Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

The camera pictured above is the last seagull SLR, the DF5000, which was established in 1997 but was not put into production until before 2001, and the seagull stopped producing the camera a few years later.

Around the year 2000 is the time for China's domestic camera industry to withdraw from the camera market, before and after this, domestic brands still launched some cameras. The reason for doing this article is that I wrote about the seagull 4A-100 series in my last article, and I talked about this topic by the way-- the last domestic film camera.

In fact, not only domestic film cameras, Germany's Lulai, Japan's Minolta, Konica, BRONICA,MAMIYA and other brands have also withdrawn from the camera market one after another. Under the big wave of digital, it finally becomes history.

When it comes to the last Chinese film camera, let's first talk about this T981, a camera designed and manufactured by Phoenix Optics for Yasuhara, Japan. An Yuanshen is a businessman who can't make his own camera, so he went to Chinese manufacturers for help.

In 1998, the camera was successfully launched, which is called Yasuhara in Japan and T981 in China. Only 500units are supplied in China. The price of the camera is 3500 yuan, the lens is 900yuan (50amp 2.8L39, made in China), the price is Japanese yen, the body is 55000 yen and the lens is 12000 yen.

From the technical point of view, it is a replaceable lens side-axis camera from the 1950s to the 1960s, with only a set of frame lines indicating 50mm, using L39 screws. The shape of the camera is very retro at first glance, and the design seems to refer to the experience of Leica, but its optical part is very large.

However, the camera has a photometric function, so it is relatively convenient to use. The Flenda BESSA-R launched in the next few years operates much the same way as this camera, but with switching frames.

For Chinese people in the 1990s, 3500 is a huge sum of money, and many people earn only a few hundred yuan a month, but in terms of the price of Japanese yen, 55000 yen belongs to the price of cabbage.

This camera is also used as a gift for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China in 1999. The 1999 National Day military parade is still in front of us, but it has been four centuries since the blink of an eye. And the camera is no longer an unattainable miracle for us Chinese photography enthusiasts. The film fans in contemporary China have long been Leica and Hasu flying all over the world.

Now the fine JG50 picture is very difficult to see. When I introduced it before, there was a set of pictures from the Leica auction, so you can enjoy the elegant demeanour of this camera.

Next, let's talk about seagull 4A-107 and 4A-109.

In the 1990s, with the opening of the market economy, Chinese camera factories began to contract for overseas manufacturers, and specialized contract factories also appeared in China. Many Nikon SLR cameras have been made in China since the 1990s.

Against this background, Seagull has reproduced 4A cameras with better performance indicators, launching 103105107 and 109four cameras. The 107 camera was launched before 1998, and it is also the first time that the Seagull camera has upgraded its lens in decades.

Originally, the Seagull 4 series cameras used a 3-piece 75-camera 3.5 lens, all the way to the 4A-107, using 4 pieces and 3 sets of structures. I don't know if it was caused by the popularity of Yashika 124G in China at that time.

In fact, in the 1990s, the mainstream anti-manufacturers in the past have basically stopped production, although Lulai restored the 2.8GX, but mainly commemorative planes, there are not many standing machines, and Yashika 124G has also stopped production.

The emergence of the new 4A series is also related to the demand of the Japanese camera market. Although the new 4A series is also exported to North America and Europe, it is mainly aimed at the Japanese market at that time.

The operation of the 4A-107 is different from that of the ROLLEIFLEX, its aperture shutter is adjusted by a front lever, so although the 4A-107 has changed the lens, it still lacks a waist-level operation. It also looks more like ROLLEICORD.

In the 21st century, Seagull finally launched the 4A-109, which is sold a little more in Europe and the United States, but does not produce much. The camera finally adopts a waist-level operation, with two turntables on the front to adjust the aperture shutter. It has also been raised to 500, which used to be 300.

In the end, Seagull finally completed the imitation 3.5 camera, and the 4A-109 looks a bit like the Yashika 124G.

It is not known when the camera was discontinued, but there is a workshop in Bogu Hall, an old camera on Anfu Road (later moved), which has been assembling and selling 4A-109 for some time.

In 1997, Phoenix launched the last model of the 205 camera, the Phoenix 205e, which is also sold at home and abroad.

205 cameras were originally developed and produced by Shanghai No. 2 camera Factory, and began production in 1965 until before 2002. This series of cameras have produced more than 4 million cameras in one breath without major changes in the overall structure. It is the largest number of single cameras in the world, and it is also the single camera with the longest production time. There has never been anyone before, and absolutely no one has come since.

Logically, 205 is a very popular all-metal mirror shutter side shaft machine. But it is much larger than this kind of camera as we understand it, and if it is placed in Japan, it actually belongs to the previous generation of Olympus 35SP and so on, and it is a camera with technical specifications in the 1950s.

205 cameras have everything they should have, nothing they should have, and they didn't even measure light before 1997. The 205B with photometry was introduced in 1987, but it was soon cancelled and the 205D with multiple exposures was introduced.

Finally, it was not until 1997 that photometry and multiple exposures were integrated on 205e. Because it is still a shutter between mirrors, there is no way to achieve TTL photometry, so the photometer is still independent.

The basic information of the 205 series will show you an arrangement I made a long time ago.

Finally, let's take a look at DF5000. I think what you are most interested in today is this camera.

Unexpectedly, we Chinese can also make such an artistic camera, which is very top-notch at a glance. This is a complete picture. DF5000 comes with a handle that is consistent with the overall design of the fuselage. It looks high-end, domineering and high-end.

In fact, the basic performance of DF5000 is similar to that of DF300, that is, the Minolta X300 for foreign trade. It also uses Minolta, which is actually an 80's manual focus SLR camera, and it's not very high-end. Although it looks domineering, it is comparable to Leica R8, but it only looks so domineering that you have to rewind the film manually.

And the propaganda caliber at that time was to hire a famous designer to design the appearance, and the most important thing for the camera should be the performance, since the performance is not the best, then use the appearance.

And the DF5000 became the last SLR for seagulls.

In fact, seagulls and Phoenix, Phoenix has been producing 205, while seagulls have been producing the old DF-1, production did not stop production until 1999. DF-1 is a product launched in 1969, and DF means DSLR.

In fact, at the turn of the century, there are still some domestic cameras, which are not listed here. These cameras are mainly listed by the two giants of Chinese camera manufacturers, Seagull and Phoenix.

Japanese and German brands have withdrawn from the market mainly because of digital, while Chinese cameras are not only digital, but also because their performance lags behind. in fact, there is a generational gap in the development of domestic film cameras and world cameras, and in the 1990s they are still producing antiques with technical indicators decades ago. Many people focus on the lack of autofocus technology, in fact, photometry technology, automation, automatic exposure technology, and so on are also quite backward, or the introduction of Minolta or Pentax has long been outdated technology.

The reason why Chinese cameras have attracted attention is actually the result of the special system in the special era of the last century. At that time, we did not have access to the world's advanced equipment, even civilian-level equipment, and the economic development was difficult, and the material living standard of the common people was not high. In this special era, we can only use domestic cameras, which can be said to be all the ordinary Chinese people know about photography. And domestic cameras also contract almost all of our image memory.

However, with the gradual opening up of the country, not to mention buying foreign goods, even foreign countries are walking casually. When a large number of Japanese cameras pour in and domestic cameras are no longer the whole knowledge of photography, even if there is no digital wave, its decline is also hard to avoid. It's just that China has been developing the camera industry, and we have feelings for it, so it's a pity.

This article is from the official Wechat account: film fan club (ID:jiaojuanmi), author: Shanghai Old dirty Turtle

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.