Yes Beauty is... The Beauty LM. Finally received my first Beauty, after my wife that is, from my dealer in Tasmania. I always thought that these cameras would be just cheap and nasty, but after seeing a post from Louis some time back, I was quite interested. The Beauty turned out to be a bit of a surprise, like the Aires that I bought a while back, and appears to be well constructed, certainly a great looking camera. Like many of these Japanese orphans the Beauty company had a short life span from 1958 to 1963...or thereabouts. They manufactured TLR's and a Reflex-Korelle copy as well as a range of viewfinder 35mm cameras. The LM was made in 1959 and features a built in lightmeter (LM?) and a 45mm F1.9 lens. This lens seems to appear on many Japanese cameras from that period...wonder who made them? The Beauty handles well with a nice solid feel and the VF is bright with an easy to use RF patch. While this camera doesn't have the beautiful finish of the Aires, it is still nice and I thoroughly enjoyed using it.
Nice camera and nice images! Of course, using the world's best B&W Film, Fuji Acros, doesn't hurt! You've certainly got some of the best V750 scans I've seen, at least judging from these at this isze. Wet or dry?
Nice work. My immediate thought was that they should have called the lens Beauty and the camera Beholder, so that Beauty would be the eye of Beholder.
Great stuff, Tony, with beautiful monochrome; good ol' Acros and pyro! Nice camera, indeed, thought the build quality on a couple of Beauty models in my possession leaves a little to be desired. Love the roadside shot with the dreaded agapanthus, and I've just come in from photographing a few similar mailboxes. For anyone who's interested, I did a similar post on the Lightomatic II some time ago, with a little history of the breed, and even a picture of a similar Beast. Quite uncanny, really...Thanks for a great post. http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00XRqB?start=0
Thanks Patrick, just scanned the dry negs at 1200DPI with a little adjustment in levels to restore contrast. Yes Craig, spot on...shame they are out of business! Thanks for that link Rick, I did see the one that Louis posted a couple of years ago, but missed yours. Seems like the Beauties are popular here! Finding one that works in Australia is somewhat of a challenge, but glad I found one. Been playing with an Olympus FTL for a while...post coming soon!
Rick, your camera is the slightly newer version of mine, with a single window at the front and a prettier meter window. The beast belongs to my son, and is a 400HP monster...very scary!
All the shots are nice Tony, but that first one stands out from the rest in my eyes. Really nice. I hadn't heard of these cameras before. Thanks for sharing.
The beast belongs to my son I'm disappointed! I thought you might be one of the last red-blooded tear-away Aussie lensmen...Though I do seem to recall you are an Alfa fan...
I love it. There is a soft spot in my heart for older rangefinder cameras. My latest is a Minolta AL with an f2 lens.
A friend's mother had an SLR Beauty which was the only one I have ever seen. It was good ergonomically but I didn't take any pictures with it. The RF Beauty reminds me of my Yashica Lynx 1000 which lasted until the shutter flew apart. Beautyful pictures.