrome and black enamel finish, and they finally bit the bullet in 2005 and brought forth a Limited Edition Nikon SP in black. How much is one of these beauties worth? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it!
Limited Edition Nikon SP of 2005 in black with W-Nikkor.C 35mm f/1.8 lens is gorgeous to be sure, but its princely price puts it out of the range of most user-collectors.
Kodak Retina IIIC of 1958. The ultimate folding rangefinder 35 and the last full-production Retina rangefinder camera, this elegant, beautifully made classic features component-interchangeable lenses by Schneider Kreuznach or Rodenstock---the rear optical group behind the shutter stays put, and front components for 50mm normal, 35mm wide-angle and 80mm tele can be switched. The IIIC features a multi-frame range/viewfinder with 3 frelected non-parallax-compensating frame lines appearing simultaneously, a built-in uncoupled selenium meter, Synchro-Compur MX shutter with speeds of 1-1/500 sec plus B, and a distinctive (inconvenient?) bottom-mounted wind lever. The Kodak Retins IIIC shouldn’t be confused with the Retina IIIc (small c”), basically the same camera, but with a smaller, lower magnification viewfinder, a single 50mm frameline, and a hinged cover on the sekenium meter cell. Both the Retina IIIC and IIIc share the same lens components for swithing focal lengths, and miraculously these can alsio be used on the original Kodak Retina Reflex (Model 025) one of the vary rare instances of a rangefinder camera and an SLR being able to use the same lenses directly without adapters! The Retina IIIC is superb collectible and an excellent picture taker that’s readily available used in pristine condition with the excellent 50mm f/2 Schneider Xenon lens at about $175-$350. It’s sometimes seen with the 50mm f/2 Rodenstock Heligon, a very nice lens indeed, but fair warning, Schneider and Rodenstock lens comoponents are not interchangeable and the latter are hard to find.
Kodak Retina IIIC: The last of the folding rangefinder Retinas, shown here with outstanding 50mm f/2 Schneider Xenon lens is an affordable masterpiece.
Canon screw-mount rangefinder 35s
The Canon IIB: The Canon IIB of 1949 to 1952 set the stage for all future Canon screw-mount rangefinder 35s by incorporating a revolutionary range/viewfinder with 3 different finder magnifications controlled by a lever placed concentricall around the rewind knob. This brilliant innovation, placed between the finder eyepiece and the semi-silvered rangefinder prism, became the hallmark of Canon rangerfinder cameras for the next decade and set Canon apart from the legions of Leica copies produced in Japan and elsewhere. It was the precursor of the later multi-frame viewfinder used by Leica, Nikon, and Canon itself, and was the brainchild of Ryotaru Yamazoe who was dissatisfied with the viewfinder of the previous Canon S-II. The bottom-loading Canon IIB, which has a cloth focal plane shutter with speeds of 1-1/500 plus B, is a great compact shooter’s camera that surely belongs in any Canon rangefinder collection. They’re readily available at $150-$300 on the major online asuction sites; models marked Made in Occupied Japan (MIOJ) command much higher prices in the $500-$1,000 range.
Canon IIB: This elegant classic pioneered Canon's 3-position adjustable range/viewfinder. The 50mm f/1.9 collapsible Serenar lens is a coveted collectible.
Canon VI-T. The Canon VI-T of 1959 is the ultimate interchangeable-lens rangefinder Canon in terms of features and overall quality. The trigger-wind VI-T and its lever wind companion the Canoin VI-L are similar to their illustrious and collectible predecessor, the late VT DeLuxe, in having a three-position range/viewfinder showing the fields of 35mm and 50mm lenses plus a 1.5x setting for critical focusing. All these V-series Canons, starting with the Canon VT of 1956-1957 feature auto-parallax adjustment of shoe-mounted accessory finder by means of a small domed pin at the front of the accessory shoe that rises and falls as the lens is focused. Why this ingenuous system that provides accurate automatic parallax correction with virtually any accessory viewfinder was never used by anyone other than Canon remains a mystery, but it may have to do with patent restrictions. The Canon VI-T and VI-L had titanium focal-plane shutters with speeds from 1-1/1000 sec plus T and B, folding rewind cranks, and Leica-derived 39mm screw mounts To this magnificent mix, they added parallax-compensating simultaneously appearing finder framelines for 50mm and 100mm lenses, a top-mounted, non-rotating shutter dial for setting all speeds and X sync, a double lock on the hinged back, a self-zeroing frame counter, and back-mounted film type reminder dial. Most often found with 50mm f/1.8, 50mm f/2.8 or 50mm f/1.2 Canon lens, the Canon VI-T is a premier user collectible valued at about $350 (chrome body only) in pristine condition. The VI-L is a bit smaller and lighter and fetches about $300 (chrome body only).
Canon VI-T with built-in trigger wind, and the VI-L, the lever wind version (not shown), may well be the best of the breed in terms of features and build quality.
Canon 7s and 7sZ: The very last of the great interchangeable lens rangefinder Canons have the best viewfinders and the best metering sytems of the breed, but their feel and oveall build quality is not quite up to the level iof the VT, VI-T and VI-L . The Canon 7s oif 1965-1967 incoprorates the same magnificent viewfinder as the Canon 7 but wisely ditched the klutzy selenium cell meter that marred the Canion 7’s otherwise clean lines. The big, bright viewfinder has user-selected true projected frame lins for 35mm, 50mm, 85 & 100mm, and 135mm focal lengths and it would rival the Leica M were it not for its less clearly defined rangefinder patch. The CdS meter eye on the front of the camera has high (H) and low (L) sensitivity settings and it’s more selective and sensitive than the selenium cell meter in the Canon 7, but it still uses a transfer-the-setting system and sadly ASA 400 is the top film sensitivity setting. Bummer. Other features include a titanium focal plane shutter conreolled by a single 1-1/1000 sec plus T and B dial, top mounted rewind crank, and a double lock on the hinged back door. The very last of the breed, the rare Canon 7sZ (only 4,000 were produced) has an improved viewfinder that’s less prone to flare and is identifiable by its larger diametrer rewind crank and a rangefinder adjustment port located anove the second “n” in Canon on the top plate. A chrome Canon 7s body in really nice condition runs about $350-$450; a Canon 7sZ body runs about $400-$550.
The Canon 7sZ, a low production tweaked final version of the Canon 7s, has the best viewfinder of any Canon interchangeable lens rangefinder Canon.
