Zunow SLR Anyone?

[M. Valdemar]

I've only ever seen one of these "in person" and that was at a Ginza Camera show last year.

This year I walked into a shop in Ueno and I saw not one but two!

The seller's comment was "They are not reliable".

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[Kevin]

The seller's comment was "They are not reliable".

That doesn't seem like a very good selling point!

Are the two units the same model? Seems odd that on the back of them the stamped branding is on different sides while everything else seems to be the same.

 

[tonyturley]

Are my eyes deceiving me, or are those very large cameras? They remind me of images I've seen of a Pentax 67.

 

[Biro]

Zunow was known primarily as a premium lens maker. But the camera (the company's single effort in 1958) was quite interesting.

Zunow

cameraquest.com

 

[Brian]

They certainly have a prototype look about them!

What shutter mechanism did they use? They bear some resemblance to later Copal Square bodies, the Nikkorex.

 

[Biro]

Zunow was the first to have a pentaprism viewfinder, instant-return mirror and instant-reopening diaphragm - a year ahead of Nikon and Canon.

Here's some more..

UK Camera domain name for sale.

www.ukcamera.com

 

[drd1135]

Zunow what that means. . .

 

[tonyturley]

Zunow what that means. . .

 

[M. Valdemar]

I think these cameras were very limited production and most of them had a "prototype" feel.

There were probably a lot of production tweaks and experimentation with the branding placement, etc.

This was a consignment shop. The shop owner told me two random people brought them in the same week. Synchronicity......

(there are probably more of these squirreled away in Japan than anywhere else. these looked almost unused. maybe because they all stopped working??)

That doesn't seem like a very good selling point!

Are the two units the same model? Seems odd that on the back of them the stamped branding is on different sides while everything else seems to be the same.