LEOTAX D IV vintage Leica Copy camera. Tokyo Simlar 5cm/3.5 lens. Case. CLA'D

35mm film rangefinder camera with Tokyo Optical Co Simlar. Vintage Leotax FV 35mm film rangefinder camera. Japanese copy of the classic Leica 35mm rangefinder cameras.

Uses M39 LTM screw mount lenses. Shutter speeds are 1/5000-1 sec. Early model with knob wind film advance. Ex++ or 8.5 of 10.

Nice top plate with a few small marks on the accessory shoe. Some small marks on the bottom plate. This Leotax camera was CLA'D best as possible for a vintage camera in 2023. Chrome finish collapsible barrel 5cm standard lens. Aperture range is f/3.5 to f/16. Close focus down to 3.5' or 1m.

Distance scale is marked in feet. Ex++ or 8.5/9 out of 10. No noticeable coating marks or scratches. Smooth working lens aperture with no oil on the blades. Overall nice condition original Tokyo lens with clean optics.

Includes a vintage Leotax camera case. The company was founded in January 1938 by Nakagawa Kenzo as Kyoei-sha, based in Nippori, Tokyo. The company was renamed G.

Showa Kogaku at the end of 1938. The company's most emblematic product was the Leotax, a. Style 35mm camera, initially made with an uncoupled rangefinder.

However during the early years, the company's main activity was the production of the more pedestrian. The company became Showa Kogaku Seiki K. Some point, certainly after World War II. In 1942 with the introduction of the Leotax Special A and Special B the company adopted a coupled short base rangefinder with a scissor strut arrangement for the sensor arm, presumably to circumvent Leica patents. This sensor arm arrangement necessitated moving the viewfinder of the original Leotax from just above the lens to a position at the extreme left of the top cover as viewed from the rear.

Early Leotax Leica type cameras were nicely finished externally but very crudely finished inside, but internal quality started to improve with the DII and DIII although early rangefinders in these cameras were still crude. By the model DIV of 1950 the Leotax was a sound camera, and at it's the introduction in 1954 the Leotax F with diecast chassis was the sturdiest Japanese Leica copy as well as the largest. RF, the camera was one of the main Japanese.

Copies, gradually improved until the late 1950s. The company was also making improved. Models, as well as the. The company was renamed Leotax Camera K.

It made rangefinder cameras until 1961, the last model being the. An advanced camera inspired by the. This vintage collectible Leotax D IV camera with Tokyo 5cm f/3.5 standard lens with Walz lens hood sells with NO RESERVE at price of.