Cosina
Cosina Company, Ltd. of Nagano, Japan is a Japanese camera and lens manufactuer.
Cosina CX-2, inspiration for the Lomo LC-A image by Christopher Robin Roberts (Image rights) |
Contents
Description
Cosina Company, Ltd. (株式会社コシナ or Kabushiki-gaisha Koshina) is a Japanese camera and lens manufactuer. The company was founded by Mr. B. Kobayashi in 1959 as a lens factory under the name Nikō (or Nikoh).[1] Though the company has produced cameras and lenses under its own name, it is better known for making equipment for resale under other company's brand names. Cosina has manufactured camera bodies for many well-known camera brands, including Canon, Contax, Nikon, Revue, Olympus, Vivitar, and Yashica. Cosina also manufactures the modern Voigtländer Bessa line of cameras and optics, along with the newly revived Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera and lenses.
Cosina has a long history of manufacturing optical glass and is currently capable of producing glass and plastic aspheric lenses. Their factory maintains a glass furance that is heated to 1300 C, running 24 hours a day. All glass produced by Cosina today is lead-free eco-glass. Their current glass polishing technology is able to achieve sub-micron precision. They also have vacuum-deposition optical coating capabilities that are certified to meet Carl Zeiss lens standards.[1]
In Germany, a lot of Cosina cameras and lenses were marketed by Photo Porst, for many years Germany's biggest photo retailer and mailorder house under their house brand name Porst.
One of Cosina's more interesting camera designs was the E1 Solar, introduced in 1994. The E1, a 35mm film SLR, is powered by rechargeable batteries charged by a small solar panel atop the camera prism housing.
A recent Cosina-branded product was the SW-107, identical to the (silver) Bessa L except for a different top plate, made at the beginning of the Cosina Voigtländer era for areas where Cosina was not authorized to market the Voigtländer trademark. The 107 is hard to find now.
In 2005 Zeiss and Cosina announced a partnership whereby Cosina would manufacture the new Zeiss Ikon RF camera and most of the accompanying M mount lenses.
35mm SLR
Cosina CSR image by Rich1078346 (Image rights) |
K mount
- Cosina C1
- Cosina C1s
- Cosina C2
- Cosina C3
- Cosina CS-1
- Cosina CS-2
- Cosina CS-3
- Cosina CT-1
- Cosina CT-1A
- Cosina CT1G (1982)
- Cosina CT1 Super (1983)
- Cosina CT1EX
- Cosina CT-2
- Cosina CT-3
- Cosina CT-4
- Cosina CT-7 (Computer CT 7)
- Cosina CT-7D
- Cosina CT9 (1986)
- Cosina CT-10
- Cosina CT-20
- Cosina E1 Solar
M42
- Cosina CSL
- Cosina CSM
- Cosina CSR (Vivitar XC-2)
- Cosina Hi-Lite
- Cosina Hi-Lite 202
- Cosina Hi-Lite 205
- Cosina Hi-Lite 402
- Cosina Hi-Lite 405
- Cosina Hi-Lite DL
- Cosina Hi-Lite DLR
- Cosina Hi-Lite EC
- Cosina Hi-Lite EC II
- Cosina Hi-Lite HDL
- Argus/Cosina STL [2]
- Argus/Cosina STL 1000
35mm compact
Cosina Compact 35E image by Alf Sigaro (Image rights) |
- Cosina 35 (rangefinder, same as Vivitar 35EE)
- Cosina 35 Compact E (Same as the the Porst 135 S, similar to Voigtlander VF 135. Likely inspired by the successful Konica C35.)
- Cosina 35 EE
- Cosina 35 FR
- Cosina AF-35
- Cosina CX-1
- Cosina CX-2
- Cosina CX5
- Cosina CX5f
- Cosina CX7
- Cosina CX70
35mm, Voigtländer brand
110 film
Cosina Lenses
- Cosina-W MC 28mm f/2.8, 49mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 100mm, f/3.5, 49mm filer size
- Cosina-T MC 28-70mm f/2.8-4.3, 67mm filter size
- Cosina MC 28-300mm, f/4.0-6.3, 77mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 28-70mm, f/4.0, 62mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 35-70mm, f/3.5-4.5, 55mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 35-135mm, f/3.5-4.5, 58mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 35-200mm, f/4.0-5.4, 62mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 70-210mm, f/2.8-3.8, 62mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 70-210mm, f/4.5-5.6, 52mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 75-200mm, f/4.5-5.6, 52mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 75-300mm, f/4.5-5.6, 58mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 80-200mm, f/4.5-5.6, 52mm filter size
- Cosina MC Macro 100-500mm, f/5.6-8.0
Cosinon Lenses
- Cosinon Auto 28mm f2.8
- Cosinon Auto 35mm f2.8
- Cosinon Auto 50mm f1.7
- Cosinon Auto MC 50mm f1.7
- Cosinon Auto 50mm f1.8
- Cosinon Auto 55mm f1.4
- Cosinon MC 55mm f1.4
- Cosinon Auto MC 135mm f2.8
- Cosinon Auto MC 200mm f3.5
- Cosinon-T MC 200mm f4
- Cosinon-Z MC 28-50mm f3.5-4.5 zoom
- Cosinon-Z MC 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom
- Cosinon-Z MC 80-200mm f4.5 zoom
- Cosinon MC 55-225mm f3.5-4.5 zoom MACRO 1:2
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cosina website, company and historical information
- ↑ also sold re-badged on body and lens as "Kobana" (D Spennemann)
Links
- Cosina Company, Ltd. (Japanese language)
- Cosina PDF manuals, manuals for various Cosina models at Orphancameras.com
- Cosina Camera List in the Camera Collector forums
- Cosina Cameras at www.collection-appareils.fr
- Cosina E1 Solar, a page in french about the Cosina E1 Solar... and his cousin the Voigtländer Bessa
- Cosina page at Collection G. Even's site
- discussion thread with list of Cosina original and OEM SLRs at camera collectors' proboards [1]