Graflex Century 35 A

[Stephen]

From Ebay at bargain price, under £5, with case, a Graflex Century 35 A, produced by Kowa in Japan in 1959. Usual Prominar lens by Kowa and a Ceres Shutter up to 1/300th second. Not that common these days, especially in the UK, where the Kowa versions are a bit more common.
It has a very good large size brightline viewfinder, which has good back distance allowance for glasses users, and appears 100% match for the 45mm standard Prominar lens. No rangefinder is fitted.



Has the odd self ejecting back!,(no hinge), always drops off when opened. It has a bottom wind and cocking lever, this example has the tip missing and will need new part made, usable despite missing.



The lens also focuses beyond infinity, as the pin restricting the rotary movement of the front lens cell is missing. The lens had been unscrewed at some point, and re-engaged on the wrong thread, rendering the focus out. Must have been put aside as non working, but cured easily by removing the lens and correctly re-fitting. the new pin will be made to fit, the focus scale lines up in the meantime.



I will try a test film in it in the coming days, the lens looks in fine condition, just a bit dusty, before cleaning.

[genazzano]

Nice camera. I never saw one of the later Kowa's. I have a few of the previous generations back to the Perfexes, Ciro and Graphlex Ciro. I always thought it was an interesting evolution. David

[photax]

Great find Stephen ! I also never saw one of these before. Thanks for showing !

MIK

[Stephen]

I was surprised it was in good condition, the picture on Ebay did it no favours, but I could see the lever at the bottom was missing, I will have to make a special replacement, it is riveted on, and a clasp grip to the stub will be needed, unless the whole front is taken apart. It is only a flip down tip of the lever, two stokes are needed to wind on and cock the Ceres shutter.
It has a case, but that needs attention to the stitching on the front, nothing too serious.

The aluminium surround to the Kowa Prominor lens can be released, and then the missing stop screw can be put back on to the lens plate on the body, the lens adjusted to infinity with a ground glass, (the Graflex 35 A fortunately has got bulb position), and then the outer rim, with the focusing scale adjusted and locked into exact position to match the inner lens.

The camera was also marketed as a Kowa brand camera, not just the Graflex brand label.
Stephen.

[genazzano]

When I was with OSU I lived in Delaware. I believe that Ciro was located somewhere in that little town but don't know where. Was Kowa the last to market an evolution of this basic design from the 1930's?

[Stephen]

The Japanese Kowa's are unrelated to the Ciro etc, from Graflex, who simply went to a Japanese manufacturer to make Camera under the Graflex label. The push button focus Graflex model appears, though, to be a US design, built by Kowa, after a short period made in the States. It was said Kowa were chosen, as they had very good lenses, made "in house" by Kowa.

[genazzano]

Stephen, Permit me to disagree with you regarding the Ciro-Graflex not being related to the Kowa. As I see the cameras that are in our collection, the Ciro is clearly the antecedent to the Graphic 35 which then evolved further into the latter versions of the Century 35, the Century 35A, the Kowa 35N and Century "NE" where the body shape became angular. These cameras occupied a place in the Graflex product line which became increasingly simplified eliminating the complex features of the first Graphic 35 proceeding to the Century 35A which had none of them beyond the very nice viewfinder.

The Century 35A with the Graflex logo was also sold as the Kowa 35N. Beyond this point, the cameras diverge in development and marketing and the relationships fade out. Graflex made a valiant effort to find a niche for the old Ciro (Perfex) but it was generally unsuccessful. Kowa went on with moderate success but Graflex's market in the USA remained in the area of larger professional cameras.

The designers and engineers involved in the story go all the way back to the original Perfex in 1938 which went to market long before it had been developed into a commercial product. It was the first American to have a focal plane shutter, though. They then bumbled on through a number of models during WWII (my favorite is the "22"), but then Ciro stepped in.

It's important for me to get this story straight, given the fact that things get set in stone when on the internet. Tell me again how the Kowa is unrelated to the Ciro, please.

[Stephen]

Well in the case of the Kowa 35, which became the Graflex 35, the Kowa was in production before Graflex went to Kowa, going on the strength of the design already having any troubles eliminated. The Ciro design was different, and production was transferred to Kowa to complete the last production run, mainly using USA made parts, but with Kowa made lenses.
All of this happened in about 18 months or so, ending up with the Graflex 35 and Century Graflex 35A both made by Kowa. Kowa remained independent of Grafex Corp, they were only a sub contractor.
It is not to be said that the Ciro did not influence the Kowa designs, but Kowa tended to go in their own direction, look the 35 SW!

Stephen

[genazzano]

Thanks Stephen. Getting these stories straight is important and I saw several sites that closely linked the Kowa with previous models from Ciro and Graflex. Ciao! David