Japan: CHINON: 1966-1989:

Chinon was among the less innovative Japanese brands, but sold quite some cameras throughout the world in their own name or in others. They were more or less official producers for many others brands during their time, which lasted from 1966 (Chinonflex TTL) till they were bought by Kodak, Japan in 2004. Their PP SLR production, however, ended around 1989 with the Chinon CP-9 AF. After that, they produced "bridge cameras" like the Gemini series into the 90's, before mass producing compact digital 35 cameras for Kodak and others.
Chinon was probably the second biggest producer for other brands, after Cosina. Among the brands they made were GAF, Revue, Argus, Prinz, plus some for Ricoh and some for Alpa! And the list is probably very much longer. (But many Chinon cameras were made by Cosina, according to the Cosina list!)
Chinon CS of 1976. A sturdy, well working camera. CS stands for Chinon Screw, as the mount was of Praktica/Pentax M42 type.
A Auto Chinon 55/1,7 lens. Sn. 436489.
Another classic layout. Very much looking like the Cosina standard camera.

Bosse 25.09.2019 21:31

Hi,
Thanks for your remarks. However, I stand by my phrase "among the less innovative brands" when describing Chinon.
Regards

Kevin MacNutt 25.09.2019 20:58

I would not consider Chinon to be completely devoid of innovation. The CS Memotron was advanced with, Aperture Priority, 1/2000 shutter speed and AE-L in 1974.

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Nyeste kommentarer

02.11 | 16:32

Thank you! I should have said around 500000. Also remember that sometimes a top plate was broken and had to replace it with a spare one numbered differently.

01.11 | 20:18

I think your SN indications for the S1 may be a little off. I just picked up a chrome one with SN 527384.

09.08 | 09:58

Hi,
I do not know that model code. Please check for model name.
Regards

08.08 | 20:58

Hi I have a Konica Minolta code 3739740 please advise if there are film strips available for this camera? I'd appreciate the help. Thank you