Chinonflex TTL (1968)
The M42 mount was a boon to camera manufacturers such as Sanshin Optics Industrial Co, better known as Chinon. It meant money didn’t have to be sunk into a proprietary mount, leaving designers free to concentrate on the camera itself.
Chinon’s first foray into the M42 world , the Chinonflex TTL, is typical of the cameras built for the amateur market at this time, albeit with a few diversions. The camera has a top shutter speed of 1/1000 but a vertically travelling metal shutter, unlike the horizontal cloth one of the Pentax Spotmatic. The camera’s shutter speed/ASA dial sits on the front of the camera like that of the Cosina Hi-Lite, rather than on the top plate, which looks clean and uncluttered because of it.
The Chinonflex TTL has a centre-weighted meter which can be used up to ISO 1600, and is powered by a single PX625 battery. The light meter is activated with a stop down switch on the side of the lens mount.
The Chinonflex is unremarkable but robust; more importantly, it kickstarted Chinon’s M42 range, which include some of the most innovative models made for the mount in later years.
This camera was widely rebadged. In the UK it was sold as the Prinzflex Super TTL by Dixons, the high-street electrical chain which dominated the amateur photography market in the 1960s and 70s. In West Germany, Foto Quelle renamed it as the Revueflex 1000S or the Revue Superflex TTL. Porst, meanwhile, sold it as the Porst Uniflex TTL. It can also be found badged under the Riaflex TTL name.
And if you’re wondering why this camera looks so similar to the Ricoh Singlex TLS… it’s the same camera.
Read more:
Chinonflex TTL profile on Camera-wiki
Chinonflex TTL manual on Butkus.org
Chinonflex TTL on Collectiblend
Chinon M-1 (1972)
The Chinon M-1 resembles two of the better-known Chinon models that would come later on in the 1970s – the CE Memotron and the CX. It’s a more conventional-looking SLR than the Chinonflex, with the shutter button and ASA moved to the top plate, next to the rather imposing prism. The M-1 is not a small camera, and the robust 70s construction is not skimpy on the metal.
Like the M-1, the Chinon has a vertical-travelling metal shutter running from 1s to 1/1000 (plus B of course) and has a TTL meter operated with a switch on the side of the lens. The Px625 battery is only needed for the light meter; otherwise the camera is completely manual. The M-1 has stop down metering but auto diaphragm operation, meaning
Like many of Chinon’s robust 70s SLRs, this camera was enthusiastically rebadged by photo chains wanting to tempt beginners with an SLR outfit. In the UK, Dixons rebadged it as the Prinzflex M-1. In the UK, you can sometimes still find these for £10-£20 if you’re lucky; an SLR for the price of a roll of pro-level film. In the US it was also rebaged as the GAF L17.
Read more:
Chinon M-1 profile on Camera-wiki
Chinon M-1 manual on Butkus.org
Chinon M-1 on Collectiblend
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
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