The Curious Kowa

[marc_bergman1]

<p>Rick,</p>

<p>You have really outdone yourself with the pictures included with this post. It just goes to show that whatever camera you choose, it can deliver if you can.</p>

<p>Now to the camera. What a nice looking camera. As you know during that time period manufactures were kluging all sort of meters to their cameras. Some designs worked better that others. The Kowa designers did a very good job of incorporating the meter without ruining the design.</p>

<p>I found a test in the Feb. 1964 Modern Photography. They seem to be quite taken with it. The thing I remember about Kowa is that you could buy them for $69.50. This was quite a bargain. I'll see if I can find an ad.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p><strong>Rod</strong>, you're right; the clean lines of the Kowa H do put it ahead of many of it's contemporaries in my eyes, and I still find it an attractive camera, today. Sounds as if we have another Aires fan on the forum! Thanks <strong>Tim</strong>, and it's great to see another member who appreciates Kowa quality.</p>

<p><strong>Andy</strong>, you've picked the right one again; "Volleyboard" is my favourite pic from the series...Thanks for the comments. <strong>Marc R.</strong>, so far as I know neither the Retina nor the Bullseye had an AE function, but were match-needle metering; please correct me if I'm wrong! "Electric Eye" seems to have been jargon-of-the-day for an automated function.</p>

<p><strong>Tom</strong>, the accessory shoe just attaches to a threaded socket in the side of the camera by means of the knurled knob visible in the photographs. One has to remove the shoe to rewind the film, a minor hindrance. You're right <strong>Shash</strong>, there are no real advantages over a focal-plane shutter other than the synch speeds, and with the additional components the shutter reaction is quite slow, but not particularly noisy..</p>

<p>Thanks, <strong>Marc B</strong>, and a really interesting ad. I'm gratified that the reviewers and I agree on the major points!</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>Great job, Rick. You do have a way of getting the best out of cameras that are often forgotten. Interesting, isn't it, that leaf shutter SLR's were often designed to sell at lower prices than focal plane (with all-speed sync as additional selling point), but now they may cost more to repair. Well, it will take more than that to scare away the resourceful participants of this forum that often bring back cameras from the grave.<br>

Great shots, BTW.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>An attractive, simple camera...with AE no less. Love the clean top deck. Outstanding images! They pop right off the screen. Quite the 3-D effect. </p>

[chuck_foreman1]

You do these cameras justice.. Another excellent and interesting post. I'd lie to "see" some of the others in this series.

I really liked all you images and you mix em up with color and B&W. Excellent work as always Rick!! Oh and Yeahh for Rick Oleson from me too!

[ralf_j.]

<p> Super series, I just loved all the images, especially curios and the volley board. Well done Rick and thanks for posting.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Thanks for your kind words <strong>Mike, Louis, Chuck, Les</strong>, and <strong>Ralf</strong>. A little appreciation certainly adds to the satisfaction I derive from playing with these old cameras. With a camera as docile as this Kowa, nice pictures come naturally.</p>

[the celt 2]

<p>Gee, I didn't know the Kaowas had such a fan base. If I come across my Dads Kowa SE, I'll list it in the classifieds. </p>

[jodys]

<p>Very nice, but I know what you mean about being hard to work on. I have the opened shutter of a Lordomat C35 on my desk at the moment; I'm staring at it, sort of <em>willing </em>it to work, which seems to be about as effective as my more hands-on attempts at repairing the d- thing. And I don't have to deal with a mirror-lift mechanism.</p>

[dbltap4]

<p>Kowa is well known in the ophthalmic field for their photo instruments. I am not surprised at the sharpness of the lens.<br>

Jim</p>

[patrick_stack]

<p>Rick -</p>

<p>Chapel 1-2 and windbreak really attest to the image quality these terrific optics produced, brilliant job. A friend, (hobbiest,) is hooked on his 120 Kowa with a few lenses, I'm totally impressed with the work he turns out, rivals about all of the best.</p>

<p>He echoes your sentiments, wonderful system, but when they do get pranged they do it with style. Thanks for the great post and photos.</p>

<p>Patrick</p>

[richard_kraneis]

<p>I should have known.<br>

What a nicely written write-up on my Kowa H. <br>

It's Rick Drawbridge.<br>

Last night I couldn't sleep, worked on 3 cameras at about 1 or 2 AM. With some fidgeting inside, I was able to get the Kowa H to flap its mechanism (don't know what it's called). Shutter was stuck, now it isn't. And the selenium meter seems to be working just fine.<br>

This old Kowa H is going to Wrigley Field on Sunday to watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals.<br>

Thanks for your articles Rick.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Nice to see someone visiting an old thread, <strong>Richard</strong>, and congratulations on your success with the repairs. I still have a couple of Kowas that need some serious fidgeting; the cycle of events with the mechanism seems to get out of step and I just don't know how to get things back into sequence. Fidgeting required, obviously...I hope the "H" performs at the game, and you could always post a few pics...</p>

[richard_kraneis]

<p>Rick,<br>

My trip to Wrigley Field with my Kowa H wasn't a total disaster. The Cubs beat the Cardinals in the 10th inning home run by Rizzo. But the photo results were disappointing.<br>

1) As I tried to take a photo in the 3rd inning, the shutter failed to work.<br>

2) Desperate to take a photo, I popped the camera and tossed in some film (perhaps expired).<br>

3) A few innings later I felt the back of the camera pop open a bit in my hands. I closed it and kept shooting.<br>

Only 3 photos came out adequately with some cropping. Most were disappointing. Here are the best, with cropping.<br>

My full blog post is at <a href="http://whatisafilmcamera.com/kowa-h-camera-saved-from-the-garbage-can/">Kowa H review</a>. I hope it's OK to link to my website from photo.net .<br>

Thanks as always for your great write-ups.<br>

Richard</p><div></div>