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on Apr 4, 2022 19:17:09 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2022 19:17:09 GMT
I just thought you might find this interesting: a Contax 137MD/CGCM produced under Toshiba's brand. Contax 137MD Hybrid Toshiba by Graham Buxton-Smither, on Flickr It is clearly based on a Contax 137 but with the hot-shoe removed, no exposure selector or AE lock available. The lens is, perhaps surprisingly, Yashica's ML 50mm f1.9 C and it's coupled to an extension tube which is permanently attached to the camera mount; the lens is however removable. It has had a soft rubber band glued to its focusing ring which I assume is to allow ease of focusing while wearing gloves. Usually these CGCM-type cameras are attached to optical devices with fixed apertures, obviating the need for metering and variable shutter speeds, but this lens has an active aperture ring.
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on Apr 4, 2022 19:29:33 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2022 19:29:33 GMT
Ooooooh! Could we see the front please! About 1986 do you think?
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on Apr 4, 2022 19:58:41 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2022 19:58:41 GMT
Ooooooh! Could we see the front please! About 1986 do you think? Hi Bob, Your wish is my compliance..... 137MD Hybrid ML 50 1.9C1986 would be as good a guess as any - it seems about the right time. Certainly there were quite a few CGCMs knocking about by then.
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on Apr 4, 2022 20:19:27 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2022 20:19:27 GMT
Ah! Thanks Graham .... it might solve a small mystery regarding the engraving of a number on the Toshiba 137MD photo I have on the Contax Family Tree chart. I think the Owner/Lab/Institute/Company that owned the model below probably engraved the number on it rather than it leaving Contax with it on! I notice that your example does not have a corresponding engraving.
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on Apr 4, 2022 20:31:47 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2022 20:31:47 GMT
Ah! Thanks Graham .... it might solve a small mystery regarding the engraving of a number on the Toshiba 137MD photo I have on the Contax Family Tree chart. I think the Owner/Lab/Institute/Company that owned the model below probably engraved the number on it rather than it leaving Contax with it on! I notice that your example does not have a corresponding engraving. You may be surprised to know that it does carry the same engraving but whereas your one is 861232 mine has 88Z232. The serial number is actually etched onto a very thin metal plate which is in turn glued to the base plate of the camera - mine is simply placed nearer the lens mount - you can just make out the top right corner of the metal plate if you look at the furthest point on the right of the aperture ring. The numbers 232 are common but whether 861 and 88Z means that over 80 were manufactured for Toshiba is anyone's guess... It's interesting to note the different choice of Yashica lenses and mounts.
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on Apr 4, 2022 20:44:40 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2022 20:44:40 GMT
Thanks for the clarification! Yes the plate must be nearer the lens mount and hard to spot in your photo. The person who provided the photo of 861232 could not tell me anything significant about the camera's use unfortunately ... he just allowed me to use his photo on my chart.
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on Apr 5, 2022 10:22:35 GMT
Posted: Apr 5, 2022 10:22:35 GMT
Thanks for the clarification! Yes the plate must be nearer the lens mount and hard to spot in your photo. The person who provided the photo of 861232 could not tell me anything significant about the camera's use unfortunately ... he just allowed me to use his photo on my chart. It is a curiosity as to what Toshiba would need with this variation of the 137MD/CGCM. Most CGCMs have had their innards gutted, making them mere film transports with all the usual photographic variables pre-set. These cameras evidently require human intervention as the lens offers variable focusing and aperture control (the latter may simply have been to reduce costs by not opting for the expense of a production modification). Unlike many CGCMs, this has a working viewfinder, albeit without any of the usual 4 indicators but with the standard horizontal, split-image/microprism viewing screen. It is a tethered camera as it takes its power from a square 4-pin socket in the base plate. At the opposite end of the plate is a mysterious circular item which has three guide-holes to receive locating pins and a central 2.5mm screw thread; I will try to remove the base-plate in the hope that I can fathom the use of this strange piece of apparatus - it certainly could not take the weight of the camera.
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on Apr 5, 2022 16:54:32 GMT
Posted: Apr 5, 2022 16:54:32 GMT
It's a surprise to see one under a Toshiba label, but I'm guessing that they appreciated the qualities offered in the camera in much the same way that Zeiss (for microscope/lab use) and the Swiss Air Force (reconnaissance) did for its adaptability and durability. I've seen other 3rd party adaptations using Yashica FR/107/108 bodies and similar, but there are times when a user really needs something 'bulletproof'.