Konica IIIA. Perhaps the finest, most advanced example of the meterless, leaf shutter Japanese rangefinder 35 that flourished in the ‘50s, the beautifully made and attractive Konica IIIA of 1958 featured an unusual, vertically-mounted, left-handed, rapid-wind lever, and a high magnification (1:1) range/viewfinder with true projected, parallax-compensating finder framelines that also adjust for field frame size (that is, reduced angular coverage as you focus closer). Other features include: an excellent 50mm f/1.8 or f/2 Hexanon lens, Seikosha 1-1/500 sec MX shutter, rewind crank and self timer. Despite its beautiful execution, elegant proportions, and advanced features, the Konica IIIA was a glorious technological dead end. The subsequent Konica IIIM (which added half frame capability and a coupled flip-up-selenium-cell meter) was an unreliable dud due to the fragile, unreliable meter call that also spoled the handsome lines of the camera. The Konica IIIA is reafily available used in clean working condition for about $200-$250. It is said that the 50mm f/1.8 Hexanon lens performs a tad better than the 48mm f/2 but the latter is more compact and in keeping with the camer’a elegant form factor. Either is fine user-collectibles well worth the current price.
Konica IIIA: This 1958 classic has a magnificent life-size range/viewfinder with projected, parallax-compensating frame lines that also correct for field frame size (see text).
Kodak Ektra. The Kodak Extra of 1941 was Kodak’s audacious attempt to build the finest interchangeable-lens rangefinder camera the world had ever seen, and they poured an enormous amount of resources into the project. The result, designed primarily by ace engineer Joseph Mihaly was technically brilliant, spectacular, and in many ways functional, but it was also extraordinarily complex, expensive to manufacture, and (allegedly because Mihaly was a southpaw, but this has been widely discredited), it featured a left-handed shutter release, film-advance crank, and front-mounted focusing wheel! The Ektra’s amazing features include: a 4-1/8-inch-base, high magnification, full-military-spec split-image rangefinder, varifocal dioptric viewfinder providing auto parallax compensation with 6 breech-lock bayonet lenses ranging from 35mm to 153mm, interchangeable film magazines with built-in, two-stroke film-advance lever and folding rewind crank, and a rubberized cloth focal-plane shutter with fast-and slow-speed dials providing speeds of 1-1/1000 sec plus B. Standard lens was a 50mm f/1.9 or f/3.5 Ektar. Since Kodak officially sold only 2,490 Ektras to the public before it was discontinued in 1948 and each one used 667 different parts made of 88 different materials in its construction, Kodak evidently lost a pile of money on the project, and the glorious Ektra was a technological dead end. Ektras are famously unreliable and hard to fix (the shutter was never perfected and the film backs are trouble prone) but it’s a magnificent and beautifully made (at least on the outside) collectible. Current value with 50mm f/1.9 Ektar lens: $3000 and up, but don’t expect to take pictures with it. Note: An improved version dubbed the Ektra II was planned, but only 3 of them are known to exist. They incorporate a built-in finder for the 35mm lens and could mount a magazine back with a spring-driven motor.
The Kodak Extra: America's attempt to build the world's most advanced rangefinder 35 has many amazing features but it was doomed by its unreliable shutter.
Contax I 1932, An utterly original design only Zeiss-Ikon could come up with, the Contax I was an unabashed attempt to produce the world’s best interchangeable-lens 35mm rangefinder camera. It was certainly more audacious than the Leica II (Model D) introduced in the same year, which was basically a 1930 Leica C with small, coupled rangefinder ingeniously added. Among the Contax I’s then-state-of-the-art features: A long-base coupled rangefinder with separate viewfinder, removable back, bayonet-mount lenses, top-mounted focusing wheel directly in front of the shutter release, and a unique vertical-travel roller-blind focal-plane shutter with speeds from 1/25-1/1000 sec (later extended down to 1/2 sec). Beautifully made and elegantly finished in black enamel with nickel trim, the camera’s boxy contours were not nearly as ergonomic as the Leica’s rounded ends, and the front-mounted, combined film-wind-knob and shutter-speed dial was none too convenient either. While the Zeiss lenses (including a then-super-speed 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar) were as good as anything then available, but the shutter was notoriously unreliable and a bear to repair. Other unusual features: The excellent rangefinder used contra-rotating prism wedges instead of a pivoting prism or mirror and rewinding was clutchless--instead of declutching the sprocket wheel to let it turn in reverse as with most 35s, the rewind lever lifts the film off the sprockets! Despite its ingenuity, high quality, and devoted following, the Contax I did not surpass the Leica, either as a functional camera or in the marketplace, but it did sow the seeds of some important future developments, like the vertical metal focal-plane shutter and bayonet-mount lenses. It was succeeded by the more refined and integrated Contax II of 1936, one of the truly great rangefinder 35s of all time. Contax I’s are certainly collectible, but hard to find in perfect working condition. Clean working (but for how long?) examples with original 50mm f/2 Sonnar lens go for about $1,500.
Contax I of 1932 pioneered many innovations including bayonet mount lenses and a removable back, but it was complex, unreliable and not very ergonomic. It's shown with an uncoated 50mm f/2 Sonnar, one of the best lenses of its era, that was used in coated form on the postwar Contax IIIa.
Zeiss Contax II 1936. One of the truly great interchangeable-lens 35mm rangefinder cameras of the 20th century, the Contax II, made in Germany by Zeiss-Ikon, was a vastly improved version of the Contax I of 1932. Its most conspicuous advances were a magnificent long-base, combined range/viewfinder, and a top-mounted, non-rotating shutter-speed dial, located directly under the film-wind knob, which sets the full range of shutter speeds from 1/2 to 1/1250 sec. The shutter release is conveniently and cleverly inset in the center of the wind knob, and there’s a conventional mechanical self-timer lever on the front. The Contax I’s original internal bayonet mount was retained, allowing full lens interchangeability between models, but outer bayonet lugs were added to provide a more stable platform for heavy telephoto lenses. Other classic Contax holdovers include milled finger-wheel focusing and the roller-blind, vertical-travel metal focal-plane shutter, and removable back with bottom-mounted twist lock. Besides being technologically advanced, the Ccontax II is also an exquisitely made, beautifully styled machine, so it’s hardly surprising that Nikon was heavily influenced by the Contax II in designing its prestigious line of interchangeable-lens rangefinder 35s (albeit with Leica-type shutters). The Contax II system included a superb line of Zeiss lenses including the then-super-speed 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar, and numerous specialized accessories such as the Stereotar stereo adapter and reflex housings. A companion model, the Contax III of 1936, was basically a Contax II with built-in uncoupled selenium meter added. In 1950, updated versions, the Contax IIa and IIIa, were introduced. These excellent cameras, somewhat smaller, lighter, and handier than their forbears, with simplified, more reliable shutters and reduced finder magnification, were manufactured until 1961. For collectible cameras of their era, Contrax IIs are fairly plentiful. A clean , functional Contax II or III with original uncoated 50mm f/2 Sonnar lens sells for about $350-$450.
