End for Maplins?

[Geoff S]

Posted by Denis Watkins on 04/03/2018 10:18:32:

The Russians did copy the Leica, with the FED, but using German optics meant it was a class act, despite being a relatively rough copy

I still use my Practica JR, they are making a comeback

Pictures were a bit more " considered " when you knew that you had only 24 or 36 frames to go.

Now we can click clack 500 digital off over Barkston weekend

I've still got a Zorki 4k which is a range finder type camera but with interchangeable lenses. It's Leica copy and the lenses have a Leica thread. I had some quite good results from it. AFAIK it's still working. I think I bought it s/h from Dixons in Derby for about £20.

When I was still living at home over the shop I had a dark room right next door to my bedroom so I could stagger out after a long session doing enlargements or developing film and drop straight into bed In fact I proposed to my now wife in the darkroom. I always claim the safe light colour confused me - she denies it

Geoff

[kc]

The lenses of post war British cameras were actually better than the German in some cases. Taylor,Taylor Hobson on the Reid and on the Microflex ( branded Micronar) were the finest lenses around. At some time during the Korean war photographers bought Canon (Kwanon) lenses in Japan and found they gave superior definition when tested on lense testing charts so the rumuor was the Jap ones were better. Those in the know realised it was just the new Jap lens coatings gave more contrast, and that German Leica lenses gave equal results in practice as they gave a better tonal range ( due to contrast) and were easier to print from in the darkroom.

The Ross lenses were very variable in quality - some good, a few poor.

Tony, were the Reids made only from war reperation equip? I thought they started making them during WW2 as Leica were obviously not available.but needed.

[Tony Harrison 2]

Posted by kc on 04/03/2018 11:19:09:

The lenses of post war British cameras were actually better than the German in some cases. Taylor,Taylor Hobson on the Reid................[snip]...........

Tony, were the Reids made only from war reperation equip? I thought they started making them during WW2 as Leica were obviously not available.but needed.

kc, agreed - the UK optical industry was and possibly still is very advanced for industrial purposes, but for various reasons this did not extend into consumer goods such as cameras after WW2 - or the 1950s. My first enlarging lens was a Reid, bought s/h very cheaply, and it was excellent, at least as good as the Rokkor & Nikkors I owned subsequently.

My reference to those Reid cameras relies on information I discovered at the time about war-reparations kit taken from Germany - this was the early '70s and I knew people with long and expert knowledge of such things. I have no idea whether these started to be made during WW2, though obviously we had a large and advanced camera/optical industry then so it's clearly possible. But anyone who's handled a Reid III sees immediately that it's almost identical to a late-model Leica III... Lovely camera, wish I had one.

Your reference to coatings: yes, and my very first 35mm SLR was a 1940s vintage Exakta of advanced specification - far more camera than I needed, and it wasn't in good shape! An excellent camera - but the lens was rubbish, a f1.9 Primoplan (IIRC), very fast for its day but with little or no coating! Hopelessly prone to flare, and rubbish with colour film. I swapped it for a Praktica Nova II, f2.8 Domiplan lens, E.German, cheap 'n' cheerful, far better than anything made in Russia. Around 12-15 years ago I dug out some b/w negs shot with it and scanned them: one shot, taken at a big rock festival in 1970, made one of my best-ever stock image sales, $800, used on the cover of some European IT company's annual report! Vastly more money than the camera cost originally... There you go.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Paul Marsh]

...Seemed to have gone off topic - about cameras, now, although Maplin don't really sell cameras...

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I'd used Maplins by mail order many times over the years and it was a revelation to be able to have a browse around when they opened a shop in Ilford in the late 80s which was just within the area I covered at work. However, over the years and as they expanded, they became less and less competitive with, in my opinion, a great deal of overpriced rubbish wasting valuable (i.e. expensive) retail space, often in awkward to access town centre premises.

When I've needed small components recently I've found RS Components to be useful with free next day delivery/no minimum order for even the smallest order negating their higher cost (than Ebay etc.)

On the subject of cameras, I had (still have) a Zorki 4 which seemed to my amateur eyes to give excellent results. I "upgraded" to a Zenit E for the benefits of having an SLR before moving to an Olympus but it never gave the same image quality. After a speculative experiment, I ended up using the lens from the Zorki in my Russian "suitcase" enlarger where it worked much better than the supplied enlarger lens!

