Pure Power! That’s how the sales rep from Sansui pitched it to us at the U.S. Navy Exchange in Yokosuka, Japan in 1978. It is a monster!
Here’s a peek inside –
Sadly we don’t own it anymore – a casualty of downsizing our home. It could rock in its day and rattle the windows! They sell on eBay now for solid money.
Direct coupled amp – pure thunder! ^.^
Camera: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170
Chris
Canon’s A Series of cameras were among the best in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Often overlooked, the Canon AE-1 Program (it was also available in a pro black body) was a fun and accurate SLR during its heyday. Of course the Canon A-1 and the AE-1 were the most popular of all.
The AE-1 Program, like all of the Canon A Series of bodies, used the Canon FD lenses – here with the popular and super lightweight 50mm f/1.8 lens.
AE-1 Program in pro black and Olympic Edition.
If you get a chance to pick one of these up for a fair price we think you’ll be surprised at how well the auto exposure modes do under challenging lighting situations. It’s not built as robustly as the A-1 but can be had for much less.
The AE-1 P makes a nice addition to any Canon collection and certainly would look good in any collection of early Japanese SLRs.
Thanks for stopping by!
Camera: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170
Chris
Probably not many of these floating around in the U.S. – this was in our collection of ‘all things Canon’ for awhile but has since moved on to another collector. We thought it deserved a spot on the blog if only because few people know of its existence.
The Canon T50 is one of the simplest cameras (35mm SLR) that Canon ever produced. It accepted all Canon FD lenses, took 2 AA batteries, had a power winder built-in and had programmed automation!
Cool logo!
Simple Simon! Shutter button, function dial, hot shoe and rewind lever.
Nice bright graphics!
Bold hand grip and clean design.
If you want a simple, and we mean simple, 35mm SLR film camera to play around with, then the T50 and its cousin the T70 are just the ticket. Both take all of Canon’s FD lenses – and that’s worth the price of admission any day!
Camera: Sony Cyber-shot W170
Chris
The Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic playing with his toys. It took a long while to chase down some of these Pentamatic thingys – still some items to find. Ah, the chase!
Chris
Yashica Pentamatic S with its no name clip-on light meter.
S fitted with its light meter, lens hood and the standard 5.8cm f/1.7 lens that came with the Pentamatic II.
Pentamatic S
Standard lens for the Pentamatic II here fitted to the S – Auto Yashinon f/1.7 5.8cm made by Tomioka Optical.
The Yashica Pentamatic S was available in 1961 and came with the Auto Yashinon f/1.8 5.5cm lens.
Chris
Pretty little Fujica DL-20 from 1983.
The world’s first 35mm drop-in loading camera! Simply load your Fujifilm cartridge into the opening on the bottom, close the back – and your Fujica will do the rest!
Features a Fujinon 38mm f/4 lens with built-in lens and viewfinder cover.
Released in March 1983 in Japan, it was also known as the ‘Auto Mate’.
Original list price in Japan was 30,000 JPY.
Shutter fires from 1/100 to 1/300 of a second.
Also released at the same time the more feature packed DL-100 (Auto Ace).
Solid little thing! Thick plastic everywhere and a bright red finish too!
Manually set ISO settings (100 & 400). 3 zone focusing. Auto exposure (EE).
Built-in electronic flash.
Push the film cartridge into the opening on the camera’s left side with about 5 cm of film extended – close the back and it auto loads the film.
Cute centerfold art… love the image on the far right!
Weighs in at 300 g. Fits nicely in your hand (although a bit small for me) and fits in a coat pocket with ease. A simple, compact 35mm point and shoot camera from Fuji Photo Film.
We don’t know if we’re going to shoot the Acros first or load up some bright Fujicolor. Soon we hope!
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Thanks for stopping by!
Chris
From the Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited, Tokyo.
Actually quite a sophisticated 35mm compact autofocus camera from the early 1990s – during the compact camera war period where each manufacturer was trying to cram as many features into as small a package as they could. In the case of this Fuji, it came pretty close to having everything except the compact part.
Which in the case of this camera, is a very good thing in our opinion. It has a wonderful feel to it – it has some heft (362 g without battery and film) and fits nicely into your grip. It’s plastic but with a host of motors and what not the weight goes up which helps to hold it steady when taking a picture.
It was packaged in a descriptive and colorful box that included a roll of Fujicolor film, a lithium battery (which was still working after 24 years!), a padded strap and a series of 3 HG Creative Exposure cards for exposure compensation. The film expired in May 1994.
We think it’s one of the better designed compact 35s of that era – beautiful lines and a quality fit and finishes. It was made in Japan – and it appears that it was also assembled there as well. The June issue of Popular Photography has it listed as $299.95 as the manufacturer’s suggested retail price! I believe that gives some clue as to the design that Fuji put into this nice update to their Discovery 900.
The Discovery comes with a Fujinon 38-85mm power zoom lens (f/3.8 – 8.2) and uses a 3 zone multi-beam autofocus system. Focuses close-up to 29.5 inches and the AF focuses from .75 meter to infinity.
The Fujinon lens consists of 7 components, 7 elements. The programmed electronic shutter operates from 1/8 to 1/250 second.
The top view is simple and uncluttered. The HG card slot is in the center (where a hot shoe would be). It has a sequential self-timer and the power zoom buttons are on the far right. It also features drop-in film loading and uses DX coding with ISO 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 DX-coded films.
This camera was a presentation camera to the employees (?) of the plant – or maybe the plant only got one. It is in mint never used condition so I’m guessing it never took pictures of their cement pipes at the plant. Our first thought was to remove the plaque, but it is well designed and affixed properly so it’s best to leave it be. Besides, it helps to date the camera and that’s okay with us.
The little Pac Man looking symbol and slide lever opens and closes the lens cover and activates the camera. The landscape button on the left helps the AF system to fix a distant focus at infinity or at least takes an average focus from the scene. We love the centered viewfinder – it provides a nice bright view of the composition.
The Fuji Discovery 900 Zoom Plus 35mm camera.
The Fuji Discovery 90 Date – a smaller and less feature-packed cousin to the 900.
We think Fuji did well with this sophisticated camera and can’t wait for a field test! Soon!
Thanks for your visit.
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Chris
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Every day is Earth Day at our house… have you shown the Earth some love lately?
It’s time to go hug my family and a few trees too!
Happy Earth Day! Chris & Carol
A small collection of recently “found” images from our time spent living in Yokohama.
Happy me with my new Canon F-1 and Canon FD 80-200mm zoom lens.
Carol checking out the wall of crates outside a local liquor store.
Gift Box shopping.
Nice watches for a great price.
¥ 360 to the $
Carol always had pretty flowers at our house.
Carol’s potting shed that I built for her.
Carol busy at her desk.
We completely enjoyed our time in Japan. A once in a lifetime experience that we still treasure to this day. We lived at 283-D, Area 2, Honmoku, Naka-ku Yokohama from May 1977 to February 1980.
All smiles… Chris and Carol ^.^
Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 