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disemjg
Joined: 10 Jan 2002 Posts: 474 Location: Washington, DC
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 1:00 am Post subject: |
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Recently I obtained a camera from a mail order dealer that was described as a "Century 35". I was expecting the simplified camera illuistrated in the Graflex manual, that bore some relationship to the well-known Graflex 35. What showed up was a Kowa made camera marked "Century 35 NE", which I have not seen listed anywhere before. It is a rather nice camera, with conventional focusing instead of the push-button focusing found on the Graflex 35. It has a coupled selenium meter, and the weird internal rewind claw like a Jet; the rewind crank is on the bottom. Overall it looks like a native Kowa product that was rebadged for Graflex, rather than a Graflex influenced design like the Jet. I suspect that it dates from the early '60s.
Has anyone heard of this camera before, and are there any other lesser known Graflex 35s beside this one? |
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Scott Cogburn
Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 4:34 am Post subject: |
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Hi, I have the model without the light meter, the Century 35N, which was produced in the same year (1960). It's the only Graflex camera I have owned, though I have quite a few other amateur-grade Japanese cameras from the late 1950s and early 1960s. The 35N seems to be quite well-made, and seems be at least as well-made as the popular rangefinders made by Yashica, Mamiya and Minolta in that same vintage.
Mine has aperture blades which are either broken or have come loose, so I can't test it until I spend a few hours repairing it.
Mine has top-mounted advance lever, bottom-mounted folding rewind crank, rangefinder, unit focus, and the same type of aperture-shutter-speed coupling system as on my Yashica Minister and Mamiya 18B (by which a raised, knurled ring (between the aperture and speed rings) turns both aperture and speed rings together in LV combinations.
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disemjg
Joined: 10 Jan 2002 Posts: 474 Location: Washington, DC
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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Mine also has a bad (loose) diaphragm blade. Someday I'll get around to dealing with it, but I hate working on this kind of lens/shutter.
Since the original post, I've found that there are a number of 35mm cameras that Graflex marketed, most of them made by Kowa. They are listed in Mckeown's guide to collectable cameras. |
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shadyapex
Joined: 25 Dec 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Bishop, CA USA
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:08 am Post subject: Century 35N |
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I also have the Century 35 N. Found it at an antique store for $10. Just ran a roll of film through it so we'll see how accurate the focusing and shutter speeds are. It really seems like a great little camera.
I posted a query about it on rangefinderforum.com but haven't heard anything back. There are some pics of the camera on my post.
http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73223
I like it so much that I doubled my investment and bought a shoulder strap for it.[/img] |
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PhillipLonghenry
Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 1
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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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disemfjg wrote: | Mine also has a bad (loose) diaphragm blade. Someday I'll get around to taking D-Bal with it, but I hate working on this kind of lens/shutter.
Since the original post, I've found that there are a number of 35mm cameras that Graflex marketed, most of them made by Kowa. They are listed in Mckeown's guide to collectable cameras. |
Hey shady I've also got the century 35n. I got it on ebay for $40 though. Looks like you got a real bargain at 10 bucks. I agree it's a great little camera and I'm happy with it.
Last edited by PhillipLonghenry on Wed Sep 29, 2021 11:39 am; edited 17 times in total |
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shadyapex
Joined: 25 Dec 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Bishop, CA USA
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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:55 pm Post subject: Very cool |
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Hey Phillip, even at $40 I think its a great bargain. Mine seems to work flawlessly and I think the lens is very good. I'm really enjoying it and I'm surprised that this little gem isn't better known. Maybe there just aren't that many of them around. |
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Henry
Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 1642 Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: Century 35N |
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Can't view pix unless registered to site. Would like to see camera, though. Alternative(s)? |
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shadyapex
Joined: 25 Dec 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Bishop, CA USA
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Henry
Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 1642 Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks! Looks not unlike a Minolta Hi-Matic. Hope you get many years of good service out of it. For $10 you can't go wrong! |
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lordoftheflies
Joined: 11 Jul 2016 Posts: 1 Location: Denver
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:13 am Post subject: |
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Quote: | Hey shady I've also got the century 35n. I got it on ebay for $40 though. Looks like you got a real bargain at 10 bucks. I agree it's a great little camera and I'm happy with it. I lost some using plexus slim and its nonchalant. |
Philip; the mid 1950's model was the Graphic 35; with the push button focusing. There were at least 4 variants; the color wheel has changes; the lens is either a 3.5 or 2.8 Some of the F3.5 models say the lens is by Rodenstock; mine is a 3 element triplet
Hope this helps you, cheers! |
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Riley
Joined: 15 Sep 2016 Posts: 1 Location: USA
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 5:01 pm Post subject: Re: Century 35N |
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shadyapex wrote: | I also have the Century 35 N. Found it at an antique store for $10. Just ran a roll of film through it so we'll see how accurate the focusing and shutter speeds are. It really seems like a great little camera.
I posted a query about it on rangefinderforum.com but haven't heard anything back. There are some pics of the camera on my post.
http://phenq-results.com before and after results of using phenq
I like it so much that I doubled my investment and bought a shoulder strap for it.[/img] |
I had one of those, my brother broke it but i have still got that strap though one of my fav memories were captured by this. _________________ Get the best phenq results here |
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Sharoun
Joined: 25 Mar 2017 Posts: 2
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 10:31 pm Post subject: Re: Very cool |
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shadyapex wrote: | Hey Phillip, even at $40 I think its a great bargain. Mine seems to work flawlessly and I think the lens is very good. I'm really enjoying it and I'm surprised that this little gem isn't better known. Maybe there just aren't that many of them around. |
my brother broke it but i have still got that strap though one of my fav memories were captured by this. _________________ Sharoun SARA adele weight loss 2017 |
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