Contax II: Introduced in 1936 is was a vast improvement over the Contax I with a long base combined range/viewfinder an a much more reliable shutter.
Steinheil Casca. The Steinheil Casca of 1948 didn’t sell, but its influence was enormous because it inspired the finder refinements built into the Leica M3. Indeed, it is arguably the most advanced interchangeable-lens rangefinder 35 of its time. Like “Leica,” which stands for “Leitz Camera,” the name “Casca” is an abbreviation of “C.A. Steinheil Camera” the venerable Munich optical company founded in 1892. But unlike the Leica, the Casca was destined for obscurity—total production was in the low hundreds, it was only made for a 2-3 years, and few besides photo historians and camera collectors have ever heard of it. But in a way the Casca II lives on in every M-series Leica.
Actually, there were two Cascas produced about the same time, the Casca I, a rangefinder-less viewfinder camera, and the Casca II coupled rangefinder camera. Both had interchangeable lenses, but the mounts were incompatible! What makes the Casca II so special is its well- integrated combination of unique features. For starters its large, combined range/viewfinder had projected 85mm and 135mm frame lines, a feature that would not appear on a Leica until the M3 of 1954. Its 3-lobed bayonet mount had a track with 3 spring-loaded ball bearings that fit into matching slots on the backs of the lenses, so lenses mounted securely with a mere 10-degree clockwise turn and no bayonet release was required. The entire hinged back section of the camera flipped down providing superb access for easy loading, and shutter speeds of ½ to 1/1000 sec plus B are set via a sliding bar on the top, rear section, sidestepping the rotating shutter speed dial.
Steinheil Casca II outfit with ( left to right) 85mm f/2.8 Culminar, 50mm f/2.8 Culminar (on camera) and 35mm f/4.5 Orthostigmat lenses. A collector's prize!
Apparently, there were 5 Steinheil lenses available in Casca II mount—a 35mm f/4.5 Steinheil Orthostigmat (which required a separate shoe-mount auxiliary finder that provided manual parallax compensation), the standard 50mm f/2.8 Steinheil Culminar, the 85mm f/2.8 Steinheil Culminar, the 135mm f/4.5 Steinheil Culminar, and the very rare 50mm f/2 Steinheil Quinon, which would have made the system much more competitive. The Steinheil Casca II was beautifully made, but its 2 projected finder frames were not auto indexing and did not provide auto parallax compensation like the 3 finder frames in the Leica M3. Film advance was by knob (with a coaxial film counter underneath), and it had manual flash settings. Nevertheless, it took more than 5 years for the Leica M3 to blow past the Casca II in terms of features, and you may rest assured that in the meantime, the Leitz engineers had a close look at the Casca II. Indeed, some attribute the Casca’s short run to a patent infringement suit by Leitz, but no details have ever emerged.
Minolta CLE: The Minolta CLE was introduced in 1980 after the cooperative agreement between Leitz and Miniolta that resulted in the Leica CL (aka Minolta CL in Japan) had officially expired, and it remained the most technically advanced M-mount camera for nearly 20 years, until the Konica Hexar RF debuted in 1999 (albeit without OTF flash metering) and the Leica M7 arrived in 2001. The CLE was first M-mount camera with an electronically controlled, vertical-run shutter and the first to offer aperture priority AE (using an SPD diode reading the light reflected off the patterned first shutter curtain during the exposure like the Olympus OM-2n) plus manual exposure. It also provided a longer effective rangefinder base length than the CL (28.9mm with a 0.58 viewfinder magnification), a brighter RF focusing patch, off the film plane TTL flash metering during the exposure (with the small Minolta CLE flash) and true projected, auto indexing, parallax compensating frame lines for its multicoated 28mm f/2.8, 40mm f/2, and 90mm f/4 M mount M-Rokkor lenses—all superb performers. Regrettably only about 34,000 of these masterpieces were produced, all in black except for 300 gold-plated cameras sold on the Japanese market. Plus points: very smooth release and quiet shutter, ASA settings 25-1600, metering range EV 3 to 18 at ASA 100, centerweighted bottom biased OTF readings during exposure, stepless shutter speeds in AE mode, manual shutter speeds of 1 to 1/1000 plus B, and the largest built-in 28mm finder of any M-series camera. Minus points: no AE lock, no manual exposure metering, no mechanical shutter speeds so camera is dead when its 2 A76 batteries expire. The Minolta CLE is still the ultimate compact M-Mount camera, and everyone knows it. That’s why a clean, functional black body will set you back about $650-800, a similar body with 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor fetches around $1,050-$1,150, and a gold body with matching lens currently runs $1,300-$1,500.
Minolta CLE: It was the first M-mount camera with aperture-priority AE, off the shutter silicon cell metering, and OTF TTL auto flash. A great user-collectible!
Konica Hexar RF
So why didn’t everyone and his brother just start making M-mount cameras to compete with the Leica M models starting in the ‘50s as they had done with screw-mount “Barnack” Leicas starting in the 1930s? According to a retired patent attorney who represented Eastman Kodak for many years, “These Leica M-mount patents certainly expired in the 1970s. Nowadays, most patents expire 20 years from filing, and most of the time you can't request that a patent term be extended, unless, for example, it’s a pharmaceutical patent and you needed to wait for regulatory approval.” Sounds authoritative, but not everyone agrees with that assessment, including the late, great tech wizard and all-around camera expert Tom Abrahamsson who posted the following tantalizing tidbit on Rangefinder Forum:
“Leica had a patent on the M-mount, and it did run out on 31 December 1998. There were actually two patents, one for the product, and one for the design. As the design patent had run its 50-year course once it lapsed it could not be renewed without a great deal of difficulty, and rumor has it that Leica forgot about it and thought that the patent applied to the M3 (which would have run out in in 2004). That’s why Konica had to hold off on introducing their (M-mount-compatible) KM- mount Hexar RF 35mm rangefinder camera until 1 January 1999, as it would have posed a legal issue if it had been released ‘officially’ at Photokina 1998.”
According to Wikipedia, Konica introduced the Konica Hexar RF to the market on 13 October 1999, making it the first official non-Leica camera with what was, in effect, an M-mount. (other than the Minolta CLE of 1980 that was evidently grandfathered in based on the long running Leitz-Minolta relationship.) However, for political reasons Konica steadfastly referred to it as a “Bayonet Konica KM- mount” and never claimed their system to be compatible with Leica M cameras or lenses, and that turned out to be prescient. In any case, the Hexar RF wasn’t the very first unofficial M-mount camera. That honor goes to the Shanghai Red Flag 20 (aka Hong Qi 20), an unabashed copy of the Leica M4 hand assembled in China in very limited quantities in the early ‘70s.
