I recently visited a nearby charity store. At first I didn’t see anything of interest. Then at the back of a bin I noticed a case, possibly empty, possibly not. I took it out, had a look and, lo and behold, an Olympus Mju II DLX!
This is one of my all time favorite cameras. Approx. 136,000 were made between 1954 – 1957. Kodak acquired German manufacturer Nagel in order to produce a camera that could compete with Contax and Leica. A folding camera, it’s gorgeous to look at and small, light and easy to carry
Internet reviews of the Vivitar 35ES seem to agree that it’s a well built camera with a great lens, but which is otherwise uninspired. So why did I get get it?
When I retired in 2012 I was cleaning out my desk and came across a small, plastic camera with the name “Bell and Howell” on the front. I have no idea where it came from, but I suspect it’s the kind of thing that is given away with a magazine subscription. It’s such a famous camera that it doesn’t even seem to have a name – at least I couldn’t find one even after searching on the internet.
