weird 50's/60's japanese rangefinder

[paul_kovin]

Trying to find some info on this company/camera. It's a B/A "AUTO EE 1.8" (in

quotations!) fixed lens 45mm/ f1.8 with a CDS meter- rangefinder. auto aperture

setting tied to the light meter. The lens says Nichimen Co. It is built pretty

beefy and has a pretty nice action on the shutter cocking. Metal shutter

(copal?), and 4 blade aperture- ASA up to 400 and shutter speeds B to 500. i

know it's just a run of the mill camera but I was wondering if anyone knew

anything about it?

[randall ellis]

It would help if you could post an image of it...

 

- Randy

[john_shaeffer2]

Maybe its an early version of the Yashica Minister series that were made in Hong Kong?

[Mike Gammill]

B/A -- Burstein-Applebee??? Naw. I think they were just electronics. Seriously, the camera might be a rebranded version of a more famous name brand. Maybe you could research the major brands like Konica, Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Yahsica, etc. to see if any of them matches those specs. I will look through some back issues of photo magazines from the 50's and 60's and see what I can find.

[Mike Gammill]

I would say it could be a Konica S2 because the S2 has a 45mm f1.8 and shutter priority (EE) exposure, but the S2 lens has a five bladed aperture rather than four blade. Still, they might share some common parts.

[don_mckeith]

From 1954 to 1984 170 Japanese Co.'s mfg.'d cameras(or at least assembled them) I think there are about 30 something left.Nichimen Co. is a Japanese trading Co. that exported Japanese cameras,and many other products(and imported Polaroids)---- this Co. is just one of the usual suspects-

 

http://www.vermontel.net/~wsalati/CasualCollector/cosina.htm

 

http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/magazine/Photokina2004/photokina.html

[don_mckeith]

Take a look at a Ricoh "Super Shot"-

 

Ricoh- was formerly Asahi/Bussan--maybe Bussan wanted top billing :>)

[j_hopper]

Could this be a rebadged/redressed 1963 Taron Auto EE? This came with a 45mm/f1.8, CdS-meter-coupled B,1-1/500s Citizen-MVE shutter, and looked like a squared-off Taron Marquis with a black plastic RF surround. Squared-bezel CdS cell was on face of camera, versus in the front lens ring.

 

And the Taron Auto EE was the last camera Taron made before it went out of camera business. This camera then later showed up as a rebadged/redressed "Hanimex 35 Auto EE", a "Cavalier EE Auto 35", a "Porst SE 18", an "Amicar"(?) something-or-other... you get the picture, a lot of "heirs" with different distributors and chain store branding. Maybe somewhere along the line, Nichimen Distributing got ahold of the patterns?

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

I agree that this is probably a rebranded Taron Auto-EE. Taron was quite eager to sell their cameras to whole-sale resellers and actually Taron cameras were the first japanese cameras imported in larger numbers in Germany. I also was somewhat amazed to see a four-blade aperture on this camera.

 

But the Auto-EE was NOT the last camera Taron made, they made another (similar) camera with the CdS "eye" on the lens barrel. This camera was sold with a Porst label in Germany, too (but the lens still had the Taronar designator).

 

Only thing that this camera had in common with the Konica Auto-S2 was that it had very similar features, but its built (and design) quality is much inferior. I do not know the earlier meterless Taron cameras but I think these were on a similar level as other japanese cameras of that era.

[paul_kovin]

yes it is a Taron!! citizen MVE shutter was the clincher. The glass looks to be good and the overall feel is not bad, a little rough around the edges, but it looks like a decent shooter. viewfinder is nice and clear with a tiny rangefinder patch. I need to redo the light seals, but will probably use it as a throwaway shooter, being as I gt it for $5. USD!