Canon / Bell & Howell Auto 35 / 28 Focusmatic

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About Canon / Bell & Howell Auto 35 / 28 Focusmatic

Although the "new" Canonet 28 is an incredible camera, this group is not about that camera - this group is about the Bell & Howell Auto 35 / 28 Focusmatic.

This camera is a variant of the Canon Canonet family, and a sibling of the original Canonet 28 - it is listed in the Canon Camera Museum.
www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/film/data/1966-1975/19...

A very simple "Vietnam" era Japanese (for export only) camera that sports an obsolete shoe for flash cubes. Despite not being able to use the flash, it is still nonetheless an excellent camera that takes incredible artful pictures. The camera is boxy, sturdy, and ergonomically challenged, resembling a rectangle with sharp corners covered with leatherette-but that's wherein its charm lies.

The joy of this camera comes from handling it, it's heaviness, the old fashioned mechanical sound it makes when the retro modern film advanced lever is wound, and the very traditional camera "click" when the shutter button is pressed.

I don't expect too many members who join this group to actually have this Bell & Howell Auto 35 / 28 Focusmatic because although it seems many where sold outside Japan, I have never heard of it. Maybe it's rare? But if you do have one, or know of one, and have used it, please by all means join. Even if you don't have one, please still join and look, and try to buy one on Ebay. They are not that expensive.

The Canon Camera Museum online describes the camera in the following manner:

"Based on the Canonet 28, this camera was made for Bell & Howell which was Canon's distributor in America at the time. The camera had Bell & Howell's needle-aligning delta rangefinder which employed a triangulation system. The lens was then focused by aligning another needle at the moving needle's position. It was a simple rangefinder system. Since the rangefinder used a triangulation system, it was called a delta rangefinder."

www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/film/data/1966-1975/19...