[kc]

Tony, you might be right about Reid, it seems the drawings and patents were acquired after the war according to wikipedia but they don't actually mention machinery. As with other things the Germans just didnt bother and just went on to produce a better model - the Leica M3 etc- which had a more modern spec including bayonet lenses & lever wind.

I don't think the only good Leica copies were British........Canon made some (branded Kwanon) and they were highly regarded especially the lenses. Nicca and also Tanak seem to have made decent copies too. The Fed were real copies originally and were fairly good. Zenith were fairly good as well.

All this may be off topic but it's interesting! And it caused me to find camera wiki of which I was previously unaware so it is worthwhile to some.

[Tony Harrison 2]

Posted by kc on 04/03/2018 14:12:40:

I don't think the only good Leica copies were British........Canon made some (branded Kwanon) and they were highly regarded especially the lenses. Nicca and also Tanak seem to have made decent copies too. The Fed were real copies originally and were fairly good. Zenith were fairly good as well.

Never heard the name Kwanon before, but I recall the Canon rangefinder cameras from late '50s to early '60s - seen a very few in former times, very good indeed, excellent lenses too, used IIRC and valued by reportage/war photographers. I wouldn't call them Leica copies though, different lines altogether - maybe this Kwanon was something else...

[Tony Harrison 2]

Posted by Martin Harris on 04/03/2018 13:53:16:

I'd used Maplins.... over the years and as they expanded, they became less and less competitive with, in my opinion, a great deal of overpriced rubbish wasting valuable (i.e. expensive) retail space, often in awkward to access town centre premises.

Latter point: when Maplins opened (or perhaps it was relocated) their Exeter premises, quite a good sized shop, I was baffled by its location! Out of the town centre on Alphington Road, a very busy road with minimal footfall, an obscure little car park round the back that wasn't obvious to passing trade... Never had many other customers on my few visits. Big mistake by someone in management, I reckon.

[kc]

Kwanon was the original name of Canon see this article - changed to Canon in 1935. I certainly saw a photo of a Kwanon branded Leica copy in some photo mag back in the 1960's or 70's. - quite possibly in the USA Popular Photography when they did an article on the great Leica collector who had an example of every Leica ever made.

[Former Member]

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[cymaz]

With all the camera talk, perhaps someone should take a photo of a Maplins before they’ll all gone

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I wonder why they're in trouble? They are advertising cameras at £119.99 that have a RRP of £109.99 according to Amazon, who will sell you the same camera for £88.50 including free delivery.

[Nigel R]

"When I've needed small components recently I've found RS Components to be useful with free next day delivery/no minimum order for even the smallest order negating their higher cost (than Ebay etc.)"

www.bitsbox.co.uk have been quite good for a few 'pick and mix' type orders I have done. They don't have a massive range of semiconductor stuff but they have enough to get most home projects done.

[Geoff S]

I remember RS when it was called RadioSpares and the catalogue was a few sheets of paper. The rep used to come to the shop and we'd spend an hour chatting in the workshop. When I worked in the Murphy Radio service department we removed all RS parts that had been put in by the dealer who'd sent us the radio because he couldn't fix it and replace them with our stuff Must have cost a bomb to the customer. The radios were all thermionic valves - no transistors in those days - or very few.

RS have changed quite a bit (a lot) because now they deal with the public which wasn't the case some years ago when they only supplied companies who had accounts with them. They are certainly the source for a lot of electronics (and other techie things) now that mail order vis the web is so prevalent. It's that more than anything that's killing the high street and, in this case, Maplins.

Toys R Us lived by the sword, too, when they killed off the high street toy shops of the type I patronised as a child, now they, in their turn, have died by the sword of the internet. Plus ca change and all that!

Geoff

Geoff

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Fascinating as the camera stuff is chaps - it is very off topic! Normally we wouldn't worry too much in the case of a tread such as this, which is not in the "heartland" of aeromodelling anyway, but the danger is of course that the thread simply meanders on from topic to topic in a never ending stream of consciousness! That's not good for indexing and finding things again!

So, can we keep to the topic please which is the demise of Maplins and in a wider sense the demise of the retail outlet. If we're done with that for now then just let the thread slide down the board gracefully to a natural death!

If you want to discuss older cameras full of eastern promise, you are of course most welcome to start such a thread in the "chit-chat" section.

BEB