Tower 51

Trius

Trius

Waiting on Maitani
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Mar 7, 2005
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Some time ago I had German lens GAS and bought a Tower 51 on oBoy, for a whole $10USD. Okay, the shipping was actually more than the camera ($11.50), but still it wasn't bad.

It's taken forever to put a roll through the camera, and I wasn't too hopeful. The viewfinder is very dirty, and the film advance feels really bad. The lens looks good, but there may be some haze that needs to be cleaned up.

So, I was very happy the test roll gave me some good shots. There was some flare on some of the shots (I've only posted one shot so far), but if there is haze that a CLA can clean up, it might even be good for colour ... especially if it gives that "classic" look.

First shot is here

The other nice thing is that it's a compact but heavy little camera, so doubles as a concealed weapon! :D

Earl
 
Trius said:
Some time ago I had German lens GAS and bought a Tower 51 on oBoy, for a whole $10USD. Okay, the shipping was actually more than the camera ($11.50), but still it wasn't bad.

It's taken forever to put a roll through the camera, and I wasn't too hopeful. The viewfinder is very dirty, and the film advance feels really bad. The lens looks good, but there may be some haze that needs to be cleaned up.

So, I was very happy the test roll gave me some good shots. There was some flare on some of the shots (I've only posted one shot so far), but if there is haze that a CLA can clean up, it might even be good for colour ... especially if it gives that "classic" look.

First shot is here

The other nice thing is that it's a compact but heavy little camera, so doubles as a concealed weapon! :D

Earl
Click to expand...


Earl,

Since your "all-in" is under $22 how can you go wrong given these results?

Congrats.

A few rolls through will cost more than the gear and the pic you posted is "spot on"!

George
 
Update: As I mentioned in the C&C thread today, I cleaned the VF and this puppy is now ready to rumble with Tri-X at merciful speed. :D I got the film advance to behave better... it will never be as smooth as a Leica baby's butt, but hey, it's about 500 times cheaper.

One thing though ... it takes 28mm threaded filters, and the OD of the filter ring is 30mm. What are my options? I'd like at least a yellow, yellow-green, a warming filter, and maybe an ND or two.
 
Trius said:
One thing though ... it takes 28mm threaded filters, and the OD of the filter ring is 30mm. What are my options? I'd like at least a yellow, yellow-green, a warming filter, and maybe an ND or two.
Click to expand...

Look for the seller Cupog on ebay. He often has odd-size filters in sets and I'm pretty certain I've seen some 30mm slip-on filters advertised by him.

Tower - I'm sure you know - was a house brand sold by Sears and the cameras ran from the cheapest P&S types to excellent quality rangefinder and SLRs. Back about 1968 I bought a Tower RF with Nikkor 50mm f/2 LTM lens. I still have both and other than slow speeds being off, the camera still operates beautifully. My only complaint is the lack of a diopter adjustment on the rangefinder which isn't as clear as these old eyes would like. The camera was made by Nicca (Nicco) and the quality is first rate. I paid $18 for it from a pawn shop in Topeka, KS.

I have no idea who made your German camera but your picture indicates that the quality is quite high. You should be very happy with it.

Walker
 
Walker: Thanks for the eBay tip. My Tower was made by Iloca, and is basically the Iloca Rapid B, although the film advance is on the right, while the Iloca B placed it on the left. That placement meant less interference with the viewfinder, hence the "rapid" operation. There were at least two versions of the Tower 51, as Matt Denton's has the left-hand advance.

The lens on this one (50mm Steinheil München Cassar 50/2.8) is very sharp.

Tower/Nicca for $18 ... sigh.
 
how much is eighteen 1968 dollars equal to today?
I do not think too many people bought used japanese Leica copies in '68
 
It's a lot more than $18, that's for sure. But I doubt it's not as much as they're getting on eBay today. An inflation calculator here says it's worth $99.59 in 2005 dollars. So they've appreciated about 300%.
 
