Unique or rare film era features?
p.5 #1Unique or rare film era features?
taildraggin wrote:
My very 1st camera (1971?) was a "clockwork Ricoh" 126 C Automatic. It looked like Dad's Leica rangefinder and it had a spring winder on the bottom for "automatic" cocking of the shutter and film advance. It shot 126 cartridges, had a 40mm/2.8 lens and used flashcubes.
(126 was 26x26mm, so it's square with a crop factor of 1.09.)
I just picked up a Robot Star 50, a later (1969) incarnation of the OG clockwork Robot from the '30s. 24x24mm on 135 film (I got 57 shots on my first roll).
The 50 has the double height wind knob and can shoot a whole roll if it's fully wound, albeit with slower film advance toward the end. Special take-up cartridge is required, the early ones also required a special supply cartridge.
Schneider lenses range from 30mm to 150mm, mine has the 38mm 2.8 Xenar.
They were popular for espionage during the cold war, and there are remote triggering options, special unobtrusive lenses and silenced versions available.
Loving it so far!
My very 1st camera (1971?) was a "clockwork Ricoh" 126 C Automatic. It looked like Dad's Leica rangefinder and it had a spring winder on the bottom for "automatic" cocking of the shutter and film advance. It shot 126 cartridges, had a 40mm/2.8 lens and used flashcubes.
(126 was 26x26mm, so it's square with a crop factor of 1.09.)
I just picked up a Robot Star 50, a later (1969) incarnation of the OG clockwork Robot from the '30s. 24x24mm on 135 film (I got 57 shots on my first roll).
The 50 has the double height wind knob and can shoot a whole roll if it's fully wound, albeit with slower film advance toward the end. Special take-up cartridge is required, the early ones also required a special supply cartridge.
Schneider lenses range from 30mm to 150mm, mine has the 38mm 2.8 Xenar.
They were popular for espionage during the cold war, and there are remote triggering options, special unobtrusive lenses and silenced versions available.
Loving it so far!
Sep 03, 2026 at 08:52 PM
p.5 #2Unique or rare film era features?
Desmolicious wrote:
Has anyone already mentioned the Contax RTS III w its vacuum pressure plate to keep the film perfectly flat?
Yes and, furthermore, the RTS III had the flash-exposure lock that I believe was unique in the film era (and patented). To use, you fired the OEM flash with a camera lever, and the needed exposure was locked into camera memory. Film exposures were then illuminated by that calculated level of flash. The level was persistent until the lever was released.
Another Kyocera innovation was the Contax AX with AF capability provided to a system that only offered manual-focus lenses. The body had a complete AF sensor implementation coupled to a motorized film train. So, the entire film assembly (rails, sprockets, back plate) would move to bring the image into focus. Crazy stuff that actually worked.
Has anyone already mentioned the Contax RTS III w its vacuum pressure plate to keep the film perfectly flat?
Yes and, furthermore, the RTS III had the flash-exposure lock that I believe was unique in the film era (and patented). To use, you fired the OEM flash with a camera lever, and the needed exposure was locked into camera memory. Film exposures were then illuminated by that calculated level of flash. The level was persistent until the lever was released.
Another Kyocera innovation was the Contax AX with AF capability provided to a system that only offered manual-focus lenses. The body had a complete AF sensor implementation coupled to a motorized film train. So, the entire film assembly (rails, sprockets, back plate) would move to bring the image into focus. Crazy stuff that actually worked.
Sep 03, 2026 at 10:47 PM
p.5 #3Unique or rare film era features?
rico wrote:
Another Kyocera innovation was the Contax AX with AF capability provided to a system that only offered manual-focus lenses. The body had a complete AF sensor implementation coupled to a motorized film train. So, the entire film assembly (rails, sprockets, back plate) would move to bring the image into focus. Crazy stuff that actually worked.
AF worked rather slowly at best and only over a limited range depending on focal length.
The vaccum pressure plate holding the frilm flatter was a more important innovation.
EBH
Another Kyocera innovation was the Contax AX with AF capability provided to a system that only offered manual-focus lenses. The body had a complete AF sensor implementation coupled to a motorized film train. So, the entire film assembly (rails, sprockets, back plate) would move to bring the image into focus. Crazy stuff that actually worked.
AF worked rather slowly at best and only over a limited range depending on focal length.
The vaccum pressure plate holding the frilm flatter was a more important innovation.
EBH
Sep 03, 2026 at 11:01 PM
p.5 #4Unique or rare film era features?