Konica Hexar AF: Introduced in 1999, it has built-in motor drive, aperture priority AE and more but it had a short reduction run due to compatability issues.
For the record, The Konica Hexar RF has a 0.6x magnification ramge/viewfinder system similar to but not quite as bright as a Leica M that displays projected, auto-indexing, parallax compensating pairs of frame lines—50 and 75mm, 28 amd 90mm, amd 35 and 135mm. The lower magnification allows the frame lines to be more easily seen by eyeglass wearers, but can make composing and achieving precise fcus more difficult with longer lenses. The camera incorporates a motor drive for single frame or continuous shooting up to 2.5 fps, and the camera, which has a cast aluminum chasses and titanium top and bottom plates, is slightly heavier than an M3 when batteries are installed. It’s finished in matte black with a textured rubberized covering, and has a small built-in handgrip, a hinged back door for easy loading and resembles the earlier autofocusing Konica Hexar but shares few components with that camera. The electronically controlled verical metal focal plane shutter provides shutter speeds of 16 sec to 1/4000 sec in aperture priotity AE mode, and discrete shutter speeds of 1-1/4000 sec plus B in manual expoasure mode. Shutter release and film advavce modes are controlled by a 4-position switch around the top-mounted shutter release buttn, and there’s an LCD frame couner and a self-timer. In general the Konica Hexar RF is a very good camera, but it’s no Leica (though its lenses are outstanding based on user reviews.)
The Konica Hexar RF was never quite able to shake the controversy rewgarding its KM mount lenses having compatability issues with Leica M bodies or vice versa. When the Hexar RF was first released some creditable reviewers reported focusing discrepancies when using Leica M lenses on the Konica RF. Later testers found no problems and suggested that any “plus/minus manufacturing tolerance” issues with earlier RF lenses had been resolved. However rumors persisted and in any event the Konica Hexar RF was quietly discontinued sometime before the end of 2003, a run of less than 4 years. Nevertheless the Konica Hexar RF was the most successful direcrt competitor of the Leica M and is now appreciated for the well made, high performancr interchangeable lens rangefinder 35 it is. Today a standard black Konica Hexar RF body in excellent or better shape runs about $1,000-$1,200. A mint 3-lens outfit with original boxes is currently listed at just under $2,900.
The exceptional and elusive Kowa Kallo 140
The Kowa Optical Co. has made some mighty interesting cameras, notably the high quality Kalloflex twin lens reflex with its signature concentric film wind crank and focusing knob (!), the Kowa Six (the poor soul’s Hasselblad albeit with no film magazines) and the Kowa Super 66 that used L-shaped magazines that required no dark slide). However none is more fascinating than the rare, unsung Kowa Kallo 140 (or Kallo 140 for short) which sported a 50mm f/1.4 Prominar lens, the fastest ever fitted to an interchangeable lens, leaf shutter rangefinder 35. The camera, which was introduced in July, 1959, is a handsome, beautifully made, medium sized rangefinder 35 measuring 5-3/8 x 2-7/8 x 3-1/4 inches and weighing in at a hefty 2 pounds 1-1/4 ounces with standard, amber coated, 7-element, 4 group 50mm f/1.4 lens. Its viewfinder features a pair of true projected, parallax compensating yellow frame lines for the the 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/3.5 Prominar lenses, with the outer edges of the finder defining the field (sans parallax compensation) for images shot with the 35mm f/2.8 Prominar. The leaf shutter that sits directly behind each mounted lens is a Seiko SLV with M and X sync setting and shuter speeds of 1-1/500 sec plus B. Both shutter speeds and aperture rings (to f/22) are locked together, but unklike other systems using the infamously inconvenient LVS system, uncoupling them is esasy—just push the lefthand “ear” of the aperture ring as you turn it and it won’t drag the shutter speed ring along with it. Brilliant! All 3 lenses are nicely finished, smooth operating, and well made, just like the rest of the camera.
The elusive Kowa Kallo 140 of 1959: It had an amazing feature set including a pair of projected parallax compensating finder frame lines. and it's the only interchangeable lens leaf shutter rangefinder 35 with a 50mm f/1.4 normal lens! Image courtesy WestLicht Auction.
To interchange lenses on the Kallo 140 you press a small spring-loaded tab on the underside of the lens and turn the knurled ring in the middle of the barrel 60 degrees counter-clockwise, and lift the lens off. At the rear of the lens is a spring-loaded aperture coupling tab , and outboard of this tab there’s a chromed brass rangefinder coupling tab that simply moves in and out as you turn the focusing helical. Mount the lens on the Kallo’s beautifullyt machined 3-lobed external bayonet and the aperture tab enters an arc-shaped slot in which it couples to the aperture ring, and the rangefinder cam contacts a rounded end pin that couples the lens to the rangefinder system—simple, elegant, and ingenious. According to Japan Camera Industry Association (JCIA)] records the Kowa 140 sold for an initial price of 25,800 yen ($72 at the insanely favorable official exchange rate n 1959!), its 50mm f/1.4 Prominar lens is a Soinnar type, and its exposure counter is additive. Prices vary widely, but the Kowa Kallo 140 with standard lens has recently fetched $500-700 at auction and a complete 3-lens outfit in mint condition was offered at $2,800. But as an unsung technological masterpiece that aced out two other great examples of this unique leaf shutter breed (the Voigtlander Prominent which offered a 50mm f/1.5 Nokton lens and the Airies V which offered a 45mm f/1.5 Coral lens) it’s truly priceless!
Part 2: Everything but Leica—Nikons, Canons, and the unexpected
By Jason Schneider
Nikon SP. The Nikon SP of 1957-1960 is the ultimate iteration of the classic, interchangeable-lens Nikon rangefinder camera and perhaps the most acclaimed. Its signature feature is the distinctively shaped, wide window for the viewfinder, which includes user-selected, projected, parallax-compensating framelines for 50mm, 85mm, 105mm and 135mm focal lengths and a separate built-in viewfinder with fixed frame lines for 28mm and 35mm lenses. The SP was also the first professional level interchangeable lens rangefinder 35 compatible with an electric motor drive, one reason the SP was so popular among photojournalists and sports photographers. The S-36 motor drive was capable of continuous bursts up to 3 fps. Features include: Single stroke film-wind lever, cloth focal-plane shutter with speeds of 1/1000 sec plus B, and self-timer, and compatability with a coupled selenium meter. In 1959 the shutter was changed to titanium, similar to the Nikon F. The Nikon SP with S-36 is a professional quality combination, arguably the ONLY pro rangefinder 35mm motor drive ever, something which always eluded even the Leica M system. While in production the SP was backed up by an even larger rangefiner lens system than Leica or anyone else. Most common normal lenses: 50mm f/1.4 or f/2 Nikkor. A highly prized user collectible, the Nikon SP is most often found in chrome finish, but it was also made in black. Chrome versions in clean condition go for about $900-$1,200, Adding an original 50mm f/1.4 or f/2 lens brings it up to about $1,500. Black versions in pristine condition are rare and fetch fancy prices!
