Kowa SW – Risk and Reward on Cát Bà Island

I thought I was about done buying cameras until I laid eyes upon the handsome Kowa SW. I’d even made a post about it in my nerdy camera group on FB: “I quit.” Sleek and minimalistic, it looks like a body that could be made for a digital camera today. Its face is basically just a punchy 6-element lens and a chameleon eye for a viewfinder. It has the contours of a sandwich in your hand – somewhat thicker in the middle where all the stuff is and tapering out towards the edges. Good thing the body is covered in a textured grip – it damn near slips out of my hand as it is. Between that and only one year in production, I guess that’s why you don’t see many of these around.

I didn’t just buy it for its spartan good looks. 28mm is one of my favorite focal lengths. Great for landscape and more intimate people pics can still look good even if you crop them. And although I’ve always been intrigued by it, I’m also the kind of cautious, pedantic and meticulous photographer that needs to be forced into scale focus photography. I’ve always winced at the words “acceptably sharp”. Even when I set my other lenses to hyperfocal and try to shoot my way though a roll, I always find myself trying to fine tune for perfect focus, not trusting “the system”.  This excessive preoccupation has surely resulted in a lot of missed good shots. 

The Kowa SW forces my hand. While it does have a fully adjustable focus barrel, there’s no reassuring focus patch of any kind in the viewfinder. There are click-stops at 1m and 3m, though. 3m and f/8 are in red. With these selected, everything from 1.5m to infinity should be “acceptably sharp” (involuntary shudder) – and this is clearly how the SW was meant to be shot. Zone focusing at its purest: simple, fast, and liberating. Pop in any 400ISO roll and you’re probably good to set-it-and-forget-it on a decently bright day. I’ll spare you the rest of the dry specs on this model. They can be found elsewhere easily. 

On the gamble of the purchase…

Somewhat more interesting is how I acquired it. I bought it on Buyee Japan, a realm of many camera bargains, lots of which are listed as “broken” or “for parts”, ostensibly to avoid liability – but I know a deal when I see one. Plus, I live in Saigon and I got a guy. If something shows up not-quite-right, he can usually get it working. The real question was – if I buy this thing, which is in Japan, what are the chances that it will ever actually end up in my hands in Saigon, Vietnam? The native mail system is not totally reliable – packages do end up missing, damaged, lost, or stolen – and subject to weird regulations, as you will see… but the price was right and sometimes I permit myself a gamble just to spice up my life.

About two weeks after purchasing the Kowa SW, I got an email from the Saigon central post office that said:

1. Your camera has arrived.
2. It’s illegal to import used cameras.
3. Come to the central post office.

My first thoughts were the same as yours. Namely:

1. It’s illegal to import a used film camera??
2. If I can’t have my camera, then why TF do you want me to come to the central post office??

I raced there straight after work. It was clear across town. A trim and neatly uniformed, middle-aged office matron brought me into a cramped, run-down room with marks on the wall, a drippy ceiling and shabby office furniture. She flopped open a massive white plastic binder onto the desk, flipped through entire sections of ancient photocopied pages and eventually tapped a ruler on some faded Vietnamese text. I had no idea what it said. She spoke decent English and said, “You see? Not permit import used electronics.”

“But it’s NOT ‘electronics’!” I pleaded, hitching my hopes to a technicality. “No batteries! No electricity! Fully mechanical! It doesn’t even have a rangefinder patch!”

I was LOOKING at my box – just an arm’s length away. It had just arrived allllll the way from Japan after two weeks of traveling – and now they were just gonna – what? NOT give it to me? Send it back?? Or worse – gulp – destroy it?? Would I even get a refund?

It happened to be the last day before the biggest holiday – lunar new year – where people pour out of the cities and into the countryside to spend time with their people. Exchange gifts. Eat. Drink. Karaoke. Give money. 

Her look softened – “OK – you pay tax. I give you discount. You pay tax 3,000,000 Vietnamese Dong.”

That’s just over $100. The cost of my Kowa SW had instantly almost doubled.

I tried to pay with my card, but no… she wanted good ol’ non-traceable cash. I went out into the sweaty late afternoon to find an ATM. The post office closed in 45 min. One after another, six ATMs in a row didn’t work. I finally succeeded in withdrawing cash and ran to the post office just before they locked the doors. 

When I arrived, the matron was nowhere to be found. A different uniformed lady brought out my package and placed it on the counter before me. She appeared unaware that she was supposed to collect “tax” from me and simply smiled and walked away. I looked at the box. I looked around. I looked at the receipt – no mention of “tax”. I turned and looked at the stairs.

I grabbed the box and literally ran down the stairs and out of the building, unsure if I had just been given a break, been forgotten about, or if I had just stolen something from the Saigon central post office. I kept looking back for several minutes after exiting the building and walking suspiciously briskly far, far away…

Gambling had worked out so far…

Cat Ba is an island a few hours east of Hanoi. The center of it is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and the main attraction of the island, famous for its ever-dwindling population of golden-headed langurs and constant, near 100% humidity. The next day, I was heading there for some hiking and sweaty sightseeing. I had planned to submit the Kowa SW to my local guy for a CLA while I was away. I didn’t even know if it really worked. The shutter fired at all speeds. Who knew if they were accurate. I was going to bring my reliable ol’ Minolta CLE and two lenses on this trip – the stock 40mm and a Voigtlander 28mm – but just as I was about to pack it, my recent gambles had emboldened me to risk further – aw what the hell!… I loaded the Kowa up with my favorite low speed film – Ilford Pan 100 – and threw it in the pack instead. I also brought a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400 to see how this lens would render color.

I took the Kowa SW on a 12km hike across the middle of the island and around the coast, snapping carelessly away. 

I’d read that with a leaf shutter like this, if you’re uncertain of the accuracy of the shutter speeds, you’re best off keeping it at 1/125 – so that’s what I did and adjusted aperture around that.

You can see some overexposure in the center – a common problem with leaf shutters that are sluggish due to gummed up lubricant.

Look at the detail on those pineapples!

Here is an occasion where I set the focus to 1m and tried to approximate my distance away from the subject as accurately as I could. I’m very pleased with the results – not just “acceptably sharp” – I’d say pretty damn crispy!

I submitted my rolls upon return and was really excited for the results, but tried to keep my expectations near zero. Well, when your expectations are that low, decent shots become all the more satisfying. I plan to submit this camera for a proper CLA soon and look forward to many more rolls of “focusing on subject” more than “focusing on focus”, as this is the only scale focus camera in my collection. NOW I can quit.

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