| Updated 12/03/10 |
The
Casual Collector
Cosina
And you
thought Rodney Dangerfield got no respect!
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What is this masked camera? Cosina
manufactured bodies have worn names from Argus to Zeiss through the years.
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Do you recognize this camera? It has worn various disguises, used
many aliases and had more facelifts than Phyllis Diller. You've seen it around
tourist traps and dangling from the shoulder of Photo 101 students.
Through the years it has worn the names Canon, Miranda, Nikon,
Olympus, Ricoh, Vivitar, Voigtlander, Yashica and, finally, Zeiss, though it was
manufactured by none of them. Who is this impostor, this poseur, this
camera of many faces? It is Cosina. A camera that in another millennium
got less respect than even Rodney Dangerfield. How long has this gone
on? How did it finally earn some respect?
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For poor Cosina, the disrespect goes back to their early days of SLR
manufacture. Based on your author's fading memories of 30 plus years
ago, one of Cosina's first forays in the U.S. was in the form of the
Argus STL-1000. Argus was proud of their latest import. It featured TTL
light metering, accepted widely available screw mount lenses and had a
fancy metal shutter with high speed flash sync. Well, the reviewer in
Camera 35 magazine likened it to that big, black, bakelite brick, the
Argus C3. No respect!
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Unmasked! Cosina CT 1 Super wears
unmarked Pentax 50/2.
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Cosina
tried moving up market by naming the camera Exakta Twin TL. GAWD! A
Japanese Exakta? Still no respect. They tried a private label, Cavalier
M S ?? something. Even less respect! Eventually the good folks from
Ponder & Best took the Cosina under their wing, smoothed off the
sharp corners and named the camera Vivitar. Finally, a modicum of
respect. But not much! |
We zoom ahead about a decade. Screw mounts are out, little cameras are
in. The "when you're number eight, you try harder" folks at Cosina are
there with a small and light K-mount camera. (Up from number 12 as
Petri, Miranda and Topcon left the business!) They get the Cosina name
on the radar screen, but still sell most of their cameras under other
labels.
We zoom ahead another decade (plus or minus) and the big camera
makers can't bail out of manual focus camera manufacturing fast enough.
However... they still feel the need to serve the market. One by one,
they trek to Nagano. Cosina products become the Canon T-60, Nikon
FM-10, Olympus OM-2000, Ricoh KR-5-Super-2, and Yashica FX ? something!
A U.K. importer has the nerve to exhume the Miranda name and glue it
onto the little Cosina. "Respect? We don't need no respect" the
Cosinians said as they hauled another truckload of yen off to the bank. |
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I've got you under my skin! Cosina reflex
is basis for Voigtlander rangefinder.
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Well,
we all want at least a little respect. I am told that inside Cosina is
a man named Kobayashi. In an increasingly digital, auto-focus world,
Kobayashi was going to build respect the old fashioned way. With glass,
brass and aluminum, springs, levers and gears.
We "camera
cognoscenti" chuckled at his nerve in usurping the Voigtlander name for
his little, lobotomized reflex with Leica screw mount. But we marveled
at the results from his 15mm and 25mm lenses. It was just Cosina doing
what they had always done, building a good product at a very reasonable
price.
A year later, a stab at greatness. The little, lobotomized reflex grew a range-viewfinder and it was good.
More lenses appeared, fast and aspheric and so good they began appearing on
Shhhsh, don't tell! Leicas! |
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Similarities are apparent from the top...
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There
were still a few whiners who looked at the camera and said, "ugh, it's
PLASTIC"! The Cosinians went back to work and brought forth metal and
"M" mounts and more lenses. They successfully re-attached the little
reflex's mirror and prism and produced even more lenses! Cosina was
producing greatness that we mere mortals could afford. Finally, we were
giving Cosina R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Today
(February, 2004) we wait impatiently for more. We latch onto every
rumor and speculate without tiring. What will the next product be?
Cosina has earned our respect. What's next? AWE?
I
hope you've enjoyed this little fable. It just flowed from my fingertips
one cold February evening.
