Oh No! Yet Another Obscure Japanese Rangefinder...

<p>Tiny camera, big pictures; another diminutive Japanese Rangefinder. Tony Lockerbie warned me about the seductive power of such cameras, but nevertheless I'm afraid I might have to retract a few of the harsh comments I've made about "mediocre Japanese rangefinders..." I present the Pax M4.</p><div></div>

<p>Yamoto Koki Kogyo, better known as Yamoto Optical, produced a range of rangefinder cameras in the 1950's and '60's, priced in the low-to-medium range. Best known is probably the 1953 Pax M2, a little Leica look-alike with a 45mm Luminor Anastigmat f/3.5 lens, and especially the "Golden View" version of that camera, finished in faux gold with coloured leatherette trim. Despite the fact that there was nothing very Leica-like about the quality of the camera or it's images, the Golden View fetches four-figure prices at auction. This little Pax M4 is a later development from around 1960 and appeared under a bewildering variety of names. "Pal M4" was one common derivation, and I've seen it referred to as "Ricsor" and "Rex". A version was apparently imported into the US by the Trans-American Import Export Co., and branded <br />the "TAC Deluxe Rangefinder".<br /><br />This is a nicely-made rangefinder, rather like a Braun Paxette in heft and construction. The viewfinder is bright-lined with parallax compensation marks, the coupled rangefinder is clear enough, the inaudible shutter trips sweetly and offers speeds of 1/10th to 1/300th plus B. It has a nice short and snappy film wind, orthodox film rewind, and a friendly internal film counter set below a magnifying lens on the top deck...Nice touch. The overall finish is excellent, with no plastic visible anywhere, a somewhat unusual feature for mid-range Japanese cameras of this era. The entire back and base detaches for film loading, European style, revealing some tidy all-metal engineering. As one can tell by comparing the camera with the size of the film cassettes in the photograph, it's a very small camera indeed.<br /><br />All the Yamoto lenses were named "Luminor", which makes researching their characteristics a little tedious. The earlier f/3.5 lens fitted to the M2 was a triplet design, but apparently capable of quite high-quality work. The 45mm f/2.8 LuminorAnastigmat fitted to the M4 is rumored to be a 4-element Tessar-like design, and a "reflection inspection" seems to confirm this, though I'm not adamant on the point. While it's marked "45mm", after handling the camera and viewing the images, I suspect it's actually a little wider, possibly nearer the 40mm mark. It's a very bright and clear lens with a light coating, and I have no criticism of it's performance. Indeed, I was actually very agreeably surprised, if not somewhat amazed. In the fashion of the day, auxiliary tele-and wide-angle attachments were available, along with supplementary viewfinders.<br /><br /><br />The camera was fun to use, though it was a "finger-tips only" exercise which I find a little awkward. Complete with it's rather nice little leather case I can house the camera in the pocket of a winter jacket, so it accompanied me around for a week or so. Film was Fuji Superia 200, scans from the old Fuji Frontier.<br /><br /><br /></p><div></div>

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<p>.HMM,, Just when I thought I was over being envious of all those Nikon F's and other great old cameras, you Rick, now make want to go out and buy some of those old "cheap Japanese cameras."<br>

Shame on you Rick for tempting me.</p>

<p>Very nice pics <strong>Rick</strong>! I envy your scanning abilities and possibly the scanner too. What make do you have. Your pictures have a kind of GLOSS [in addition to the sharpness] to them, which I cannot seem to get with my scanner. Is there a special trick or a trade secret? :) Thanks for the post. sp.</p>

<p>I've always loved the PAX cameras, but never could afford one (at auction). Thanks for posting the pics. It takes great photos. Is it a LSM?</p>

<p>Good shots! Blue Cars, Kanukas, and Woodside are particularly nice.</p>

<p>The Pax is an interesting little camera. I suppose rarity has something to do with the four-figure auction prices; I've never seen one of those in person, just read about them.</p>

