Difference between revisions of "Kalloflex"
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{{Japanese postwar TLR}} | {{Japanese postwar TLR}} | ||
| − | + | The Kalloflex Automat was a twin-lens reflex produced by Kowa Optical Works, in two versions beginning in 1954. | |
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| + | Its unique feature was a focusing knob concentric with the film-advance crank, both operated by the photographer's right hand. Kowa also opted to use a convex glass lens atop the focusing screen, rather than the more common flat fresnel lens. | ||
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| + | The Kalloflex was positioned at the top of the price spectrum for Japanese TLRs, advertised in US photography magazines circa 1957 at a list price of USD $119.50, despite its absence of a light meter. (A Yashica Mat of the time, also with crank wind and a 4-element Lumaxar lens, listed for USD $75.50.) | ||
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| + | Kalloflex advertisements proudly boasted that its four-element, 75mm f/3.5 Prominar taking lens had "an amazing resolving power of 125 lines per millimeter ''wide open''. While the claim sounds dubious, the camera did gain respect among photographers as "the poor man's [[Rolleiflex]]." | ||
== Bibliography == | == Bibliography == | ||
* ''Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten'' (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.29. | * ''Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten'' (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.29. | ||
Revision as of 13:53, 27 October 2007
The Kalloflex Automat was a twin-lens reflex produced by Kowa Optical Works, in two versions beginning in 1954.
Its unique feature was a focusing knob concentric with the film-advance crank, both operated by the photographer's right hand. Kowa also opted to use a convex glass lens atop the focusing screen, rather than the more common flat fresnel lens.
The Kalloflex was positioned at the top of the price spectrum for Japanese TLRs, advertised in US photography magazines circa 1957 at a list price of USD $119.50, despite its absence of a light meter. (A Yashica Mat of the time, also with crank wind and a 4-element Lumaxar lens, listed for USD $75.50.)
Kalloflex advertisements proudly boasted that its four-element, 75mm f/3.5 Prominar taking lens had "an amazing resolving power of 125 lines per millimeter wide open. While the claim sounds dubious, the camera did gain respect among photographers as "the poor man's Rolleiflex."
Bibliography
- Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.29.
Links
In Japanese:
