Miranda T (camera)

Last updated
Orion Miranda T c.1955
Miranda T 01.JPG
Overview
Type 35mm camera
Lens
Lens mount Miranda 44mm
Focusing
Focus Zunow lens, helical
Exposure/Metering
Exposure 24 × 36mm on 35mm film

The original Miranda T 35mm SLR camera was launched by the newly established Japanese Orion Camera Co. in 1955. It is the first Japanese 35mm SLR camera to have an eyelevel Pentaprism finder. The camera was a success, and after only two years, the manufacturer changed its name to the Miranda Camera Co. The camera stayed in production for two more years while a series of new models designated model A, B, C, D, and S were introduced, based on the original camera. These comprised improvements like a faster shutter with 1/1000-second top speed, a frame counter, wind-on lever, and an Instant return mirror on model B in 1958. In addition, a rare Miranda TII with 1/1000-second top shutter speed does exist. [1] [2]

Single-lens reflex camera camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system

A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin lens reflex and rangefinder cameras, the viewed image could be significantly different from the final image. When the shutter button is pressed on most SLRs, the mirror flips out of the light path, allowing light to pass through to the light receptor and the image to be captured.

Pentaprism five-sided reflecting prism

A pentaprism is a five-sided reflecting prism used to deviate a beam of light by a constant 90°, even if the entry beam is not at 90° to the prism. The beam reflects inside the prism twice, allowing the transmission of an image through a right angle without inverting it as an ordinary right-angle prism or mirror would.

Miranda Camera Company company

The Miranda Camera Company, originally named the Orion Camera Company, manufactured cameras in Japan between 1955 and 1978. Their first camera was the Miranda T. Many of their products were single-lens reflex cameras for 135 film (35 mm). Unlike many Japanese made cameras, Miranda did not make their own lenses and had to rely on other manufacturers to supply them.

The Miranda cameras were equipped with a double lensmount consisting of a wide 44mm internal thread and an external bayonet—the Pentax/Praktica screw mount is 42mm. The flange to film plane distance was deliberately made as short as possible to accommodate as many different makes of camera lenses as possible using separately-sold lens adapters. The detachable finder prism was set in a sliding mount. The lenses for the Miranda were at first supplied by either Zunow or Ofunar. However, by the end of the 1950s, Soligor became the main supplier, and soon the lenses were labelled Auto Miranda. [3]

Lens mount interface between a photographic camera body and a lens

A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is confined to cameras where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder camera, single lens reflex type or any movie camera of 16 mm or higher gauge. Lens mounts are also used to connect optical components in instrumentation that may not involve a camera, such as the modular components used in optical laboratory prototyping which join via C-mount or T-mount elements.

M42 lens mount screw thread mounting standard for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras

The M42 lens mount is a screw thread mounting standard for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily single-lens reflex models. It is more accurately known as the M42 × 1 mm standard, which means that it is a metric screw thread of 42 mm diameter and 1 mm thread pitch. It was first used in Zeiss' Contax S of 1949; this East German branch of Zeiss also sold cameras under the Pentacon name; after merger with other East German photographic manufacturers, the name Praktica was used. M42 thread mount cameras first became well known under the Praktica brand, and thus the M42 mount is known as the Praktica thread mount. Since there were no proprietary elements to the M42 mount, many other manufacturers used it; this has led to it being called the Universal thread mount or Universal screw mount by many. The M42 mount was popularized in the United States by Pentax; thus, it is also known as the Pentax thread mount, despite the fact that Pentax did not originate it.

Soligor

Soligor was originally the trade mark for the American Allied Impex Corporation, used from 1956 for lenses and later cameras imported from Japan. It imported cameras from Japan and also took control of companies in Japan. Among the first products was Miranda T camera and Soligor lenses.

See also

History of the single-lens reflex camera

The history of the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) begins with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura described in 1676, but it took a long time for the design to succeed for photographic cameras: the first patent was granted in 1861, and the first cameras were produced in 1884 but while elegantly simple in concept, they were very complex in practice. One by one these complexities were overcome as optical and mechanical technology advanced, and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats.