<p>I've had it in mind to do a post about the 1957 Konica III MXL rangefinder that I bought not long ago, but I need to run some more film through it first.</p>

<p>The f/2.8 Luminor actually is a four-element lens, I could clearly see the separation line on the circumference of the rear lens element when disassembling the lens/shutter unit completely.<br>

Once you got the shutter cleaned and the stiff grease in the focussing mechanism removed (the Pax have a similar reputation for "frozen focus" as old Agfa/Ansco cameras) they perform quite decent.<br>

There were a few predecessors of the Pax M4, the first one was the original Pax which looked like a miniature Leica. Avoid the ones with the YKK shutters going to 1/100 or 1/150 only, these are flimsy-made and shutter speed is regulated via spring tension. Later shutters with an extended speed range are escapement-controlled.</p>

 

<p>Well, you were warned! I've never seen a Pax, now I have, and your pictures are great as always. The B&W shot of the Kanukas is really pleasing, you live in a very photgenic place, nearly as good as OZ!<br>

Nice to see that you have blue Fords over there too.....here's mine.</p><div></div>

<p>Nice camera to find working! I have a couple of M4s, neither of which works. I had an M3 that was wonderful until I dropped it and bent the shaft of the winder, so thats waiting to be put back together.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Is it a LSM?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>These are <em>fixed-lens</em> cameras. There were wide- and tele auxiliary lens sets that fastened on the front, at least for the later models, complete with cute shoe-mounted viewfinders <a href="http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Pax">like this</a></p>

<p>My understanding is that the Luminor is four-element on the M3 and M4. The original Pax has a triplet, still called a Luminor (but it's an f/3.5). I don't know about the M2 - never even seen one. My old Pax is my favourite rangefinder camera (the RF itself is tiny, and rather dim). I got it at a reasonable price because the focus was stuck. I managed to free it, but did some cosmetic damage in the process. There are some complete crooks out there trying to sell these as collector's pieces for hundreds.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/century_graphic/sets/72157594396848311/">My Pax set on Flickr</a></p>

 

<p>That is one sharp lens. Contrast looks good too. The coating must really be first rate since the front element is not very deeply recessed, yet image has lots of contrast. Thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>Hi, Rick I've already become an afficianado of the Yamato cutie range, with six of them in the Trophy Cupboard at the last count. I can see you're heading in the same direction, mate! I'd hate to actually guess just how many variations on a Yamato theme there are, because not only did they make so many virtually identical models apart from different names, but there's the other aspect of the green and red leatherette variants too.</p>

<p>The lens aspect seems to be fairly easy to describe. If it's got an F3.5, it's a triplet. If it's got an F2.8. it's a four-element Tessar clone. Frozen focussing is a common problem on all Yamatos as several folks have already mentioned, but it's usually easy to re-energize the gunked grease with CRC Aerosol Cleaner or similar stuff. I actually used a Pax M4 for a while out of interest and was very impressed with its results. Maybe its resemblance to a miniature Leica M3 was also a factor .......<br>

(Pete in Perth)</p>

<p>Rick, obscure or not, looks like a fine example, and the results speak for themselves. Interesting that the back detaches like the Nikon F. I particularly like "Kanukas" and "The Blue Car".</p>

<p>I really like the way you use light in your compositions. Great work.</p>

<p>Amazing!</p>

 

<p>Oh yes! What a delightful and informative post. Great images and presentation as usual. I like the egg crate idea! Really nice color from that lens.</p>

<p>Add "Skymaster" to the list of Pax alternative names - mine is an Pax M3 clone. Looks like the difference between the M3 and the M4 is a few years, the brightline viewfinder and the rewind crank instead of knob (e.g. same body size/shape, lens and shutter.)<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/maderik/image/118138579/medium.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><a href="http://www.pbase.com/maderik/skymaster">http://www.pbase.com/maderik/skymaster</a><br /><br /></p>