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4x5 version, very nice...

Zhang,

Do you know the BJ photography/businessman Zhang Hek (<-- eat in chinese) who constantly featured in Photography Companion Magazine?

He plays with Alpa and Linhof 617, he made great use with VF cameras...

I still have many toys. Cameras, watches, and microscopes, etc. I also collected some coins and sea shells. Usually, I do not touch those antiques and stones as most of them are fakes.

Here is a clear image of the rare Chinese Zijinshan. A copy of the Russian Zenit 135 SLR. But built in FED 2 body, instead of Zorki I like the Zenits. Less than 1,000 cameras were made, and a better example demands RMB 8,000 or more.

See… http://www.novacon.com.br/odditycameras/zijinshan.htm

Also an image of a Chinese mini microscope for military use on battle fields.

Qingdao-6, a German Optima camera assembled in China. Its lens has lanthanum elements, and it is quite sharp. It is a good camera for tourists.

A black Peafowl with a microscope adaptor. These were called "black diamonds" by users in some foreign countries. It is built like a tank. The 58/2 Zeiss Biotar copy normal lens is very sharp.

Early version was called Panda that is an uncommon camera with provision for a motor, DOF preview, flash contacts for X, FP, and mirror lock-up.

A Shanghai 58-2 with a wrong S/N. All Shanghai rangefinder cameras with a S/N that starts with 58XXXXX. Only some 1,100 Shanghai 58-1s were made. This camera looks more like a Leica III F. However, some 58-1s has no strap lugs.

Meili - Meili is "beautiful" in English. Alpa copy, LOL... Will

Make in the city south of SH.

The Red Flag 20 is actually a copy of Leica M3 and M4, and possibly the only one in the world. Mao's wife, Madam Jiang was very keen on photography. She worked as an actress in Shanghai in 1930s and had several affairs with some stars of that period. During the Cultural Revolution, Madam Jiang's role was mainly to control the arts movement for the campaign's propaganda. Being loyal to Mao, she took a quite number of Mao's portraits and published them under different pseudo-names. When the then Iranian king visited China, Madam Jiang was presented with Leica M3 as gift which she adored immensely. In 1970s, production of sophisticated cameras was regarded as a symbol of a country's industrial strength, particularly for developing nations. And also in the 1960s and 70s, China was pursuing an economic policy of absolute self-reliance and attempted to produce anything it needed. Against this background, Madam Jiang ordered the copy production of Leica M3 and gave her M3 to Shanghai Camera Factory to dissemble. The copy production of Leica M3 was a huge challenge to China's manufacturing industry. Every parts of the original M3 were measured and then hand-copied. Many institutes, universities and research centres were involved in the process and special glasses were imported from East Germany. The first batch of Red Flag 20 kit came out in 1973 with three lenses, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4, 90mm f2, exact copies of Summilux and Summicron. But the Shanghai Camera Factory also made some modifications, including the back-door film loading mechanism. However, the production cost was unsustainably high. So only a total of 187 cameras rolled off the production line. The quality of the Red Flag 20 is said to be a long way behind Leica but is of great collection value due to its rarity and special history. photocrazy

Zhang posted a photo of this camera some months ago, I have a twin together with the original invoice.
Any information would be appreciated. malaguista