Related Research Articles

Twin-lens reflex camera type of camera

A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective lenses of the same focal length. One of the lenses is the photographic objective or "taking lens", while the other is used for the viewfinder system, which is usually viewed from above at waist level.

Nikon F camera model

The Nikon F camera, introduced in April 1959, was Nikon's first SLR camera. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although many of the concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it was revolutionary in that it was the first to combine them all in one camera. It was produced until October 1973 and was replaced by the Nikon F2. Aspects of its design remain in all of Nikon's subsequent SLR cameras, through the current Nikon F6 film and Nikon D5 digital models. The "F" in Nikon F was selected from the term "re-f-lex", since the pronunciation of the first letter "R" is not available in many Asian languages. That tradition was carried all the way through their top line of Nikon cameras until the introduction of the Nikon D1 (digital) cameras decades later.

Exakta

The Exakta was a camera produced by the Ihagee Kamerawerk in Dresden, Germany, founded as the Industrie und Handels-Gesellschaft mbH, in 1912. The inspiration and design of both the VP Exakta and the Kine Exakta are the work of the Ihagee engineer Karl Nüchterlein, who did not survive the Second World War.

Minolta Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers

Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten. It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its current name, an acronym for "Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima". In 1933, the brand name first appeared on a camera, a copy of the Plaubel Makina simply called "Minolta".

Mamiya Digital Imaging Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company that manufactures high-end cameras and other related photographic and optical equipment. With headquarters in Tokyo, it has two manufacturing plants and a workforce of over 200 people. The company was founded in May 1940 by camera designer Seiichi Mamiya and financial backer Tsunejiro Sugawara.

Canon Canonflex

The Canonflex is a Canon 35 mm film single-lens reflex (SLR) camera introduced in May 1959. Its standard lens is the Canon Camera Co. Super-Canomatic R 50mm lens f/1.8. The camera was in production for one year before it was replaced by the Canonflex R2000, adding a 1/2000 sec. shutter speed.

Minolta 110 Zoom SLR

The Minolta 110 Zoom SLR is a 110 format single-lens reflex (SLR) camera produced by Minolta of Japan between 1976 and 1979. It was the first SLR in 110 format. It had an unusual, flattened shape. Other 110 SLRs were shaped like SLRs in larger formats, but the 110 Zoom SLR took the flat format of the typical 110 pocket camera and added a larger lens and prism hump to it. 1979's replacement, the Minolta 110 Zoom SLR Mark II, had a more conventional shape.

Rectaflex was the worlds first series produced penta prism single lens reflex camera. It was produced from 1948 till 1958. Rectaflex was the only Italian single-lens reflex camera ever built. There has been some uncertainty about the Rectaflex being first or second pentaprsm slr to be produced. However, after Marco Antonettos very thorough research was presentted in 2002, elder references has had to be revised. Se references.

Yashica Japanese camera manufacturer

Yashica was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, originally active from 1949 until 2005 when its then-owner, Kyocera, ceased production.

Nikkorex

The Nikon Nikkorex series were low-cost, fixed-lens, 35 mm film, single-lens reflex cameras produced by the Japanese optical manufacturer Nippon Kogaku K.K.. They were designed and marketed as low-cost, feature-reduced versions of Nikon's flagship F SLR. Whereas the F was aimed at professionals and serious amateurs, the Nikkorex series were designed to bring the advantages of through-the-lens viewing to consumers who were not interested in the flexibility of the F system.

The Konica F was the first 35 mm SLR camera produced by Konishiroku, released in February 1960. It featured a built-in light metering system to set the correct exposure. The meter utilized a large selenium cell panel on the front of the viewfinder prism to detect light levels. This type sensor cell generates its own small electric current, so the metering system does not require a battery. On the other hand, selenium cells are known to degrade over time, losing accuracy or eventually failing. Many cameras and handheld meters relied upon selenium cells at one time, but they were gradually replaced by CdS and other types of cells that require a battery but tend to give long-term reliability. Between 600 and 1500 total Konica Fs were produced, making it a highly sought-after camera.

