The Curious Kowa

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>I'll have to come clean; I really like Kowa cameras. This one's the Kowa H, born in 1963.</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Now isn't that a pretty camera? Very clean lines, excellent finish, good clear lens with a well-recessed front element, good strong bottom winder, dinky little original accessory shoe...what more could one want? For those of you unfamiliar with the Kowa range of SLR's, it would come with a few surprises. In the first place, though it's a Single Lens Reflex camera, it has a leaf shutter rather than the usual focal plane. Many manufacturers played around with this concept, including Topcon, Zeiss, Voigtlander and even Nikon, but Kowa stuck with the concept and developed it through a very well-built range of SLRs.<br /> <br />The problems associated with leaf shutter SLRs dwell mainly in the complexity of the exposure cycle itself. Because, during the exposure cycle the film could be twice exposed to light, a "Film Door" is required in addition to the usual mirror movements (see detail pic below). The complex exposure cycle runs thus:<br /> <br />The shutter blades close <br />The aperture closes to selected size <br />The mirror swings up <br />The film door swings up <br />The shutter opens, stays open for the selected time, and closes. <br />The film door swings down <br />The mirror swings down <br />The aperture opens to full aperture <br />The shutter blades open<br /><br />Complicated, huh? Ask any repairman...The expense and challenges of constructing such a complex mechanism proved too much for most manufactures, but Kowa came as close as any to perfecting the system, and I have severals Kowas, still working perfectly. However, when they stop, they stop; I know of no-one who would dare delve into the innards.<br /> <br />The Kowa H has a place in history; it was advertised as "The World's First 35mm Single Lens Reflex Electric Eye Camera", which it was. In auto mode the camera operates in a sort of Progam AE, selecting from fixed combinations of apertures and speeds based on advice from the large Selenium Cell in the front of the pentaprism. The meter on the top deck tells you which combination is in force. It's all so deceptively simple, but considering that all this complex machinery is controlled by a simple selenium cell, I have to state my admiration. If one wishes, one can use any manual combination of stops and speeds, while the meter continues to tell the user what it considers to be sensible. And the system works very well; I shot about half of my test film on auto and the rest by Sunny 16, and it would be hard to tell from the negs which was which. Though the camera could be a little smarter than me...<br /> <br />It's a simple camera to use, with a very snappy bottom wind, quick focusing aided by split image in a ground-glass circle, and a swinging pointer in the viewfinder to indicate that the lighting conditions are within the exposure range. The lens is fixed, but supplementary wide-angle and telephoto attachments were available. Most Kowa lenses were very good, and this 48mm f/2.8 is no exception, being a Tessar pattern of four elements in three groups, nicely coated. The shutter is a Seikosha GLA providing speeds of 1/30th to 1/300th plus B. The camera is a joy to use, the only facility I miss being a stop-down button. I loaded the camera with a Fuji Superia 200 and worked my way through it over the course of a week, and found the negatives to be well-exposed and very sharp. Here are a few samples; the scans being the usual Frontier Frontier consumer grade.<br /><br /></p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.2</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.3</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.4</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.5</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.6</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.7</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.8</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.9</p><div></div>

[starvy]

<p>Outstandingly sharp images!</p>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>That is one wild bunch of pictures. Well done.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Great pictures. Odd ball, but impressive camera! Thanks very much for reporting on this one.</p>

<p>Did this one have the usual flash-sync abilities of other leaf shutters?</p>

<p>There was, of course, an <em>East</em> German leaf shutter SLR -- the Pentina, which according to all reports is even more shunned by camera repair people than your Kowa. Mine, alas, but not surprisingly, is not working, so no future posts on this one.</p><div></div>

[mfophotos]

<p>Wonderful images, Rick. I have never had much success with old leaf-shutter SLRs, so it's great to see someone having fun with one!</p>

[david_l3]

<p>Rick, you bring out the best qualities in that camera. You did great work with it. </p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>You have upped the ante with the pictures this time, especially like the wind break. Having a working Kowa is a rare treat indeed, my SE only shoots at maximum aperture, close it down even by 1 stop....and it well...stops.</p>

[donnie_strickland]

<p>Fantastic pics, Rick! I have a trio of Kowas, an SeR, an SeTr and an SeTr2, with all lenses except the 100mm (28, 35, 50, 135 and 200). To me, they're not that complicated to work on; I had to rebuild the SeTr. I will say that Rick Oleson's Tech Notes CD was indispensible to successful repair, though. And <strong>JDM </strong>-- the flash does sync at all speeds. That light trap is loud, though!</p>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>Like the Curios Shop, very much; nice perspective. Kowa lenses lenses seem to be highly priced. They made some lenses even for the Exakta VX series. Thanks for the post. sp.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Thanks for your responses!<br /> <strong>Donnie</strong>, that's a marvelous collection of Kowas. I must attempt a repair of two on a couple of examples I have, as they suffer the same problem with sluggish and erratic film doors. What would we do without Rick Oleson! Thanks <strong>JDM</strong>, I've never seen a Pentina in the flesh. It looks as if it should produce music, in stereo...And thanks <strong>Rob, Starvy</strong>, <strong>SP</strong>, <strong>Tony</strong>, <strong>David</strong> and <strong>Mark</strong> for your kind comments.</p>

[rod_larson]

<p>Nice looking camera, Rick. The styling of the Kowa was way ahead of its time. Your "Wind-<br>

break" is absolutely stunning.</p>

<p>I've never had my hands on a Kowa but I just finished putting together an Aires Penta 35<br>

SLR which has the Seikosha SLV between the lens shutter and it was amazing to see how<br>

Aires was able to simplify the design.</p>

 

[tim_drake]

<p>Marvelous photos Rick! Thanks for keeping up the Kowa faith. My first Kowa was the Kalloflex- which out performs my Rolleiflex 3.5e. I then picked up a 6MM and I was also stunned. Last sping I had Ross Yerkes service a SeTr2 for me but I have yet to really put some film through it. So once I get the yard mowed, the weeds picked, and the dog doo bagged, maybe I can sneak away with my smallest Kowa.</p>

[marc_rochkind]

Any idea what Kowa meant by "The World's First 35mm Single Lens Reflex Electric Eye Camera"?

 

The Contarex Bullseye dates from about 1958. The Kodak Retina Reflex was introduced in 1957.

 

--Marc

[Andy Collins]

<p>Wow, what excellent photos, Rick! These are all very nice and amazingly sharp. I especially like "Chapel 002" with its wonderful lines and sharp edges. The lens really captured great detail in this one. "Lollies" is bright with superb color and "Volleyboard" is a really cool shot. I also enjoyed the extensive narrative and history of the camera. Kowas are a brand I have no experience with, but look forward to becoming acquainted with. Thanks for another outstanding post!</p>

[tom_cheshire]

<p>I had an H once. The only Kowa that ever worked. Sorry I sold it actually. But my fascination is the accessory shoe. How does that attach?</p>

[sasvata__shash__chatterjee]

<p>Rick, indeed a clean looking camera. I like the unusual shutter speed and ASA display. That looks to be a real unusual shoe, not to say anything about the wind lever. With my fixed-lens RFs the quietness of the leaf shutters are really nice, but in this case, with the noisy film gate, the only advantage is of the higher flash-sync speed.</p>

<p>I like the pattern on the Volleyboard, and the Windbreak image as well.</p>