|
|
Post by nikkortorokkor on May 4, 2011 6:17:06 GMT -5
Just 'discovered' & bought another Chinese Rangefinder - the Hua Xia or 华夏 (literally, 'China'). I've got a HuaXia 841 coming in the post, complete with gummed-up shutter blades.  Maybe the ultimate 'poor man's Leica' as the 40mm/f2 lens is reputably a copy of the CL's Summicron C. The 841 is moderately common, about 30,000 units were made, and 100,000 units of the older, more basic (no meter) Huaxia 821 were built. Photos to come, but in the meantime, here is a link to a collection belonging to a Chinese camera shop. Some notorious plastic fantastics (the infamous Nippon), lots of Minnox copies and some nice cameras too--- www.gold-camera.com/photo/cat.asp?iCat=74&offset=0If you hunt around the site with the aid of Google Translate, you'll find quite a collection of 'foreign' gear too. eye watering stuff. Michael |
|
|
|
Post by John Farrell on May 4, 2011 18:01:59 GMT -5
I saw that auction....but I wasn't tempted.
|
|
|
|
Post by nikonbob on May 5, 2011 14:39:21 GMT -5
That is a very interesting find. I have not seen any Chinese made rangefinders where I live. It would be virgin territory to specialize in.
Bob
|
|
photax
Lifetime Member
Posts: 1,915
|
Post by photax on May 5, 2011 15:42:00 GMT -5
Hi Michael !
Like Bob, I also have not seen such cameras around here. The only Chinese stuff that will show up from time to time are the 6x6 Seagulls. I pressume the site is interesting, but after I clicked the link, a window with a serious virus warning is popping up.
MIK
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 5, 2011 17:09:19 GMT -5
There should be plenty of Chinese RFs available. When we were there in 2008 EVERYONE seemed to have digital cameras.
W
|
|
|
|
Post by nikkortorokkor on May 12, 2011 5:59:51 GMT -5
Right,
I've had a chance to open up the Hua Xia 841 & found it all to be quite intriguing.
Overall, definitely a step up from the Phenix 205E, which is the only other Chinese Rangefinder I've owned. It is almost 100% metal and glass, including the film advance and rewind knob (plastic on the 205E). The top and bottom plates are a beefy 1mm thick steel - hence the slightly soft edges on the top plate (hard to stamp sharp corners on such thick sheetmetal). In place of the 205's ill-fitting brown vinyl, the Hua xia si skinned in a hard, thick and seemingly tear-proof black plastic 'leather', reminiscent of early 60s Yashicas (but even tougher).
shutter is a a pedestrian 1 to 1/300 plus B, but the f2 40mm lens is top-of-the-line by Chinese rangefinder standards.
The 841 is a simple, solid rangefinder, with a basic, slightly strange non-coupled lightmeter. The meter is activated by a small button on the back of the top plate (beside a battery compartment and below the shutter release). This is ergonomic as it falls beneath the right thumb, and has advantage of not interfering with the shutter in the same way as a 'half depress' system. The lightmeter readout is a simple red + or green for go LED which is displayed against a black tag which protrudes from the top of the brightline viewfinder. The odd thing is, there is no red - , I guess if no lamp shows, you know it is under exposing.
The camera was straightforward to disassemble to the point where I could clean the jammed shutter blades. But compared to a benchmark Japanese rangefinder, such as a second series QL Canonet , the Hua Xia 841 lacks refinement. It is serviceable, and even pleasant, which cannot really be said of the Phenix 205. But sitting it beside the QL Canonet is like sitting a Canonet beside a Leica M6. They are just from different worlds in terms of finish and features.
Two obvious Achilles' heels.
1, the aperture and distance scales are both screen printed, not engraved.
2, the few plastic parts (lens cap and battery compartment/cap) are made from communist plastic. The battery compartment has cracked and been repaired. When I got the camera reassembled the lightmeter was working, then it wasn't. Given the fragility of the plastic components and quirkiness of the meter, I'm not going to dicker around with it.
I'm quite charmed by the Hua Xia 841. On one hand, being made circa 1983, it is at least 2 generations behind Japan, which was by then offering AE, AF 'point and shoot' 35mm. Then again, the lens is reputably sharp and the camera solid enough. Its major weak spot, the plastic battery compartment, is not vital to picture taking.
I'm not in a burning hurry to put a film through the Hua Xia 841, but if a time machine suddenly put me back into 1980s China, the sturdy wee rangefinder would be at the top of my shopping list. Kudos to the engineers who, in an exciting time in China's industrial history, made a sincere effort to produce a good quality camera.
|
|
|
|
Post by barbarian on Jun 5, 2011 18:48:58 GMT -5
Interesting that the "Huaxia" logo is in the traditional style, not the simplified style that was introduced in 1952, and finished by the 1970s.
|
|
|
|
Post by nikkortorokkor on Aug 7, 2011 7:10:36 GMT -5
The use of complicated characters is not quite so unusual in a brand name, I guess. And perhaps the fact that Hua Xia is such a patriotic expression -l iterally taken to mean 'Chinese civilization' - that complicated characters were thought more appropriate. It is nice calligraphy anyhow, and IMHO adds to the camera's visual appeal.
MT
|
|