The Nikon SP: The "P" stood for professional, and it sure was, with finder frame lines from 28-135mm and the first accessory electric motor drive in its class.
It's worth noting that the revered Nikon SP didn’t just drive off into the sunset after its production run, which came to a respectable 22,348 units, ended in 1960. In 1958 while the SP was being made, Nikon came out with the basic Nikon S3 with 3 finder frame lines for 35mm, 50mm and 105mm lenses, and in 1959 brought forth the rare Nikon S4, a simplified S3 with 2 finder frame lines for 50 amd 105mm lenses and no self-timer. In 1960 they introduced the exceeedingly rare Nikon S3M, the only Nikon rangefinder 35 with a half-frame 17.5 x 34mm format and motor drive compatability. The Nikon S-series legend continued with a commemorative Year 2000 Edition of the Nikon S3 in both chrome and black enamel finish, and they finally bit the bullet in 2005 and brought forth a Limited Edition Nikon SP in black. How much is one of these beauties worth? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it!
Limited Edition Nikon SP of 2005 in black with W-Nikkor.C 35mm f/1.8 lens is gorgeous to be sure, but its princely price puts it out of the range of most user-collectors.
Kodak Retina IIIC of 1958. The ultimate folding rangefinder 35 and the last full-production Retina rangefinder camera, this elegant, beautifully made classic features component-interchangeable lenses by Schneider Kreuznach or Rodenstock---the rear optical group behind the shutter stays put, and front components for 50mm normal, 35mm wide-angle and 80mm tele can be switched. The IIIC features a multi-frame range/viewfinder with 3 frelected non-parallax-compensating frame lines appearing simultaneously, a built-in uncoupled selenium meter, Synchro-Compur MX shutter with speeds of 1-1/500 sec plus B, and a distinctive (inconvenient?) bottom-mounted wind lever. The Kodak Retins IIIC shouldn’t be confused with the Retina IIIc (small c”), basically the same camera, but with a smaller, lower magnification viewfinder, a single 50mm frameline, and a hinged cover on the sekenium meter cell. Both the Retina IIIC and IIIc share the same lens components for swithing focal lengths, and miraculously these can alsio be used on the original Kodak Retina Reflex (Model 025) one of the vary rare instances of a rangefinder camera and an SLR being able to use the same lenses directly without adapters! The Retina IIIC is superb collectible and an excellent picture taker that’s readily available used in pristine condition with the excellent 50mm f/2 Schneider Xenon lens at about $175-$350. It’s sometimes seen with the 50mm f/2 Rodenstock Heligon, a very nice lens indeed, but fair warning, Schneider and Rodenstock lens comoponents are not interchangeable and the latter are hard to find.
Kodak Retina IIIC: The last of the folding rangefinder Retinas, shown here with outstanding 50mm f/2 Schneider Xenon lens is an affordable masterpiece.
Canon screw-mount rangefinder 35s
The Canon IIB: The Canon IIB of 1949 to 1952 set the stage for all future Canon screw-mount rangefinder 35s by incorporating a revolutionary range/viewfinder with 3 different finder magnifications controlled by a lever placed concentricall around the rewind knob. This brilliant innovation, placed between the finder eyepiece and the semi-silvered rangefinder prism, became the hallmark of Canon rangerfinder cameras for the next decade and set Canon apart from the legions of Leica copies produced in Japan and elsewhere. It was the precursor of the later multi-frame viewfinder used by Leica, Nikon, and Canon itself, and was the brainchild of Ryotaru Yamazoe who was dissatisfied with the viewfinder of the previous Canon S-II. The bottom-loading Canon IIB, which has a cloth focal plane shutter with speeds of 1-1/500 plus B, is a great compact shooter’s camera that surely belongs in any Canon rangefinder collection. They’re readily available at $150-$300 on the major online asuction sites; models marked Made in Occupied Japan (MIOJ) command much higher prices in the $500-$1,000 range.
Canon IIB: This elegant classic pioneered Canon's 3-position adjustable range/viewfinder. The 50mm f/1.9 collapsible Serenar lens is a coveted collectible.
Canon VI-T. The Canon VI-T of 1959 is the ultimate interchangeable-lens rangefinder Canon in terms of features and overall quality. The trigger-wind VI-T and its lever wind companion the Canoin VI-L are similar to their illustrious and collectible predecessor, the late VT DeLuxe, in having a three-position range/viewfinder showing the fields of 35mm and 50mm lenses plus a 1.5x setting for critical focusing. All these V-series Canons, starting with the Canon VT of 1956-1957 feature auto-parallax adjustment of shoe-mounted accessory finder by means of a small domed pin at the front of the accessory shoe that rises and falls as the lens is focused. Why this ingenuous system that provides accurate automatic parallax correction with virtually any accessory viewfinder was never used by anyone other than Canon remains a mystery, but it may have to do with patent restrictions. The Canon VI-T and VI-L had titanium focal-plane shutters with speeds from 1-1/1000 sec plus T and B, folding rewind cranks, and Leica-derived 39mm screw mounts To this magnificent mix, they added parallax-compensating simultaneously appearing finder framelines for 50mm and 100mm lenses, a top-mounted, non-rotating shutter dial for setting all speeds and X sync, a double lock on the hinged back, a self-zeroing frame counter, and back-mounted film type reminder dial. Most often found with 50mm f/1.8, 50mm f/2.8 or 50mm f/1.2 Canon lens, the Canon VI-T is a premier user collectible valued at about $350 (chrome body only) in pristine condition. The VI-L is a bit smaller and lighter and fetches about $300 (chrome body only).
Canon VI-T with built-in trigger wind, and the VI-L, the lever wind version (not shown), may well be the best of the breed in terms of features and build quality.
