I can't argue with much of that except that Yashica did briefly enter the autofocus market, although this was after their takeover by Kyocera. As I recall, one of the big problems for Yashica was that Minolta apparently saw their first attempt at AF as being too close to the Minolta 7000 for comfort and hit them with a patent infringement suit. This delayed the launch of the Yashica AF SLRs and probably contributed to their lack of penetration into AF territory.
Cheers Brian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ On Saturday, September 10, 2011 11:52 AM, "Anthony Farr" <[email protected]> wrote: > On 9 September 2011 03:11, William Robb <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > Topcon, Miranda and Petri were gone long before AF came about. They left > > about the same time auto exposure came along. > > > > Those three brands might have been marginalised by the rise of auto > exposure, but they managed to hang on for most of the seventies, > almost up to AF in SLRs. As I recall, manual exposure was considered > normal at that time. Using AE was practically an admission of > incompetence or laziness, so the paradigm shift from manual metering > to auto exposure was fairly gradual. > > But AF was introduced in fixed lens compacts in 1977, and the the > first external AF systems like Pentax's ME-F followed closely (and > wasn't there some sort of kludged up AF in the Canon FD line?). That > signalled a rush for the exits. These companies raised the white flag > at that time, perhaps realising they weren't ready for another big > investment in new tech. Konica didn't transition to AF, either, but > at least they didn't fold up. Cosina survived by becoming an > outsourcing supplier while its own branded products moved into the > boutique category. Chinon dissapeared from Western eyes but was doing > something interesting with electronics, enough for Kodak to buy them > out and run them to this day as a subsidiery. > > Older manufacturing techniques probably supported lower outputs as > well. Modern manufacturing demands higher volumes therefore supports > fewer brands. > > I'd overlooked the rise of fixed lens compacts. Getting first use of > AF boosted sales of compacts at the cost of SLRs, but getting zoom > lenses was an even bigger deal. A lot of camera-buyers could now be > satisfied with a fixed lens camera, so one of the big advantages of > SLRs at the time, interchangeable lenses, was neutralised. > > > You may as well toss Mamiya in there as well, with their lamentable 35mm SLR > > attempts. > > Yashica and Contax were one and the same at the time of AF, both were owned > > by Kyocera. > > > > Can't comment about 35mm Mamiyas, but I always considered RB67s to be > pigs of cameras to use, and the lenses had horrible veiling flare. > > Yashica never got AF and launched its last model in 1986. As an > amateur targeted camera it couldn't maintain viable sales without AF. > Contax survived longer because AF wasn't a priority in most > professionals' choice of camera in those times. Similarly, Olympus > kept upgrading its pro OM series, finishing with the last OM4Ti being > made in 2002. Even companies that embraced AF kept some manual focus > pro grade cameras in their catalogues long after the introduction of > AF. Witness the Pentax LX and Nikon F3 and FM-3A, which stayed in > production beyond 2000. Meanwhile Leicaflexes continued their steady > trickle out of the factory (there'll always be orthodontists). But > there weren't enough rich nonconformists to save ALPA, whose final > Swiss model launched in 1976. ALPA's Chinon-made models, being > incompatible with Swiss-made models and too cheap to interest their > old customers, saw it fade away almost un-noticed in the eighties. > Rollei blundered through in fits and starts, but it was inept > management and a failure to exercise good quality control at their > offshore factory in SIngapore that killed their reputation and finally > them, not misconceived products or paradigm shifts. > > > > > EVF type cameras are going to happen, whether we want or like them or not. > > They cost less to produce, which makes them attractive to manufacturers, and > > they are the newest thing, which makes them attractive to marketers and > > people who buy based on hype rather than function. > > My only hope is that they can make a decent EVF (they are still crap) before > > the choice of optical viewfinder is taken away from us entirely. > > > > EVFs will improve without a doubt. Reflex viewfinders are past their > peak, they were better in 1980 than they are in in 2011. There's too > much information being overlayed on and around the picture-composing > area. At least with an EVF you can customise the view, or strip it > away to a naked view of just the image with no information. > > Fuji's hybrid finder is interesting but needs more work to get issues > like angle of view and eye relief sorted. (from what I've heard, not > hands-on experience). > > Optical viewfinders are again becoming popular because AF is so > reliable you don't need to see focus in many circumstances. Face > recognition works well to grab focus on any people in the frame, > particularly when there's just one person in the frame. > > My beef with modern cameras is that the three vital pieces of > information that I want to see instantly and instinctively are buried > in a sea of minor information. Sensitivity, aperture and shutter > speed! 98% of the time thats all I want to see. I want to look at > the top of the camera, without having to raise it to my eye or turn on > the rear LCD, and see those three basic settings, like photographers > have done for decades upon decades. OK, so your premium cameras with > top deck LCDs do this, but they're an exception and becoming more so. > Once there was a time when every camera, no matter how cheap, wore > their exposure settings on their lumpy metal skins for instant > reference, whether powered on or off. Sigh. > > I've had too much time on my hands these last few days, these raves > are getting longer. > > regards, Anthony > > "Of what use is lens and light > to those who lack in mind and sight" > (Anon) > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- -- http://www.fastmail.fm - A fast, anti-spam email service. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
