Tower 10 A

I finally found time to run a roll of Plus-x through my Tower 10 A. As most on the forum know, the Tower brand was

sold by Sears and Roebuck for many decades and was made up of various brands rebranded with the Tower name.

The Tower 10 A is a fixed lens rangefinder with a Mamiya 45 mm f2.8 lens. I believe this camera was made in the

early 1960's (likely by Mamiya, of course). The camera has a coupled selenium meter that is linked to shutter and

aperture controls. Shutter speeds run from 1 second to 1/500 second, plus B. Physically, it is slightly smaller than

the Konica Auto S2 or Minolta Hi-Matic 7S, but is still pretty solid.

Mechanically and optically the camera is still in good shape, although the rangefinder is off a bit so I avoided

apertures wider than f5.6 unless I knew the precise distance. Cosmetically the covering is beginning to come

unglued at the sides and the viewfinder is a bit cloudy, although the RF spot is still distinct. This camera was one of

many that customers at my family's camera shop brought in( or traded) when buying a new camera.

First a photo of the camera.<div></div>

A few shots to put the camera through its paces.<div></div>

Another one on Mississippi State campus.<div></div>

I think I missed focus a bit on the preivous shot, but I did want to see how much of a difference the RF problem would make.

Next shot is sharper.<div></div>

I took the old highway out of MSU and Starkville and couldn't resist this abandoned building.<div></div>

Back home a couple of intersections. In a small town there is a lot of variation in what you see when one street meets another.<div></div>

Last one. The property to the left is industrial so there is quite a difference here.<div></div>

<p>Nice pictures Mike. I especially like the abandoned building. It's always nice when I see your posts and can say "Hey, I know where that is!" I was planning on visitng Starkville and MSU this weekend, but I got called into work instead. </p>

<p>Like on your Tower, the rangefinder on my Hi-Matic 7 is out of adjustment. I've looked up how to adjust it online. It seems to be fairly easy to do, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. </p>

<p>Thanks, Cory. This is Super Bulldog Weekend at MSU. The old building is in the Clayton Village area. I was on campus yesterday for a while to visit the library so the Tower 10 A went along for the ride.</p>

<p>Very fine quality, <strong>Mike</strong>; sharp and with subtle graduation of tone. The pic of the abandoned building certainly conveys a sense of desolation. I've come across this camera before in its true Mamiya colours, and it really is a well-built and hefty little item; your images show the excellent quality of the Sekor lens. Thanks for posting. BTW, just <em>what</em> is a Super Bulldog Weekend? (I'm from a long way out of town....)</p>

<p>Rick, the Bulldog is the mascot of Mississippi State University, where Mike and I both attended college (though not at the same time.) MSU is located just outside of Starkville, Mississippi, which is my hometown, and is about 15 minutes from where Mike lives. The first three pictures of his post were taken on campus, by the way. Every spring they have an event called Super Bulldog Weekend (not a very inventive name, if you ask me). It's basically just a chance for alumni and fans to come back to visit each year. There are all sorts of events including class reunions, the football spring game, a baseball series, and other such activities. I had personally planned to attend, but I had to work instead.</p>

<p>Ah, Rick- where to start? Super Bulldog weekend is huge. It began Thurs. with mens tennis and a baseball game. Continued Friday pig cooking, softball, and more baseball. Sat. more pig, a 5K run, tennis, volleyball, softball, and more baseball in store for this day. Tonight the band Sugarland with perform. Sunday there will be one more softball and baseball game. When I was on campus yesterday the campers and SUVs were rolling in.<br>

And thanks for the compliments. I think only once have I seen the true Mamiya version of this camera. The meter BTW, does respond, but I think it's off by a couple of stops. In its day, it would have been a fine camera for someone to step up from a box camera or simple folder without having to spend what it would cost to have Leica RF or any of the SLR's available at the time. <br>

The f2.8 fixed lens rangefinders (Tower 10A, Yashica Minister, etc.) were versatile and relatively affordable in their day. I like to compare them to the six cylinder Chevy Nova (or similar car). Not too expensive, and fast enough for most needs. Fortunately, if you needed more speed (like f1.7 to f2) it wasn't terribly expensive to step up (much the same way the larger engine option used to be very reasonable).</p>

<p>The Sekor is a quality lens under whatever guise and I think you have demonstrated it. I really liked the abandoned building picture.</p>

<p>Nice work with the little Mamiya, some of these humble RF's were capable of amazingly good results, and the Mamiyas were no exception. Keep up the good work!</p>

<p>Thanks, Stary and Tony. I'm wondering if the lens has four elements or possibly five. I know during the late 50's to early 60's quite a few of the basic f2.8 rangefinders had five element lenses. </p>

I forgot to mention that the shutter speeds seem pretty accurate. Unlike many cameras of this age it only needed a bit of

cleaning. BTW, Starvy, sorry about misspelling your name in the previous post.

<p>Mike,</p>

<p>Your camera is famous!</p>

<p>Well maybe not famous but it did make the cover of the 1960 Sears Camera catalog.</p><div></div>

<p>Here is the inside listing. </p>

<p>How good is the brightness of the viewfinder?</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks, Marc. I wonder how much less expensive this camera was than the Mamiya version. BTW, I think I have that same movie camera in a box of leftover camera shop gear. I don't have that projector, though.</p>

Marc- the VF isn't as bright as that of a Konica Auto S/2/3, but still decent. The one on my example is a bit cloudy, though.

<p>Thanks, Les. Yes, this old camera has really surprised me. I remember someone trading it in during the late 1970's. I would occasionally trip the shutter, but never thought about running any film through it at the time. Now I might just have to spring for replacing the peeling covering. </p>