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Post by nikonbob on Apr 7, 2011 8:20:01 GMT -5
   Found the above Sears Tower camera the other day and again could not find what model it is. It has a Steinheil Cassarit 50/2.8 lens in a Synchro Compur shutter, sticking, and appears to be fixed lens. The rangefinder, inoperative, has 3 frame lines which if right is odd in a fixed lens camera. Then there is the mystery of the white plastic piece on the front of the camera that has no apparent purpose. Does anyone have any info on this camera? Bob Edit Found out that the lens is a bayonet mount so moved it here. That might explain the different frame lines. Bob |
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Apr 7, 2011 10:34:49 GMT -5
Bob,
I think your Sears Tower (one of many models of Tower) was made by Carl Braun in Germany as one of the models of Super Colorette.
As you have discovered, the lens is interchangeable, and I think I'm right in saying that it uses the same mount as the Voigtländer Vitesse (not Vitessa) but I'm not certain if lenses from the Vitesse are compatible with the Super Colorette on things like back focus distance, though they may be in the interests of standardisation.
It's a very similar mount to that on the Retina Reflex, but I don't think Retina Reflex lenses will fit.
The plastic cover over the word Tower could be to cover an exposure meter on one of the Super Colorette models. I'm not sure about that, just guessing.
I think the date is around 1958-1960
PeterW
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Post by nikonbob on Apr 7, 2011 11:33:32 GMT -5
PeterW Thank you for your reply. What you say jives with what I have dug up after finding that the lens was removable. From different sites, I gather that the mount is Deckel and the camera that closest resembles mine is the Braun Super Colorette 1 BL if you omit the light meter. Your guess on the plastic piece would have been mine also and it explains it's uselessness on my camera. I'll add some photos of the mount in case anyone else needs a reference. Bob   |
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Apr 7, 2011 17:32:01 GMT -5
Thanks for coming back on this, Bob.
I've also been doing a spot of digging and would suggest that your camera is a Super Colorette II which introduced the interchangeable lenses. I think the Super Colorette I had a fixed lens.
BTW, the word Super in German camera naming indicated a built-in rangefinder.
B usually stood for Belichtungsmesser, or light meter.
I'm not sure about the letter L. It seems to indicate being able to see the frame finders for different focal length lenses in the viewfinder, but the German word for frame finder is, I think, Rahmensucher.
Perhaps MIK could shed some light on this?
Another thought came to me about that white plastic cover, which looks in the pictures as if it might be be translucent. I wonder if it was intended for use when taking incident light meter readings instead of reflected light readings? Several hand-held light meters, such as the Zeiss Ikophot, used a translucent piece of plastic for this.
PeterW
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Post by nikonbob on Apr 7, 2011 19:58:02 GMT -5
PeterW
You might have a point on the plastic piece being for incident readings. I cannot find an exact image of this camera on the web nor a Tower model number for it. Seems that the Whittnauer Co. also imported these or similar camera under their name of Professional. Anyway it has been interesting so far. I did manage to get the rangefinder connected and the shutter running a little better. The rangefinder does not match the image at 6 feet when it is at infinity. Did not filddle any more as I did not know what screws adjust what on the RF or if someone had re assembled the lens wrongly. We will figure it out sooner or later.
Bob
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Apr 7, 2011 20:40:10 GMT -5
Very interesting - thanks both.
