Zunow 50/1.1 in Nikon S mount

T

taffer

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An opportunity to watch a pretty rare lens (I thought they only made it in LTM)

I'm also curious as for how high it will go...

Item 7583153550 in the you-know-where...
 
That's a very rare lens. They were the first to make an f/1.1, beating the big camera makers by several years. Unfortunately, Zunow was so innovative and high quality that it went bust.
 
Hah!

This camera is probably fro the 1940s or 50s but it works like new. It has what I think is a serial number of 6147128.The lens is f 1.1 to 16 and has No. 5818 on it. Lens frame is metal {not plastic} and made in Japan.Lens and camera in excellent condition but the case shows some wear.I do not know much about cameras but this is obviously quality camera. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish more info.

If he really knows so little about the camera, I wonder what his reaction was seeing it go well over $1000 with still three days to go!
 
Zunow made a very advanced SLR in the late 1950s, now highly collectable and rare. I do not think that more than a few hundred, if that even, were ever made.
 
The couple of sites that discuss Zunow (Gandy and Pacific Rim) say the Zunow SLR came out about a year before the Nikon F and clearly gave Nikon designers some healthy food for thought.
 
I remember reading a short review about the Zunow SLR in a 1958 edition of U. S. Camera magazine.
 
What a lovely piece of engineering. The Leicaflex seems to have borrowed the shutterspeed dial placement from the Zunow. For shame.
 
Now that is a great classic looking SLR

They throw in the ideas, and others get later credit for them :(

Just like real life !
 
pbjbike said:
What a lovely piece of engineering. The Leicaflex seems to have borrowed the shutterspeed dial placement from the Zunow. For shame.
Click to expand...

would not the Contax IIa / IIIa be the first cameras to have shutter speed dial in that location, or even the pre war II/III Contax?
 
taffer said:
Now that is a great classic looking SLR

They throw in the ideas, and others get later credit for them :(

Just like real life !
Click to expand...

yes Oscar, Alpa introduced the instant return mirror ,I do believe, Asahi Pentax got the credit. as with the M42 lens mount, Edixa and or the Contax D had that screw mount first, if I am not mistaken.
 
taffer said:
Now that is a great classic looking SLR

They throw in the ideas, and others get later credit for them :(

Just like real life !
Click to expand...

And the same with many innovation-driven industries.

Consider the development of PCs. Anyone hear remember Ohio Scientific Inc.?

-or the CP/M operating system that was the precursor of MS-DOS?
 
And when Digital Research told IBM to take a hike rather than work on a 16-bit processor!

CP/m was like DOS 1.0 and 1.1, well suited for floppy based systems. But DOS 2.0 and later blew it away.

I would love to have one of these 9 element monsters.
 
The Zunow 50mm f/1.1 is considerably smaller than the Nikon 1.1 (or the Canon .95). Unlike the huge and ungainly Nikon version, the Zunow actually looks well balanced, like the kind of lens you could carry around all day. I imagine one would be hard-pressed to ever find an actual photograph taken with one to know of its image quality.
 
You guys are whetting my appetite to see this listing.

Unfortunately (or maybe, fortunately) eBay is a blocked site here at work. :bang:

Can't wait to take a look tonight!
 
xayraa33 said:
yes Oscar, Alpa introduced the instant return mirror ,I do believe, Asahi Pentax got the credit. as with the M42 lens mount, Edixa and or the Contax D had that screw mount first, if I am not mistaken.
Click to expand...
Alpa also produced one of the most compact SLR and Olympus, many years later, got credit for that :). This picture is not the best representation, but you get the idea. I have a shot on another hard-drive of a later model Alpa 6b next to a Contax II. The Alpa is more compact in every respect except for the small protrusion of the reflex housing.
 
VinceC said:
It went for $3,116.66.
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A few days ago I e-mailed the seller and told him why his item was so going so high. As some here suspected, he had no idea of the rarity of the Zunow lens (nor, truth be told, did I until I read it here).

He is one very happy camper tonight!
 
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