Happy SUNday! – Back to 1959

Chris and Carol

Three “new” cameras from 1959.
The Asahi Pentax H2 shown here in its Honeywell Heiland badges, the Canon Canonflex, and the Yashica Pentamatic ’35’. All three made their debuts that year, although the Yashica more formally in March 1960. The Asahi is the 4th pentaprism 35mm SLR after their original in 1957. The Canon and Yashica were their first-ever SLRs. The Asahi Pentax more or less set the standard for what a compact 35mm SLR would look like for the next decade. Not pictured with this trio is the Nikon F, which was also released that year.

Three gems from the late 1950s. These were the standard lenses that would have been attached as part of a ‘kit’.
The most compact of the three.
This one is a beast! It’s about the same size and weight as the Canon F-1, which was released much later in March 1971.
Of the three, I think the Yashica has the cleanest design and looks the most modern for the time period.
It takes two hands to handle the Canon. The Canon’s lens is radioactive. Not quite enough to heat your dinner (I hope).

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

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