Post by Stephen on May 9, 2015 15:50:49 GMT -5
Another from Ebay, sold as non working, a Samoca 35mm the M-35 of 1958, by Sanei Sangyō K.K., the 35 seems to refer to the F3.5 lens as there was a Samoca M-28 wth a F2.8 lens. They also did a version with a light meter built in.
The body was very modern and quite stylish for the period, the late 1950's, and has a good large viewfinder with bright lines to define the frame, and a rangefinder built into the viewfinder. It has a reasonable speed range to 1/300th sec, provided by a shutter made by Samoca.
The camera is heavily made, and of good quality. All the controls are in the now conventional positions, nothing unusual.
It was said by the seller to be jammed after trying several shots, but although no life at first it has returned to action. I wonder if the fact it has a double wind on the wind on lever, Leica style, caused some confusion. The speeds seem a bit slow on first examination, so it is best opened up and the shutter serviced properly. The shutters were built in house by Samoca.
The F3.5 Ezumar lens is known as quite modest in performance, needing stopping down to F8 to get best sharpness, but it is typical of the rival lenses at the time on compact cameras from Japan. The F2.8 was a better lens, I believe it may have been four element, rather than the three of the simpler F3.5.
Sanei Sangyō K.K. went out of business about 1962, but most models in the range had stopped production by 1959, in the photographic trade recession of the late 1960's in Japan. Samoca was imported into the U?S, but does nor seem to have been offially imported into Great Britain.
Preparing some shots of the camera next.
Stephen.
The body was very modern and quite stylish for the period, the late 1950's, and has a good large viewfinder with bright lines to define the frame, and a rangefinder built into the viewfinder. It has a reasonable speed range to 1/300th sec, provided by a shutter made by Samoca.
The camera is heavily made, and of good quality. All the controls are in the now conventional positions, nothing unusual.
It was said by the seller to be jammed after trying several shots, but although no life at first it has returned to action. I wonder if the fact it has a double wind on the wind on lever, Leica style, caused some confusion. The speeds seem a bit slow on first examination, so it is best opened up and the shutter serviced properly. The shutters were built in house by Samoca.
The F3.5 Ezumar lens is known as quite modest in performance, needing stopping down to F8 to get best sharpness, but it is typical of the rival lenses at the time on compact cameras from Japan. The F2.8 was a better lens, I believe it may have been four element, rather than the three of the simpler F3.5.
Sanei Sangyō K.K. went out of business about 1962, but most models in the range had stopped production by 1959, in the photographic trade recession of the late 1960's in Japan. Samoca was imported into the U?S, but does nor seem to have been offially imported into Great Britain.
Preparing some shots of the camera next.
Stephen.