Mamiya X-30
The X-30 is a camera for recording x-ray images on a fluorescent screen, made by Mamiya in the 1950s. It is a rather simple metal camera body, with brushed-chrome top and bottom plates and leatherette covering; there is no shutter, just a dark slide inserted in a slot in the top plate of the camera body. In practice the exposure might be controlled by the opening and closing of the x-ray source. The lens is a 6.5cm f/1.4 Roentgen-Zunow, mounted in a plate to fasten over the screen of the x-ray machine, and with a fine-focusing control but no iris diaphragm. Clearly, no viewfinder is required. The camera body attaches to the back of the lens with a bayonet. Examples seen at Leitz/Westlicht sales comprise the lens, two camera bodies and ten film cassettes (branded by Canon in an early example; by Mamiya in the later one) in a wooden outfit case fitted to exactly this set.[1][2]
The earlier camera body has an advance knob with a chain wrapped around it, allowing it to be advanced (once) by pulling a string tied to the chain, from behind the x-ray protection screen.[1] The later camera has a very large-diameter cylinder at the uptake end, which must surely house a spring-motor advance.[2] It also has olive-drab leatherette; the earlier camera's is black. There is a frame-counter scaled up to 50; the exposed frame is square. There is a simple crank for rewinding.
Canon (then known as Seiki Kōgaku) had made a rather similar X-ray camera, sold in similar outfits, from the mid-1930s.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 X-30 outfit comprising Roentgen-Zunow lens serial no.60351, two camera bodies serial nos. 6422 and 6428, and ten Canon film cassettes in a wooden case, sold at the 40th Leitz Photographica Auction, in June 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 X-30 outfit with Roentgen-Zunow serial no.60861, two camera bodies serial nos.581467 and 581524 (surely implying a date of 1958) and Mamiya film cassettes, in a wooden outfit case, sold at the 36th Leitz Auction, in June 2020.