OregonSun wrote:
The Prakticas actually have the bottom 'rapid advance' AND the standard for the time knob advance on the top plate. Are there any other cameras that had dual film advance methods?
Yes, although the rapid-advance feature was supplied through a Leica add-on called "SCNOO".
SCNOO fits the prewar Barnack bodies only, so is quite rare. You advance with the left index finger so you can keep the right index finger on the release. I get about 2 FPS which is a blistering rate compared to the regular advance knob. To install, the regular base plate is replaced by SCNOO which adds nothing significant to the bulk although the camera cannot stand upright on a table. The postwar Leicavit can stand upright but is much more bulky and the lever needs to be folded away to avoid stabbing yourself to death.
The Prakticas actually have the bottom 'rapid advance' AND the standard for the time knob advance on the top plate. Are there any other cameras that had dual film advance methods?
Yes, although the rapid-advance feature was supplied through a Leica add-on called "SCNOO".
SCNOO fits the prewar Barnack bodies only, so is quite rare. You advance with the left index finger so you can keep the right index finger on the release. I get about 2 FPS which is a blistering rate compared to the regular advance knob. To install, the regular base plate is replaced by SCNOO which adds nothing significant to the bulk although the camera cannot stand upright on a table. The postwar Leicavit can stand upright but is much more bulky and the lever needs to be folded away to avoid stabbing yourself to death.
Sep 03, 2026 at 11:04 PM
p.5 #5Unique or rare film era features?
rico wrote:
Desmolicious wrote
Has anyone already mentioned the Contax RTS III w its vacuum pressure plate to keep the film perfectly flat?Another Kyocera innovation was the Contax AX with AF capability provided to a system that only offered manual-focus lenses. The body had a complete AF sensor implementation coupled to a motorized film train. So, the entire film assembly (rails, sprockets,...Show more →
My EOS 3 has flash exposure lock, it uses a button instead of a lever. There's even the option to set it to the manual or eye control selected focus point.
Sep 03, 2026 at 11:32 PM
p.5 #6Unique or rare film era features?
OregonSun wrote:
My EOS 3 has flash exposure lock, it uses a button instead of a lever. There's even the option to set it to the manual or eye control selected focus point.
The locked level has a 16-sec timeout on the EOS 3 which is the same as my 1Ds. I think Canon was trying to circumvent the Kyocera patent. The RTS III maintains the locked level indefinitely, including between camera power cycles.
My EOS 3 has flash exposure lock, it uses a button instead of a lever. There's even the option to set it to the manual or eye control selected focus point.
The locked level has a 16-sec timeout on the EOS 3 which is the same as my 1Ds. I think Canon was trying to circumvent the Kyocera patent. The RTS III maintains the locked level indefinitely, including between camera power cycles.
Sep 03, 2026 at 11:46 PM
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p.5 #7Unique or rare film era features?
EB-1 wrote:
AF worked rather slowly at best and only over a limited range depending on focal length.
The vaccum pressure plate holding the frilm flatter was a more important innovation.
EBH
While the autofocus of the AX is slow compared to Canon EF, it wasn't really any worse than nikon at the time. Impressively for the era, the continuous AF is predictive (for subjects moving at a fairly consistent speed), and it's good enough that I've gotten tack sharp wide open aperture portraits of my daughter gong down a slide.
The RTS III vacuum plate was tested by pop photo and barely achieved anything (though it wasn't totally nothing). For my money the more useful feature of the RTS III is the spot meter pre flash that works with any hot shoe flash. Also for the RTS III I think the 0.82% spot meter is unmatched by any digital camera.
Another unique to Contax feature is the matrix meter of the Aria shows you how much different it is metering from what center weighted would give you, which means you don't have to wonder "does the matrix meter actually know this is snow?"
rico wrote
Another Kyocera innovation was the Contax AX with AF capability provided to a system that only offered manual-focus lenses. The body had a complete AF sensor implementation coupled to a motorized film train. So, the entire film assembly (rails, sprockets, back plate) would move to bring the image into focus. Crazy stuff that actually worked.The vaccum pressure plate holding the frilm flatter was a more important innovation.
EBH
While the autofocus of the AX is slow compared to Canon EF, it wasn't really any worse than nikon at the time. Impressively for the era, the continuous AF is predictive (for subjects moving at a fairly consistent speed), and it's good enough that I've gotten tack sharp wide open aperture portraits of my daughter gong down a slide.