Trius said:
It's a lot more than $18, that's for sure. But I doubt it's not as much as they're getting on eBay today. An inflation calculator here says it's worth $99.59 in 2005 dollars. So they've appreciated about 300%.
Click to expand...

I'd have guessed about $90 ~ $95 so I wouldn't have been too far off. A nice Tower Leica copy with the Nikkor 5cm f/2 lens will easily double or triple that amount on ebay today.

I don't know about the Leotax which brings very high bids on ebay but the Nicca copies of the Leica are of excellent quality. They give up little to the early Canon IMO. Canon, however, was innovative and went on to build world-class rangefinders. Nicca was absorbed by, or combined with, other companies and disappeared.

Walker
 
yes, Yashica bought out Nicca in 1958 , to have focal plane shutter expertise at hand. Leotax was liquidated in 1961, their estate handlers sold off the remaining parts of their latest rf. the Leotax G, to a private consortium who assembled (poorly) the G and sold them , mainly in Japan.
 
I just won one of these (Iloca Rapid B) really cheaply on ebay... Same lens as Earl's, but with the winder on the left... My first impressions are that the eyepiece is a little too far to the right of the camera, so that taking your left hand off the camera body to focus leaves a pretty weak grip with your right hand & face fighting for 'elbow room'... I'll probably get used to this, though I can see myself dropping it at some point. No strap lugs either, but I have the bottom 1/2 of the ER leather case that I could probably attach some staps to with some fiddling. We'll see if I acually get around to doing that!

Here is a great page illistrating some basic repair. This is one of the best pages I have ever seen for camera repair... If I were to ever do this I'd follow this guys layout. It's perfect!

http://daniel.mitchell.name/cameras/rapidb/rapidb.html

Here's a shot of my Iloca while I was in the process of taking the top off to clean up the viewfinder windows...

178793209_655c09fe2a.jpg


Peter
 
I forgot to mention:

The step up ring on the lens came with it... Not sure what diameter it is, but it looks to be about 5mm larger than the filter ring... Maybe it's 32mm? It has 'Enteco USA adapter ring Ser.5 No.57' stamped on it...

Peter
 
Peter: Indeed Dan Mitchell's page is great, and was a big help as I cleaned the viewfinder on mine. I agree that the grip is not as secure given the configuration of the viewfinder. BTW, the case that came with mine is in wonderful condition. I haven't been using the bottom half for carry around, but I think I will today just to see how it works.

How do you like the viewfinder? I showed it to Gene at the last Toronto RFF gathering, and he was impressed that the patch was relatively easy to focus even though the viewfinder is not super bright.

When you were in yours, did you notice how the film counter is supposed to work? I "disabled" mine and don't want to open it back up unless I have a good idea of how it should work.

Post some pics!
 
Hey Earl,

I do like the bright, sharp-edged rangefinder patch... The vertical alignment seems to be a bit off on mine, or at least it varies when i don't point the camera horizontally??? Seems a little stange, but last night was really my first play with it. Haven't even loaded any film yet... maybe I'll do that now! The Cherry Creek Arts Festival opens here today and I was planning on taking a few shots in the crowd.

The film counter is a bit of mystery to me... I thought mine was broken, but I couldnt see any linkage to the film wind mechanism when I had it open... Maybe it is meant to be manually set after each exposure??? I hope not, but if anyone could confirm this I'd appreciate it!

Cheers, will try to post pics when I have some (I cringe writing that... Always promise, but just doesn't seem to happen)...

Peter
 
I also noticed that rangefinder patch has a slight rose-coloured tinge to it; I can't recally seeing another RF with that colouration. Maybe it's just mine and the age.

I have Walgreens Studio 35 200 (Agfa Vista) loaded up in mine right now, and I'm off to Hillebrand for a bit of new vintage tasting and relaxing on the patio with some jazz.

Life is good.
 
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