Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Tower 51

Back in October I bought a Tower 51, a 35mm rangefinder camera sold through Sears in 1954. Sears didn't make any cameras, but had various manufacturers, such as Nicca, Olympus, Mamiya, etc. supplied cameras that were branded "Tower". The Tower 51 was made by Iloca, a German manufacturer. Supposedly the Tower 51 was a re-badging of the Iloca Rapid B, which is also referenced on Karen Nakamura's wonderful site. But my Tower 51 does not have the film advance on the left, as with the Rapid B, rather it is in the "normal" spot, on the right. Matt Denton's Tower 51 is the left-handed version, so there were at least two versions of the Tower 51.

This camera arrived in pretty good condition except that the viewfinder is very dirty. And the film advance feels so rough that I couldn't be sure the film was advancing properly. I threw a roll of Kodak B&W C41 (black and white film but processed in the same chemistry as colour negative film) just to test it. It took me quite a while to get the film developed and scanned to CD, and I wasn't too hopeful.

But, Shazaam! the results were quite good! As a meterless camera, I had to either use an external meter or choose my exposure by the "Sunny 16" rule. Next step is to do a CLA myself. I'm not going to send it out for a cost of $50-80, as I only paid $10 plus shipping. If I screw it up, I'm not out much, but I DO love the lens, a Steinheil Cassar 50mm/f2.8 which seems to be wicked sharp.








For Miss K: Here is a shot of the advance mechanism under the top plate. I have more photos of the disassembly procedure. Let me know if you want me to send them to you.


4 comments:

MrsDoF said...

Boats! and a lake not frozen over. Nice photo. Great lens. Good Eye.

WeeDram said...

Thanks. It was taken in the Fall, and it's on the Erie Canal. Let's all sing now...

The Loudly Quiet Miss K with an A said...

I was wondering if you have any pics of the inside of your camera? I have one, but the advance lever doesn't work. Nice pictures as well. Always good to see people still shooting film.

WeeDram said...

Thank you, Miss K. I continue to shoot film though I depend on the lab for scans. Hence, I am in the market for a good scanner. I'm selling off some excess gear to fund that.