Canon 7s and 7sZ: The very last of the great interchangeable lens rangefinder Canons have the best viewfinders and the best metering sytems of the breed, but their feel and oveall build quality is not quite up to the level iof the VT, VI-T and VI-L . The Canon 7s oif 1965-1967 incoprorates the same magnificent viewfinder as the Canon 7 but wisely ditched the klutzy selenium cell meter that marred the Canion 7’s otherwise clean lines. The big, bright viewfinder has user-selected true projected frame lins for 35mm, 50mm, 85 & 100mm, and 135mm focal lengths and it would rival the Leica M were it not for its less clearly defined rangefinder patch. The CdS meter eye on the front of the camera has high (H) and low (L) sensitivity settings and it’s more selective and sensitive than the selenium cell meter in the Canon 7, but it still uses a transfer-the-setting system and sadly ASA 400 is the top film sensitivity setting. Bummer. Other features include a titanium focal plane shutter conreolled by a single 1-1/1000 sec plus T and B dial, top mounted rewind crank, and a double lock on the hinged back door. The very last of the breed, the rare Canon 7sZ (only 4,000 were produced) has an improved viewfinder that’s less prone to flare and is identifiable by its larger diametrer rewind crank and a rangefinder adjustment port located anove the second “n” in Canon on the top plate. A chrome Canon 7s body in really nice condition runs about $350-$450; a Canon 7sZ body runs about $400-$550.
The Canon 7sZ, a low production tweaked final version of the Canon 7s, has the best viewfinder of any Canon interchangeable lens rangefinder Canon.
Konica IIIA. Perhaps the finest, most advanced example of the meterless, leaf shutter Japanese rangefinder 35 that flourished in the ‘50s, the beautifully made and attractive Konica IIIA of 1958 featured an unusual, vertically-mounted, left-handed, rapid-wind lever, and a high magnification (1:1) range/viewfinder with true projected, parallax-compensating finder framelines that also adjust for field frame size (that is, reduced angular coverage as you focus closer). Other features include: an excellent 50mm f/1.8 or f/2 Hexanon lens, Seikosha 1-1/500 sec MX shutter, rewind crank and self timer. Despite its beautiful execution, elegant proportions, and advanced features, the Konica IIIA was a glorious technological dead end. The subsequent Konica IIIM (which added half frame capability and a coupled flip-up-selenium-cell meter) was an unreliable dud due to the fragile, unreliable meter call that also spoled the handsome lines of the camera. The Konica IIIA is reafily available used in clean working condition for about $200-$250. It is said that the 50mm f/1.8 Hexanon lens performs a tad better than the 48mm f/2 but the latter is more compact and in keeping with the camer’a elegant form factor. Either is fine user-collectibles well worth the current price.
Konica IIIA: This 1958 classic has a magnificent life-size range/viewfinder with projected, parallax-compensating frame lines that also correct for field frame size (see text).
Kodak Ektra. The Kodak Extra of 1941 was Kodak’s audacious attempt to build the finest interchangeable-lens rangefinder camera the world had ever seen, and they poured an enormous amount of resources into the project. The result, designed primarily by ace engineer Joseph Mihaly was technically brilliant, spectacular, and in many ways functional, but it was also extraordinarily complex, expensive to manufacture, and (allegedly because Mihaly was a southpaw, but this has been widely discredited), it featured a left-handed shutter release, film-advance crank, and front-mounted focusing wheel! The Ektra’s amazing features include: a 4-1/8-inch-base, high magnification, full-military-spec split-image rangefinder, varifocal dioptric viewfinder providing auto parallax compensation with 6 breech-lock bayonet lenses ranging from 35mm to 153mm, interchangeable film magazines with built-in, two-stroke film-advance lever and folding rewind crank, and a rubberized cloth focal-plane shutter with fast-and slow-speed dials providing speeds of 1-1/1000 sec plus B. Standard lens was a 50mm f/1.9 or f/3.5 Ektar. Since Kodak officially sold only 2,490 Ektras to the public before it was discontinued in 1948 and each one used 667 different parts made of 88 different materials in its construction, Kodak evidently lost a pile of money on the project, and the glorious Ektra was a technological dead end. Ektras are famously unreliable and hard to fix (the shutter was never perfected and the film backs are trouble prone) but it’s a magnificent and beautifully made (at least on the outside) collectible. Current value with 50mm f/1.9 Ektar lens: $3000 and up, but don’t expect to take pictures with it. Note: An improved version dubbed the Ektra II was planned, but only 3 of them are known to exist. They incorporate a built-in finder for the 35mm lens and could mount a magazine back with a spring-driven motor.
The Kodak Extra: America's attempt to build the world's most advanced rangefinder 35 has many amazing features but it was doomed by its unreliable shutter.
Contax I 1932, An utterly original design only Zeiss-Ikon could come up with, the Contax I was an unabashed attempt to produce the world’s best interchangeable-lens 35mm rangefinder camera. It was certainly more audacious than the Leica II (Model D) introduced in the same year, which was basically a 1930 Leica C with small, coupled rangefinder ingeniously added. Among the Contax I’s then-state-of-the-art features: A long-base coupled rangefinder with separate viewfinder, removable back, bayonet-mount lenses, top-mounted focusing wheel directly in front of the shutter release, and a unique vertical-travel roller-blind focal-plane shutter with speeds from 1/25-1/1000 sec (later extended down to 1/2 sec). Beautifully made and elegantly finished in black enamel with nickel trim, the camera’s boxy contours were not nearly as ergonomic as the Leica’s rounded ends, and the front-mounted, combined film-wind-knob and shutter-speed dial was none too convenient either. While the Zeiss lenses (including a then-super-speed 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar) were as good as anything then available, but the shutter was notoriously unreliable and a bear to repair. Other unusual features: The excellent rangefinder used contra-rotating prism wedges instead of a pivoting prism or mirror and rewinding was clutchless--instead of declutching the sprocket wheel to let it turn in reverse as with most 35s, the rewind lever lifts the film off the sprockets! Despite its ingenuity, high quality, and devoted following, the Contax I did not surpass the Leica, either as a functional camera or in the marketplace, but it did sow the seeds of some important future developments, like the vertical metal focal-plane shutter and bayonet-mount lenses. It was succeeded by the more refined and integrated Contax II of 1936, one of the truly great rangefinder 35s of all time. Contax I’s are certainly collectible, but hard to find in perfect working condition. Clean working (but for how long?) examples with original 50mm f/2 Sonnar lens go for about $1,500.
Contax I of 1932 pioneered many innovations including bayonet mount lenses and a removable back, but it was complex, unreliable and not very ergonomic. It's shown with an uncoated 50mm f/2 Sonnar, one of the best lenses of its era, that was used in coated form on the postwar Contax IIIa.