Konica Autoreflex series of 35mm SLR camera models

The Auto-Reflex and Autoreflex is a series of 35mm SLR cameras made by Konica from 1965. All these models have the Konica AR bayonet.

This article discusses the cameras – mainly 35 mm SLRs – manufactured by Pentax Ricoh Imaging Corp. and its predecessors, Pentax Corporation and Asahi Optical Co., Ltd..

Mecaflex

The Mecaflex is a 35mm SLR camera for 50 exposures of 24 × 24 mm. It was presented at the photokina in Cologne in 1951, and launched commercially about two years later. The design is by Heinz Kilfitt, who is also known for designing the original Robot camera and the Kowa Six.

Sport (camera) series production model of a prototype camera called Gelveta

The "Sport" camera is the series production model of a prototype camera called Gelveta. The Gelveta was designed and built by A. O. Gelgar between 1934 and 1935. It is the earliest known 35mm SLR camera ever to be built, but fewer than 200 examples were made. The actual launch date of the "Sport" is somewhat uncertain, however it must undoubtedly be one of the two earliest generally available SLR cameras using the 35mm film format, the other being the German Ihagee Kine Exakta, launched in 1936. It was manufactured by the Soviet camera factory Gosudarstvennyi Optiko-Mekhanicheskii Zavod, The State Optical-Mechanical Factory in Leningrad. GOMZ for short. The camera name is engraved in Cyrillic on the finder housing above the lens: „Спорт“. The manufacturer's prism logo in gold on black with the factory initials ГОМЗ (GOMZ) is shown behind a circular magnifying window on the top left camera front. An estimated number of 16,000 cameras were made before Leningrad was besieged in September 1941 and suffered heavy damage. The design concept was not continued later.

Minolta SR-2

The Minolta SR-2 was presented in 1958 as the first 35mm SLR camera from Chiyoda Kogaku. Popular cameras of this type at that time were mainly from Europe but a few from Japan, including the Asahi Pentax, the Miranda T and the Topcon R. The miniature SLR camera concept was conceived in the 1930s at Ihagee in Dresden, resulting in the 1936 Kine Exakta. Influential cameras designs like that of the 1939 KW Praktiflex, the 1949 ZI Contax S, and 1952 the KW Praktina marked the steady progress toward a perfected SLR. Several features of the latter seem to have influenced the design of the SR-2 although dissimilar in many respects. The obvious similarities are the stepped top plate, the carrying strap lugs, the self-timer lever and some general body features.

Kine Exakta The first 35mm SLR still camera

The Kine Exakta was the first 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) still camera in regular production. It was presented by Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen GmbH, Dresden at the Leipziger Frühjahrsmesse in March 1936. The Exakta name was already used by Ihagee on a roll film SLR camera line since 1933, among these the Vest Pocket Exakta Model B from which the Kine Exakta inherited its general layout and appearance. The word Kine never appeared on the camera itself, only in the instruction manuals and advertising to distinguish it from the roll film variants. Several of its features constitute the foundation for the majority of 35mm SLR cameras produced ever since, although at this stage in an infant state.

Narciss camera

The Narciss is an all-metal 16 mm subminiature single lens reflex camera made by Russian optic firm Krasnogorsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (KMZ) Narciss between 1961 and 1965. It is the first subminiature SLR. It took 25 14×21 mm frames using unperforated specially spooled 16 mm film in a Narciss cassette. Compact design with interchangeable lenses and interchangeable pentaprism finders. The Narciss camera was initially designed for medical use, it included a Narciss with ordinary pentaprism finder and a second magnifier pentaprism finder for medical use; there was also a microscope adapter

References

  1. ↑ Brian Long (1997). 35mm Cameras. The Crowood Press, Wiltshire. p. 122. ISBN   978-1-86126-948-5.
  2. ↑ Rudolph Lea (1993). The Register of 35mm Single Lens Reflex Cameras Second Ed. Wittig Books Hückelhoven. p. 161. ISBN   3-88984-130-9.
  3. ↑ Ivor Matanle (1996). Collecting and using Classic SLRs. Thames & Hudson, London. p. 171. ISBN   0-500-27901-2.
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