{"id":203,"date":"2016-09-21T19:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T19:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/?page_id=203"},"modified":"2024-05-13T16:41:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T16:41:19","slug":"vintage-beauty-cameras","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/vintage-beauty-cameras\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vintage Beauty cameras<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are collecting vintage Beauty cameras there are quite a few variants to look for – including various models with built-in light-meters going by the name of Lightomatic or Lightmatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The model most often seen seems to be the Beauty Canter – people often thing that the manufacturer is ‘Canter’ and the model is ‘Beauty’, which sounds feasible, but isn’t correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiyodo Koki was one of the many camera companies set up in Japan in the immediate aftermath of WW2.  Like many such companies, they went bust early on – probably by 1963. The company made Twin-Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras in addition to the 35mm cameras illustrated below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beauty 35<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Date: 1955
Country of origin: Japan
Rangefinder: None (viewfinder only)
Meter: None
Shutter: Leaf. Speeds B 1 1\/2 1\/5 1\/10 1\/25 1\/50 1\/100 1\/300
Lens: 45mm f3.2 Stops 3.2 4 5.6 8 11 16 (continuously variable), self-timer
The label at the bottom shows a stylised ‘TKK’ which stands for Taiyodo Koki K K (which I am unreliably informed translates as ‘Sun Church Light Machine’).  This camera was sold by the American Montgomery Ward concern, re-badged as the ‘Ward 35’ for the sum of $29.95 (less than half the price of the Argus C-3).  I’ve not had chance to use mine just yet, but everything (including the self-timer) seems to work.
In contrast to German cameras of the period, this camera has a proper 4-element lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vintage<\/a>
Beauty 35 viewfinder camera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Beauty Canter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Date: c.1957
Country of origin: Japan
Rangefinder: Coupled
Meter: None
Shutter: Leaf (Copal MXV). Speeds B 1 1\/2 1\/5 1\/10 1\/25 1\/50 1\/100 1\/250 1\/500
Lens: 45mm f.8 Stops 2.8 4 5.6  11 16 (continuously variable)
The first ‘vintage’ camera that I bought, and a very nice machine to use.
The rangefinder is easy to use, with a very bright viewfinder.  A nice hefty and good-looking camera – who needs a Leica?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vintage<\/a>
Beauty Canter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Beauty<\/a>
Beauty Canter Sample Pic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vintage Beauty cameras If you are collecting vintage Beauty cameras there are quite a few variants to look for – including various models with built-in light-meters going by the name of Lightomatic or Lightmatic. The model most often seen seems to be the Beauty Canter – people often thing that the manufacturer is ‘Canter’ and the … Continue reading Beauty cameras<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-203","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/203\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/industrialmuseum.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}