Zeiss Contax II 1936. One of the truly great interchangeable-lens 35mm rangefinder cameras of the 20th century, the Contax II, made in Germany by Zeiss-Ikon, was a vastly improved version of the Contax I of 1932. Its most conspicuous advances were a magnificent long-base, combined range/viewfinder, and a top-mounted, non-rotating shutter-speed dial, located directly under the film-wind knob, which sets the full range of shutter speeds from 1/2 to 1/1250 sec. The shutter release is conveniently and cleverly inset in the center of the wind knob, and there’s a conventional mechanical self-timer lever on the front. The Contax I’s original internal bayonet mount was retained, allowing full lens interchangeability between models, but outer bayonet lugs were added to provide a more stable platform for heavy telephoto lenses. Other classic Contax holdovers include milled finger-wheel focusing and the roller-blind, vertical-travel metal focal-plane shutter, and removable back with bottom-mounted twist lock. Besides being technologically advanced, the Ccontax II is also an exquisitely made, beautifully styled machine, so it’s hardly surprising that Nikon was heavily influenced by the Contax II in designing its prestigious line of interchangeable-lens rangefinder 35s (albeit with Leica-type shutters). The Contax II system included a superb line of Zeiss lenses including the then-super-speed 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar, and numerous specialized accessories such as the Stereotar stereo adapter and reflex housings. A companion model, the Contax III of 1936, was basically a Contax II with built-in uncoupled selenium meter added. In 1950, updated versions, the Contax IIa and IIIa, were introduced. These excellent cameras, somewhat smaller, lighter, and handier than their forbears, with simplified, more reliable shutters and reduced finder magnification, were manufactured until 1961. For collectible cameras of their era, Contrax IIs are fairly plentiful. A clean , functional Contax II or III with original uncoated 50mm f/2 Sonnar lens sells for about $350-$450.
Contax II: Introduced in 1936 is was a vast improvement over the Contax I with a long base combined range/viewfinder an a much more reliable shutter.
Steinheil Casca. The Steinheil Casca of 1948 didn’t sell, but its influence was enormous because it inspired the finder refinements built into the Leica M3. Indeed, it is arguably the most advanced interchangeable-lens rangefinder 35 of its time. Like “Leica,” which stands for “Leitz Camera,” the name “Casca” is an abbreviation of “C.A. Steinheil Camera” the venerable Munich optical company founded in 1892. But unlike the Leica, the Casca was destined for obscurity—total production was in the low hundreds, it was only made for a 2-3 years, and few besides photo historians and camera collectors have ever heard of it. But in a way the Casca II lives on in every M-series Leica.
Actually, there were two Cascas produced about the same time, the Casca I, a rangefinder-less viewfinder camera, and the Casca II coupled rangefinder camera. Both had interchangeable lenses, but the mounts were incompatible! What makes the Casca II so special is its well- integrated combination of unique features. For starters its large, combined range/viewfinder had projected 85mm and 135mm frame lines, a feature that would not appear on a Leica until the M3 of 1954. Its 3-lobed bayonet mount had a track with 3 spring-loaded ball bearings that fit into matching slots on the backs of the lenses, so lenses mounted securely with a mere 10-degree clockwise turn and no bayonet release was required. The entire hinged back section of the camera flipped down providing superb access for easy loading, and shutter speeds of ½ to 1/1000 sec plus B are set via a sliding bar on the top, rear section, sidestepping the rotating shutter speed dial.
Steinheil Casca II outfit with ( left to right) 85mm f/2.8 Culminar, 50mm f/2.8 Culminar (on camera) and 35mm f/4.5 Orthostigmat lenses. A collector's prize!
Apparently, there were 5 Steinheil lenses available in Casca II mount—a 35mm f/4.5 Steinheil Orthostigmat (which required a separate shoe-mount auxiliary finder that provided manual parallax compensation), the standard 50mm f/2.8 Steinheil Culminar, the 85mm f/2.8 Steinheil Culminar, the 135mm f/4.5 Steinheil Culminar, and the very rare 50mm f/2 Steinheil Quinon, which would have made the system much more competitive. The Steinheil Casca II was beautifully made, but its 2 projected finder frames were not auto indexing and did not provide auto parallax compensation like the 3 finder frames in the Leica M3. Film advance was by knob (with a coaxial film counter underneath), and it had manual flash settings. Nevertheless, it took more than 5 years for the Leica M3 to blow past the Casca II in terms of features, and you may rest assured that in the meantime, the Leitz engineers had a close look at the Casca II. Indeed, some attribute the Casca’s short run to a patent infringement suit by Leitz, but no details have ever emerged.
Minolta CLE: The Minolta CLE was introduced in 1980 after the cooperative agreement between Leitz and Miniolta that resulted in the Leica CL (aka Minolta CL in Japan) had officially expired, and it remained the most technically advanced M-mount camera for nearly 20 years, until the Konica Hexar RF debuted in 1999 (albeit without OTF flash metering) and the Leica M7 arrived in 2001. The CLE was first M-mount camera with an electronically controlled, vertical-run shutter and the first to offer aperture priority AE (using an SPD diode reading the light reflected off the patterned first shutter curtain during the exposure like the Olympus OM-2n) plus manual exposure. It also provided a longer effective rangefinder base length than the CL (28.9mm with a 0.58 viewfinder magnification), a brighter RF focusing patch, off the film plane TTL flash metering during the exposure (with the small Minolta CLE flash) and true projected, auto indexing, parallax compensating frame lines for its multicoated 28mm f/2.8, 40mm f/2, and 90mm f/4 M mount M-Rokkor lenses—all superb performers. Regrettably only about 34,000 of these masterpieces were produced, all in black except for 300 gold-plated cameras sold on the Japanese market. Plus points: very smooth release and quiet shutter, ASA settings 25-1600, metering range EV 3 to 18 at ASA 100, centerweighted bottom biased OTF readings during exposure, stepless shutter speeds in AE mode, manual shutter speeds of 1 to 1/1000 plus B, and the largest built-in 28mm finder of any M-series camera. Minus points: no AE lock, no manual exposure metering, no mechanical shutter speeds so camera is dead when its 2 A76 batteries expire. The Minolta CLE is still the ultimate compact M-Mount camera, and everyone knows it. That’s why a clean, functional black body will set you back about $650-800, a similar body with 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor fetches around $1,050-$1,150, and a gold body with matching lens currently runs $1,300-$1,500.
Minolta CLE: It was the first M-mount camera with aperture-priority AE, off the shutter silicon cell metering, and OTF TTL auto flash. A great user-collectible!
Konica Hexar RF
So why didn’t everyone and his brother just start making M-mount cameras to compete with the Leica M models starting in the ‘50s as they had done with screw-mount “Barnack” Leicas starting in the 1930s? According to a retired patent attorney who represented Eastman Kodak for many years, “These Leica M-mount patents certainly expired in the 1970s. Nowadays, most patents expire 20 years from filing, and most of the time you can't request that a patent term be extended, unless, for example, it’s a pharmaceutical patent and you needed to wait for regulatory approval.” Sounds authoritative, but not everyone agrees with that assessment, including the late, great tech wizard and all-around camera expert Tom Abrahamsson who posted the following tantalizing tidbit on Rangefinder Forum:
“Leica had a patent on the M-mount, and it did run out on 31 December 1998. There were actually two patents, one for the product, and one for the design. As the design patent had run its 50-year course once it lapsed it could not be renewed without a great deal of difficulty, and rumor has it that Leica forgot about it and thought that the patent applied to the M3 (which would have run out in in 2004). That’s why Konica had to hold off on introducing their (M-mount-compatible) KM- mount Hexar RF 35mm rangefinder camera until 1 January 1999, as it would have posed a legal issue if it had been released ‘officially’ at Photokina 1998.”
