Asahiflex IIA

Would like some info about this camera.
Do you find it any fun and what is it worth secondhand?

Asahiflex IIA
Feb 1955 - April 1957
1/500, 1/200, 1/100, 1/50, 1/25, 1/10, 1/5, 1/2, B, T shutter.
Standard lens 50mm f3.5 Takumar pr 58mm f2.4 Takumar.
Known as Tower 22 in the USA.
20,754 produced.
$300-$450 possible value.

Hope that helps!

Yes that helps John, is it really $300-$450?
The camera seems to be in good condition, no visible marks and it stated as working. I'm going on a holiday next week and it close to that place... hopefully the owner wouldn't know what it's worth

oh another little question, what mount does it have?
37mm screw mount?

I think it is 37mm. It predates the 42mm screw mount of the Pentax cameras.

Just tried to look a lens up with that lens mount, no luck though, only best buy on Ebay.
Asahi-Kogaku 50/3.5 Takumar £152.94
more lenses - very expensive

The camera comes with a Asahi-Kogaku 58mm f/2.4 Takumar, interesting focal length though.

Does or has anyone here owned this camera?

Read all about it:

http://www.aohc.it/indexe.htm

G

There's a link here that might help re the camera Stefan.

Already had that one up George but not a lot of information on that site, found this one more useful link

Edit: Dave was just a bit faster

I have the Asahiflex IIa that my father bought in the 50's. While it is not now working I used it some "back in the day." It's pleasant but not for fast work, since it is waist level focusing, aided by a little magnifier. The viewing screen is dim by modern standards, no fresnel lens rather a condensor lens. Note in the pictures the little eyelevel finder. The waist level finder presents a reversed image making following action a little difficult.

I recall smooth controls, moderate shutter noise, a feeling of precision. Shutter speeds are 1/2 to 1/500; the top dial rotates on exposure which fact meant that my father, left-eyed, sometimes fouled the dial with his nose resulting in the wrong exposure. FP and X synch, the latter at 1/50 I think.

Asahi offered a good range of lenses, up to 400, I think. I have the 50 mm f3.5, a Tower 35mm (Sears, Roebuck sold the camera under its Tower label) and the 83mm f1.9. These are all preset lenses, which would be a real adjustment after automatic lenses. My father enjoyed closeup work, so he'd bought the extension tube set and the bellows.

The mount is 37mm, as someone mentioned above. I think there may have been adaptors available for Leica, but the lenses couldn't focus to infinity. Even had the Asahiflex had a 39mm mount the difference in body depth would have meant no infinity focus.

Avnh mentions the 58mm focal length. This was fairly common back in the day. I seem to remember a 58mm Biotar f2 which was often fitted to the Pentacon or Exakta. Perhaps there was a reason for that length, I don't know.

You could own a piece of history....

I always look at these (and the other Ashaiflexes) when they come up on ebay but they command pretty good prices. If you see one for a good price snap it up. If you don't like it you could see it to a forum member...

What you find with these collectable cameras is that cosmetic condition is everything.
A pristine one can usually be made to work again(at a price), but a bashed up one will always be a bashed up one...

Even so, I think you're looking at a few hundred pounds these days for a reasonable one, unless you get lucky!

You can get M37 -> M42 adapter rings, including one from Asahi, but there not that easy to find.

In terms of "fun", I'm not so sure because it has a waist level finder with a laterally reversed image and no focussing aids.
At least the IIA had the ground-breaking innovation of the "Instant Return Mirror" - how spoiled we are these days

R

This is where the Japanese wiped the floor with the German camera industry.

Well into the 1960s some German SLRs still had non-instant return mirrors, selenium meters, not even fully focusing screens.

To explain the last point, the Vogtlander Bessamatic, for example, had the most brilliant viewfinder ever, but it's mostly an aerial image so you can't focus anywhere excpet a small ground glass ring at the centre.

For the Asahiflex you can get Leica adapters to use Leica lenses on the cameras. And of course M42 adapters to use the Asahiflex lenses on the Pentax cameras.

Perhaps I should say "you could get" as they may be hard to find these days.

Forgot to mention that there are some beautiful pictures of early Pentax cameras & lenses here.

R

[quote:3496ace15f="Reuben0"In terms of "fun", I'm not so sure because it has a waist level finder with a laterally reversed image and no focussing aids.
At least the IIA had the ground-breaking innovation of the "Instant Return Mirror" - how spoiled we are these days

R[/quote]
Indeed how spoiled we're now, even the tripods are light weight now and don't forget the ASA we can use these days.
If the photographers of those days would see someone with a DSLR they would say they aren't photographers probable.

Oh a little update on the camera.
I was on holiday this week and it is not for offer any more, it was €150 when I left a week ago so It might have gone for double the price.
Better luck next time.