Yashica T4 Super D Weatherproof

Robot Junior

Like the Ansco in the previous post this camera also has a wind up motor to advance the film. Designed sometime in the fifties it takes square format images on regular 35mm film similar to the Zeiss Taxona. The Robot is all metal, heavy, and beautifully made. It has interchangeable lenses - mine is the Shneider-Kreuznach Xenar 38mm, f2.8. I also have it's big brother or sister, the Robot Royal but there's been no film through it yet.

Ansco Memo ll

This is a rebadged Ricoh Auto Half. It is fully automatic with a selenium meter. I like half frame cameras and they can produce nice images from modern fine grain film. Some of these half frame bodies are very small. I also have this camera's namesake, the Ansco Memo from 1920s which is also half frame (different format though) and has a wooden chassis. I'll show that one in a future post as I haven't put any film through it yet.
Ricoh introduced a number of cameras with mechanical motor drives and that contributes to the cuteness of the Memo. I found it easier to get one of theses Ansco Gaf versions than the true Ricoh Auto Half.

 

Rollei B35

This is the original Rollei B 35 from 1969 (the year I emigrated from the UK to Canada) with a more conventional layout of shutter and aperture controls than the later B 35s. This one has an uncoupled selenium exposure meter which seems to work OK.

 

Zeiss Taxona

 I find that I most often gravitate to square format with my photographs - it's just more visually appealing to me. So, I have quite a few film cameras that make square images. The Zeiss Taxona is a favorite. It takes 24mm x 24mm pictures on 35mm film. I was surprised at the sharpness of the lens. These city shots are scanned and given some single shot HDR treatment.