Update: March , 2004;
Epson R-D1 digital RF is introduced. It is based on components of the Voigtlander Bessa. Rollei markets the Rollei 35 RF, a dressed up Bessa R2. Carl Zeiss jumps into the game with the Zeiss Ikon 35mm RF with "M" mount manufactured by none other than Cosina!.
Cosina
web site. Read about it here if you read Japanese! Pictures if you don't.
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...Obvious from the bottom.
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me at the top of the list for not having much respect for Cosina in
the past. The few, early, Argus and Vivitar cameras that I've
handled were simple, large and loud. To be fair, other Copal Square
shutter equipped cameras tend to share the large and loud traits.
At one time there was an
English language Cosina web site that had a brief timeline of the
company's history. They began making lenses in the 1960s, then
diversified into compact and movie cameras. They produced
their first SLR about 1969. I doubt that any other manufacturer in
the field has produced goods under as many names!
The earliest U.S. model
that I know of is the Argus STL 1000. It is distinguished by having
the shutter dial on front of the camera, like the Ricoh Singlex TLS.
The Argus/Cosina STL 1000 that followed had the shutter dial moved
to the top plate. The most sought after early Cosina is probably the
Exakta Twin TL. Least known is, likely, the Cavalier MSTL. I
believe it was a house label for the Peerless/Willoughby chain. The
Exakta and Cavalier had the front mounted shutter dial. The Cosina
branded camera was named Hi-Lite and a few found their way to the US
in the hands of GIs returning from S.E. Asia.
The Vivitar branded
Cosinas were given alpha-numeric designations such as 220-SL,
420-SL, 650-SL and so on. Features varied, the higher numbers
having more. The cameras were often sold in kits that included a
normal lens and another Vivitar lens. The most coveted of the
Vivitars seems to be the 650. It provides automatic exposure with
any, single pin, M-42 lens. Pressure on the shutter release stops
down the lens, the meter reads light at the stopped down aperture
and an electronically controlled Copal Square shutter sets the
proper shutter speed! A clever system that was also used by Chinon.
The compact, K-mount,
Cosina CT-1 and its' variants inherited the simplicity and loudness
of their screw mount ancestors. In their favor, they are an
inexpensive and reliable tool for capturing the moment. Cosina's
willingness to build to specification and to price brought an
impressive list of clients to the door.
About the end of the 20th
century, Cosina licensed the Voigtlander trademark from its' German
owner. The name was applied to a modified version of their little,
mechanical reflex. Gutted might be a more appropriate term, as the
entire mirror-prism assembly was removed. In its' place, a
simple metal plate that mounted a traditional Leica screw thread
flange. The lenses made to mount to that little, light tight box
with a shutter, are what earned respect for Cosina. A 15mm wide
angle of excellent performance that could be sold for hundreds of
dollars instead of thousands! A more moderate but no less
spectacular 25mm was offered too. Three products set a ball rolling.
We "Camera Cognoscenti" wait impatiently to see where it
will roll next!
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This is a medical adaptation of the
CT1 Super, and yes, another name! 90mm macro lens focuses
continuously to life-size. Power for ringlight is in the winder-like
housing. The CT1 Super doesn't have a PC outlet, so flash sync is via
hot-shoe adapter. Cover over shutter speed dial locks speed at 1/125th and
is removable. MS-1 model designation was also used by U.K. market
"Miranda".
Stephen Shortridge
picked up this little beauty for an absurdly small sum from the infamous
auction site and sent the photo. He reports that all of the accessories
are removable and the camera can be used normally with K-mount lenses.
Start pestering your dentist for his bulky old film camera today!
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Another variation on the theme! Australian based Hanimex was a distributor of "bargain
priced" photo goods in the US. Their name appeared on Praktica and
Chinon screw mount SLRs. It appears they switched to Cosina with the
"K" mount craze. The "Ham&Eggs" DR-1 appears to be
an early CT-1 clone. There's no "action grip" at the right front
and the shutter only goes to 1/1000th, vs. 1/2000th for later models.
Hanimex is another "Can't Get No Respect" photo company. They
tried buying it in the 1980s when they purchased Ponder & Best and
changed their name to Vivitar Corporation.
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