The RTS III vacuum plate was tested by pop photo and barely achieved anything (though it wasn't totally nothing). For my money the more useful feature of the RTS III is the spot meter pre flash that works with any hot shoe flash. Also for the RTS III I think the 0.82% spot meter is unmatched by any digital camera.
Another unique to Contax feature is the matrix meter of the Aria shows you how much different it is metering from what center weighted would give you, which means you don't have to wonder "does the matrix meter actually know this is snow?"
Sep 04, 2026 at 11:27 PM
p.5 #8Unique or rare film era features?
marlinspike wrote:
The RTS III vacuum plate was tested by pop photo and barely achieved anything (though it wasn't totally nothing). For my money the more useful feature of the RTS III is the spot meter pre flash that works with any hot shoe flash.
Zeiss also tested the RTS III vacuum plate and was more favorably inclined with the result (reported in the old CZ newsletter of that era). Of course, they may have been biased, although the test particulars like the amount of film curl is a factor hard to quantify or regulate. I would expect film flattening is more beneficial for MF systems like the Contax 645 which also had vacuum support for 220 film. As for flash exposure lock, note that an OEM flash is required because the flash level is controlled by quenching the discharge, a function performed by the camera through brand-specific contacts at the hot shoe.
The RTS III vacuum plate was tested by pop photo and barely achieved anything (though it wasn't totally nothing). For my money the more useful feature of the RTS III is the spot meter pre flash that works with any hot shoe flash.
Zeiss also tested the RTS III vacuum plate and was more favorably inclined with the result (reported in the old CZ newsletter of that era). Of course, they may have been biased, although the test particulars like the amount of film curl is a factor hard to quantify or regulate. I would expect film flattening is more beneficial for MF systems like the Contax 645 which also had vacuum support for 220 film. As for flash exposure lock, note that an OEM flash is required because the flash level is controlled by quenching the discharge, a function performed by the camera through brand-specific contacts at the hot shoe.
Sep 05, 2026 at 12:29 AM
p.5 #9Unique or rare film era features?
rico wrote:
marlinspike wrote
The RTS III vacuum plate was tested by pop photo and barely achieved anything (though it wasn't totally nothing). For my money the more useful feature of the RTS III is the spot meter pre flash that works with any hot shoe flash.What I really mean is it didn't need to be a ttl flash, so you could use non ttl 3rd party flashes (also I think they shared a pin configuration with nikon).
Sep 05, 2026 at 12:50 AM
p.5 #10Unique or rare film era features?
Exakta with the left hand wind, front mounted shutter release (later with lens mounted shutter release because they didn't have automatic stop down ttl metering, so the button on the lens would stop down the aperture and push the shutter button on the camera), and built in film cutter
Minolta Maxxum 7 matrix metering would give you a display of what each meter segment was reading so you could analyze the whole scene
The early Maxxums with the mode cards
Contarex had all sorts of unique features. The dial aperture control, the data strips where you could write notes that would imprint onto your film
Contaflex had interchangeable backs complete with a darkslide so you could change film types
Maxxum 9 with the 1/12000 shutter speed
Canons with the pellicle mirrors (starting with that early Pellix to the eos 1n r)
Minolta Maxxum 7 matrix metering would give you a display of what each meter segment was reading so you could analyze the whole scene
The early Maxxums with the mode cards
Contarex had all sorts of unique features. The dial aperture control, the data strips where you could write notes that would imprint onto your film
Contaflex had interchangeable backs complete with a darkslide so you could change film types
Maxxum 9 with the 1/12000 shutter speed
Canons with the pellicle mirrors (starting with that early Pellix to the eos 1n r)
Sep 08, 2026 at 07:46 AM
p.5 #11Unique or rare film era features?
Its gotta be the pentax lx through the lens metering. Can meternand adjust accordingly for many hours! I havent used that feature yet though xD
Sep 21, 2026 at 04:30 PM
p.5 #12Unique or rare film era features?
Canon EOS 10 and EOS 100 had a barcode reader attachment which worked via IR transmission to scan scenes from a book to choose scene mode.
Minolta had an interesting system from 1988-93 where you slotted a digital ROM card into the camera to do the same thing.
My kids would roll over laughing if I ever tried to explain these systems to them, then again they find CD players hillarious..
Minolta had an interesting system from 1988-93 where you slotted a digital ROM card into the camera to do the same thing.
My kids would roll over laughing if I ever tried to explain these systems to them, then again they find CD players hillarious..
Oct 27, 2026 at 04:54 AM