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Post by nikkortorokkor on Apr 8, 2011 2:20:11 GMT -5
Interesting! Allthough I have a gazillion (scientifically speaking) different Braun Paxettes, I don't have a single Colorette. The model numbering system seems identical on both models - most of which Peter has made clear. This should prove helpful: B = Lightmeter L = Brightline Viewfinder II = Intercheangable Lens Super = rangefinder. Interestingly, Paxette II are M39 Paxette Screw Mount, while Paxette III is Bayonette. I would be VERY circumspect about fitting any bayonet lens to a Paxette which doesn't have BRAUN somewhere on the front. The common disaster is fitting a Regula SLK bayonet lens to a Braun SLK bayonet. Oops! Wedded for life. On the bright side (pun fully intended) Braun rangefinders are rather agricultural and straightforward to adjust/repair. I dropped (Doh!) my Super Paxette III Automatic and detached a mirror in the rangefinder (and dented the previously pristine top plate. Simplest rangefinder to fix so far. here is the III Automatic (pre-drop) with a Super Paxette II BL  It appears to me that the rangefinder/lightmeter assembly on the Super Paxette II BL is near identical to that on the Colorette/ Tower. The Super Paxette II L (no Bewi Lightmeter) has the same nameplate rather than the II BL's lightmeter. I'll post a photo when I take one. Michael. |
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Post by nikonbob on Apr 8, 2011 6:57:37 GMT -5
Micheal Thanks for chiming in especially about using non Braun lenses. When I look up Super Colorette II I get this camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Colorette which is close but not quite it. Looked up Super Paxette II L and it does look like the same RF set up as mine but the top deck is a different layout. I can also find no mention of a model number that Sears would have referred to it as or a photo. Having two and sometimes more left thumbs I tend to go easy on adjusting things on cameras. Bob |
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Post by nikkortorokkor on Apr 8, 2011 13:46:24 GMT -5
Bob, I see from your wiki link that vitessa and Colorette lenses are interchangeable. The warning was definitely for the SLK mount, not the Colorette's Deckel mount.
The main difference between the Paxette and the Colorette (from the POV of functionality) is that the Colorette gets a real, top-plate shutter release, whereas the paxette uses the more direct, front-mounted shutter release.
Michael.
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photax
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Post by photax on Apr 8, 2011 14:14:33 GMT -5
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Post by nikonbob on Apr 8, 2011 14:42:20 GMT -5
Micheal
I don't think I will get anymore lenses but I will keep the SLK mount warning in mind because you never know.
MIK
Yea, really looks that way only without the light meter.
Bob
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Apr 8, 2011 17:58:41 GMT -5
This thread has really got under my skin because European cameras up to about 1960 are my specialist period. I’ve never owned a Super Colorette nor, as far as I know, even handled one, but I feel I ought to know more about them.
So I’ve been doing more digging, both on the web and in old books and magazines. I’ve learned that there were two models of the Super Colorette II BL, and early and a late model. These are the ones shown on the very useful link posted by MIK. In the second picture the early model is on the left, the later one on the right.
You can see that the later model has a taller top to accommodate an improved viewfinder and, I think, a larger meter. The cell on this is exposed, whereas on the early model there is lip-up metal cover.
In the text, it says that the later model had “a different light meter by the firm Gossen”. This would imply that the early model had another make of meter. Bewi comes to my mind from somewhere, but I may be wrong.
Both meters have a knob mounted above them on the top plate. I found a very poor copy of a page from a German user instruction booklet which labelled the main parts. The knob was labelled Eingebauter, Belightungsmesser, which paraphrased as a translation I think means part of the lightmeter which has more inside. I also found a rather poor resolution reproduction of the top of the meter knob.
As far as I can make out, you set the film speed ASA (ISO) or DIN) and the meter needle indicates an Exposure Value (EV) number. These are the red numbers on the lens in Bob’s picture in his original posting. They can be set on the Synchro-Compur against your chosen shutter speed and the two rings lock together . The lens will stop down to the appropriate aperture. If you want a different shutter speed to give the same exposure value you turn both locked rings and the aperture alters to suit. Quick and easy ... in theory
Your Tower hasn’t got a built-in meter, Bob, so I suppose you could say it’s a Super Colorette 2 L, without the B. I don’t think Braun ever marketed this model under the name Super Colorette, so maybe it was a cheapened version of the Super Colorette 2 BL made for Sears. Even so, it's still a desirable camera.
BTW, I DO NOT like EV shutters. Most Synchro-Compurs had EV numbers, and the system is a brilliant idea on the drawing board. But try to alter the setting of the locked EV ring and speed ring out in the open, in the cold, with numb fingers. Then you’ll find out why I don’t like the system ... but I’m rambling again. Time to go to bed.
PeterW
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Post by nikkortorokkor on Apr 9, 2011 1:21:13 GMT -5
I concur with Peter. Super Colorette L.
I'm just happy that there has been such a long discussion in Braun's - which seem rather unloved in the world of classic cameras.
BTW, I find the 'improved' viewfinder, with brightlines, nice and bright. Competitors had better rangefinder patches, (Agfa Silette and Diax, for example, but the Braun rangefinder/viewfinder is still very pleasanty with wide to normal lenses (but a bit of a chore with teles).
Michael.
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