a couple of rare 35mm cameras courtesy of Shelton Chen
Toronto. The cover shot for issue 25-5 featured two rare 35mm cameras from the 1930s and early 1940s courtesy of Shelton Chen (HIT Camera owner, Karsh expert).
Inside, editor Bob Lansdale added this choice description of the two cameras: “Our cover image might be designated Chen’s Choice(est). Herein we have a sampling of some of the most interesting cameras that sleuth Shelton Chen finds in his travels and sets before our members. Many cameras find their final market in Japan.
“At the top is a Canon NS of 1941 of which only 99 were produced. This body carries the number 10967 and is equipped with a Nikkor 5cm f3.5 lens by Nippon-Kogaku. The NS body differs from the S body in that it lacks the slow shutter speeds. Estimated value – $20 thousand [in year 2000].
“The second camera is the Ihagee Night Exakta of c1936, so named because of its special fast lens, the Biotar f2.0 80mm (seen here) or the f1.9 Primoplan lens. The Exakta was the first small focal plane SLR boasting it was free from parallax. The focal plane shutter ran from 1/1000th of a second to 12 seconds.
“Interchangeable lenses included a telephoto and a wide-angle. Although Exaktas had several film formats the 24x36mm body was introduced to use the increasingly popular economic 35mm film with a 36 picture load.?”
Members enjoyed this and all other articles in issue 25-5 either in print or in the 25-5 pdf file on the free members-only DVD/thumb drive. Joining or renewing is a snap – see above and at right for choices. Any membership questions may be emailed to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