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on Jul 18, 2022 1:24:37 GMT
Posted: Jul 18, 2022 1:24:37 GMT
I just ran across this same Toshiba model, but this one has the lens/adapter assembly latched onto it. It's listed with a Japanese seller, here: www.ebay.com/itm/264327107157I'll grab some of the photos too for safe keeping, and make a composite to post here later.
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on Jul 19, 2022 15:51:28 GMT
Last Edit: Jul 19, 2022 16:11:09 GMT by lumiworx
The 4-shot composite... I've been compiling photos of a number of these lab/medical cameras from various manufacturers under a single album in the testbed. They may or may not give much detail in who/what/why, but they all seem to fall into the same basic category of commercially adapted photo gear that's never intended for the retail market. The album is here: testbed.lumiworx.com/#15862891059445EDIT to add: I'm not sure that any angle of these shots allow for confirmation, but it looks like the front assembly is clamped onto the tens grip from the top, and the camera body might be screwed into the extended bottom 'plate' of the assembly, similar to what a quick release plate for a tripod would offer. Here's a closeup crop of the top-down shot...
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on Jul 20, 2022 10:16:50 GMT
Posted: Jul 20, 2022 10:16:50 GMT
Hi lumiworx Thank you for the shots of the set-up. It looks likely that the the cable we see in your pictures is to control the blue-coloured bus on the front of the unit as we can still see the power socket to the right of the base of the camera in the second photo. What I find most interesting is the use of that ML 50 f1.9C lens which is probably the weakest of the ML line-up in terms both of build quality and edge-to-edge sharpness. I'm assuming that was determined by the depth of the lens in combination with that Contax 13mm extension tube. Curious is the use of a rubber hood and that orange filter... Fascinating.
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on Jul 20, 2022 14:27:37 GMT
Posted: Jul 20, 2022 14:27:37 GMT
To be honest biggles3, I hesitated to call what you've pointed to as likely to be a 13mm extension tube by it's brand or functional name, due to the odd rounded bump seen atop the grip surface (that I badly termed as "lens grip"). If it were either a Yashica or Contax tube, I'd normally see it and think that would be the release button, but if it was, it's on the wrong 'side' and is the wrong size and shape, plus it's black instead of silver/chrome. That's not to say that the assessment of what it is could be incorrect... only that there might be more going on under the hood. It's hard to even guess if it's concealing something inside, but that bump has me wondering it's it's some kind of plug or cap for a hole, and there's been some special sauce added that's tied to whatever device it's all connected to. I'm guessing, but ordinarily an orange filter is destined for use with B&W film, but is it possible that it's a weak dichroic filter? That would put it on a par with what's on a few of the microscope-bound CGCM body types I've seen and the RTS I'd acquired that still had the add-on adapter and filter attached in place of a lens. It had a rather strong and highly reflective dichroic on it, that exceeded what others seem to have. Another guess on the rubber hood.... sometimes it's easy to use an off the shelf piece of hardware that's meant as a shade, and turn it into a non-reflective gap filler inside that 'custom' box. Not remaking the wheel in creating another custom assembly allows for R&D and manufacturing time and cost to be put somewhere else too.
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on Jul 20, 2022 17:14:21 GMT
Posted: Jul 20, 2022 17:14:21 GMT
You are correct about the wrong positioning of the 'bump' for it to be a Contax 13mm extension tube, assuming that the mounts haven't been altered. I'll try to dig out my copy of the Toshiba 137 with its lens and tube. Although the tube cannot be removed from the throat of the camera, the lens can be detached although I can't recall where the release pin on the tube is. I'll report back when I've recovered the camera.
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on Jan 31, 2023 13:00:47 GMT
Posted: Jan 31, 2023 13:00:47 GMT
Hi lumiworx Sorry it's taken me 6 months to get around to checking the Toshiba but I only found it again this morning. Looking at the lens throat, you can see the odd configuration of tabs which relate to the standard C/Y mount of the lens. When the lens is attached, the red dot on the camera mount is aligned with the right hand f16 mark on the lens barrel (as you look from the front) rather than the centre line. Toshiba 137MD hybrid_mountThat bump to which we referred earlier allows the lens to be removed.
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on Jan 31, 2023 20:48:00 GMT
Posted: Jan 31, 2023 20:48:00 GMT
Thanks for the informative update, Graham. Whenever one of these small gems show up it just helps to cement the notion that the underlying platform had value beyond the consumer market that was appreciated by more than a few makers, for more than a few purposes.
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