Including some rangefinder brands you've probably never heard of. Does anybody own any of these gems?

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/ads/adset1/index.html

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 27, 2002

Answers

great site -- thanks!!

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), April 27, 2002.

I only recognize a few of them and I was into photography in my teens in the late 1960s and hung around the bargain bins a lot. The Ciroflex on p.1 does bring back memories but not of the camera...the manufacturer was located on Atwater St. in downtown Detroit. I know the street well...you wouldn't want to walk around there now, with or without a camera. One camera missing from the lineup was the ubiquitous Argus C3 (manufactured in my old alma mater town of Ann Arbor, MI). Almost everyone I knew had one at one time or another. As Bob Hope would say "thanks for the memories".

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 27, 2002.

A nice site.

There is on page 3 a ad for Contax, SLR. Contax was already very advanced at that time. SLR was presented advantageous for the correction of parrallax, measurement of DOF. With those advantages, it is funny to read that the Range Finder type is still highly regarded in 2002!!!

Lovely, thanks for sharing. Xavier.

-- Xavier d'Alfort (hot_billexf@hotmail.com), April 28, 2002.

I would guess by unit volume that between the Ciro, the Detrola and the Argus (well, Ann Arbor was not a suburb *then*), Detroit was probably a bigger producer of cameras than most cities.

Jay, you may not recognize Atwater Street any more. It has been totally redone from the Renaissance Center and west (in fact, it is now a flyover), but the old part (industrial row) is actually more interesting a photographic site than ever. There are huge mountains of road salt unloaded by freighters, cement factories, derelict warehouses (which are all in the process of demolion for a new master development by GM) and packs of roving wild dogs (they actually look like poodles and German Shepherds and cocker spaniels, but they are MEAN!).

-- Dante Stella (dante@dantestella.com), April 28, 2002.

Yes I've got the mini speed graphic and the Exacta. Both sit on the shelf for looks. My ex's uncle has the contax and we went around for years as to who's camera was better. I think I won. I used and still use mine.

-- Andy Wagner (awagner@midwest-express.com), May 02, 2002.