manfield skylark camera

I found at a garage sale a Skylark E rangefinder camera. The lens is

a Tominor 1.9 45mm. This lens is tack sharp, I have Leica M with 3

lens and this lens is as sharp as the summicron 1.2 50mm. I can't

seem to find any info on the tominor lens. If someone knows anything

about this lens I would like to know about it. The camera was made

by Manfield made in Japan. Thank you, Jared Salyer

<a href="http://westfordcomp.com/classics/mansfieldskylark/index.htm"> Some Skylark stuff.</a>

From what I understand in past readings, Mansfield was the distributor and Yamato was the actual manufacturer. Several models I gather. Fairly good workmanship even on one of the lower specification metered types I have seen with a Luminor 40mm lens (triplet?).

Which is sharper 'tack sharp', 'pin sharp' or 'razor sharp'?

This obviously is a name variant of the last Yamato camera. They made a line of Leica-lookalike small rangefinders, and finally they added a simple auto-aperture mechanism. The lens probably is not f/1.9, but f/2.8 as on all other Yamato cameras.

I bought a Mansfield Skylark and a Yamato Palmat Automatic, which are functionally the same thing, but differ in styling. Neither was working fully, but I cobbled together one camera from the two, and I chose to have it look like the Palmat. What interests me is that you call yours a rangefinder; mine has no focussing at all; it's the simple camera Winfried refers to. It has six shutter speeds, which are really 1/10 - 1/200 plus B, but these are labelled B, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and explained in a table on the back as film speed settings. The aperture is automatic, or you can choose one of three fixed settings, intended for use with flash.

I have only taken one film, to satisfy myself with my repair. I was quite impressed, but then I like the Pax cameras, and this is the same lens and shutter really. My Skylark's lens was called a Mantar and the Palmat's was a Luminor (both 40 mm f/3.5).

<p>The Skylark E seems to be a bit of a mystery. While bearing the Mansfield logo, it does not bear the Yamato name on the bottom plate as other Skylark Models. It is not even listed among the Skylark models. I too thought it must be a Yamato model or name variant that didn't make it to the Mansfield list, but alas, I could not find one like it listed among the Yamato fare either. I thought it looked an awful lot like the Beauty line, but again, nothing. I can find no info on the lens, nor does the meter, shutter speed and lens combo match with anything I can find. Perhaps a model that was not realeased anywhere but Japan, perhaps a rare find, as I have one as well. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, I can't wait to put film in it, and give it a go after your description of the lens. It is a great looking camera, and will display nicely when I am not playing with it!</p>

PS. It is also not a mini version, like the Pax. It is a full size 35mm Rangefinder camera with a very nice built in light meter, (mine works GREAT), shutter speeds 1-500 and beautiful coated 1.9 45mm lens. Looks nothing like the other Skylark models, as it is a very nice looking camera. If someone out there knows anything, please jump in!

<p>I will try and submit photos...</p>

<p>here are a couple of photos...</p><div></div>

and another<div></div>