According to Wikipedia, Konica introduced the Konica Hexar RF to the market on 13 October 1999, making it the first official non-Leica camera with what was, in effect, an M-mount. (other than the Minolta CLE of 1980 that was evidently grandfathered in based on the long running Leitz-Minolta relationship.) However, for political reasons Konica steadfastly referred to it as a “Bayonet Konica KM- mount” and never claimed their system to be compatible with Leica M cameras or lenses, and that turned out to be prescient. In any case, the Hexar RF wasn’t the very first unofficial M-mount camera. That honor goes to the Shanghai Red Flag 20 (aka Hong Qi 20), an unabashed copy of the Leica M4 hand assembled in China in very limited quantities in the early ‘70s.
Konica Hexar AF: Introduced in 1999, it has built-in motor drive, aperture priority AE and more but it had a short reduction run due to compatability issues.
For the record, The Konica Hexar RF has a 0.6x magnification ramge/viewfinder system similar to but not quite as bright as a Leica M that displays projected, auto-indexing, parallax compensating pairs of frame lines—50 and 75mm, 28 amd 90mm, amd 35 and 135mm. The lower magnification allows the frame lines to be more easily seen by eyeglass wearers, but can make composing and achieving precise fcus more difficult with longer lenses. The camera incorporates a motor drive for single frame or continuous shooting up to 2.5 fps, and the camera, which has a cast aluminum chasses and titanium top and bottom plates, is slightly heavier than an M3 when batteries are installed. It’s finished in matte black with a textured rubberized covering, and has a small built-in handgrip, a hinged back door for easy loading and resembles the earlier autofocusing Konica Hexar but shares few components with that camera. The electronically controlled verical metal focal plane shutter provides shutter speeds of 16 sec to 1/4000 sec in aperture priotity AE mode, and discrete shutter speeds of 1-1/4000 sec plus B in manual expoasure mode. Shutter release and film advavce modes are controlled by a 4-position switch around the top-mounted shutter release buttn, and there’s an LCD frame couner and a self-timer. In general the Konica Hexar RF is a very good camera, but it’s no Leica (though its lenses are outstanding based on user reviews.)
The Konica Hexar RF was never quite able to shake the controversy rewgarding its KM mount lenses having compatability issues with Leica M bodies or vice versa. When the Hexar RF was first released some creditable reviewers reported focusing discrepancies when using Leica M lenses on the Konica RF. Later testers found no problems and suggested that any “plus/minus manufacturing tolerance” issues with earlier RF lenses had been resolved. However rumors persisted and in any event the Konica Hexar RF was quietly discontinued sometime before the end of 2003, a run of less than 4 years. Nevertheless the Konica Hexar RF was the most successful direcrt competitor of the Leica M and is now appreciated for the well made, high performancr interchangeable lens rangefinder 35 it is. Today a standard black Konica Hexar RF body in excellent or better shape runs about $1,000-$1,200. A mint 3-lens outfit with original boxes is currently listed at just under $2,900.
The exceptional and elusive Kowa Kallo 140
The Kowa Optical Co. has made some mighty interesting cameras, notably the high quality Kalloflex twin lens reflex with its signature concentric film wind crank and focusing knob (!), the Kowa Six (the poor soul’s Hasselblad albeit with no film magazines) and the Kowa Super 66 that used L-shaped magazines that required no dark slide). However none is more fascinating than the rare, unsung Kowa Kallo 140 (or Kallo 140 for short) which sported a 50mm f/1.4 Prominar lens, the fastest ever fitted to an interchangeable lens, leaf shutter rangefinder 35. The camera, which was introduced in July, 1959, is a handsome, beautifully made, medium sized rangefinder 35 measuring 5-3/8 x 2-7/8 x 3-1/4 inches and weighing in at a hefty 2 pounds 1-1/4 ounces with standard, amber coated, 7-element, 4 group 50mm f/1.4 lens. Its viewfinder features a pair of true projected, parallax compensating yellow frame lines for the the 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/3.5 Prominar lenses, with the outer edges of the finder defining the field (sans parallax compensation) for images shot with the 35mm f/2.8 Prominar. The leaf shutter that sits directly behind each mounted lens is a Seiko SLV with M and X sync setting and shuter speeds of 1-1/500 sec plus B. Both shutter speeds and aperture rings (to f/22) are locked together, but unklike other systems using the infamously inconvenient LVS system, uncoupling them is esasy—just push the lefthand “ear” of the aperture ring as you turn it and it won’t drag the shutter speed ring along with it. Brilliant! All 3 lenses are nicely finished, smooth operating, and well made, just like the rest of the camera.
The elusive Kowa Kallo 140 of 1959: It had an amazing feature set including a pair of projected parallax compensating finder frame lines. and it's the only interchangeable lens leaf shutter rangefinder 35 with a 50mm f/1.4 normal lens! Image courtesy WestLicht Auction.
To interchange lenses on the Kallo 140 you press a small spring-loaded tab on the underside of the lens and turn the knurled ring in the middle of the barrel 60 degrees counter-clockwise, and lift the lens off. At the rear of the lens is a spring-loaded aperture coupling tab , and outboard of this tab there’s a chromed brass rangefinder coupling tab that simply moves in and out as you turn the focusing helical. Mount the lens on the Kallo’s beautifullyt machined 3-lobed external bayonet and the aperture tab enters an arc-shaped slot in which it couples to the aperture ring, and the rangefinder cam contacts a rounded end pin that couples the lens to the rangefinder system—simple, elegant, and ingenious. According to Japan Camera Industry Association (JCIA)] records the Kowa 140 sold for an initial price of 25,800 yen ($72 at the insanely favorable official exchange rate n 1959!), its 50mm f/1.4 Prominar lens is a Soinnar type, and its exposure counter is additive. Prices vary widely, but the Kowa Kallo 140 with standard lens has recently fetched $500-700 at auction and a complete 3-lens outfit in mint condition was offered at $2,800. But as an unsung technological masterpiece that aced out two other great examples of this unique leaf shutter breed (the Voigtlander Prominent which offered a 50mm f/1.5 Nokton lens and the Airies V which offered a 45mm f/1.5 Coral lens) it’s truly priceless!
