The prototype adopts the bayonet of Leica M3, and the positioning distance of the membrane surface of the fuselage is exactly the same as that of Leica M3, which is 27.8±0.02mm ... In other words, the lens of Leica M3 can be installed on Hongqi 20, and the performance is completely matched. This is slightly different from another domestic Hasselblad Dongfeng camera.
In addition, Red Flag 20 has a small opening cover on the back of Leica M3. After opening the bottom cover of the film, you can lift the cover, enlarge it with a lamp under a suitable light source, and focus on the ground glass for close-up photography. Shutters are b,1-11000 seconds and X( 1/50 seconds). Self-timer delay is 8- 12 seconds. The viewfinder has four kinds of variable bright frames: 50mm, 35mm, 90mm, 135mm and overlapping focusing windows. Neither the trial product nor the later official product has a lens of 135mm f/2. Although Red Flag 20 is based on M3, it still refers to the excellent design of M4, which is different from M3. First, the transition shape of the red flag 20 from the front to the side is angular, and m is an arc shape that has been consistent for decades. Second, the rewinding button was changed to a folding crank, and M3 rewound the rewinding with a handwheel. Thirdly, the viewfinder design and supporting lens specifications are more like M4, and 35mm f/ 1.4 wide-angle bright wireframe framing tips are added. The standard lens is no longer the 50mm f/ 1.5 and 1.4 of M4, and the imitation 35mm f/ 1.4 wide-angle lens is also based on Hongqi 20. Fourthly, the design of the photosensitive memory disk of Hongqi 20 is coaxial with the rewinding handle, and it has a bunch of flowers and positioning beads, which is superior to M3 in handle and convenience. 197 1, hongqi 20 was officially put into production, and the small back cover was replaced with the new M4 back cover structure, and the large back cover was more convenient for film loading. After formal production, the back cover of Hongqi 20 was directly changed into the back cover. This is the main difference between the trial product of Hongqi 20 and the official product.
When Hongqi 20 was put into production, it was a planned economy supply system, and its products were mainly distributed to Xinhua News Agency and other central news organizations. At that time, the cost of one machine and three mirrors exceeded 2000 yuan. Official products have appeared in Hong Kong photographic equipment exhibition and light industrial products exhibition for many times. At that time, the price of one machine and three mirrors was more than 3,000 Hong Kong dollars. FAW-20 process is relatively complex, with high performance requirements, high cost and narrow domestic market demand. By the end of 1970s, the mass camera market with high profit margin rose. According to the scale of domestic news organizations, it was originally planned to produce 200 cameras. Results When 1979 was discontinued, there were only 50 official cameras. In this way, during the ten years of 1970- 1979, including the intermittent trial products of Hongqi 20, there were only 60 models, which is probably one of the least models produced by camera manufacturers all over the world imitating Leica models, and the only M-series copier in Chinese mainland since the birth of Leica M-series. It is worth mentioning that Hongqi 20 is different from another domestic Hasselblad Dongfeng camera. It starts with the year of production in the fuselage number of all products. For example, the fuselage numbered 7002 is the prototype produced by 1970.
Before M3 was born, there were as many as 72 kinds of Leica cameras copied all over the world. After M3 was born, imitators realized that their imitation standards were far from each other, such as manufacturing accuracy, optical materials and processing technology, so they stopped copying the new Leica model and turned to the direction of cooperative development with Lai Ci. For example, Minolta CL, Leica CL and Minolta CLE jointly produced by Japanese Minolta and Lai Ci are attempts in this respect.
Hongqi 20 camera is a model copied by Chinese people and has been improved. Therefore, if Red Flag 20 is not the only copier in Leica M series, it is also rare. This is not surprising. It has attracted the attention not only of China camera collectors, but also of foreign camera collectors. 1990 or so, the price of a red flag 20 and a standard lens in foreign second-hand markets is only 1 10,000 yuan. At present, in Beijing, the fuselage price has soared to 30,000 to 50,000 yuan. The price of one machine and three mirrors with good appearance has exceeded 90,000 yuan.
Although the lenses of Hongqi 20 are made of imported advanced optical materials, they are all designed and manufactured in China. Its three lenses, 50mm f/ 1.4, 35mm f/ 1.4 and 90mm f/2, were jointly designed and developed by the Institute of Optical Precision Mechanical Instruments of China Academy of Sciences at that time and Shanghai No.2 Camera Factory. They were made of optical lens blanks of Beijing Glass Factory aided by East Germany at that time, and were finely polished. At that time, the institute gathered a group of optical experts who returned from overseas, not only designed lenses not inferior to Leica at that time, but also. 1958, the institute developed a large aperture lens of f/0.8. It can be said that the starting level of China's optical industry at that time was not much worse than that of Japan. This is why some Red Flag users in China still insist that their Red Flag 20 lenses are of higher quality than Leica lenses. This is also related to the habit of domestic photographers to judge the quality of the lens by resolution. In fact, the lens resolution of Hongqi 20 is also excellent, and the resolution of both the center and the edge can be comparable to that of Leica's M lens with the same specifications. The standard lens of 12 main and auxiliary blades has the same high precision and excellent defocusing imaging effect as the standard lens of Leica M. However, other performance indicators of the Red Flag lens, such as color reproduction and light transmittance, are slightly different. Taking Hongqi standard lens as an example, compared with Leica lens of the same specification, the light transmittance is about 1/3 exposure, and the transmitted light is slightly yellow. However, these lenses were made by China people themselves, and they were the top quality lenses of domestic 135 cameras at that time. They are also treasures sought after by collectors at home and abroad, and together with the fuselage, they have become the "second collection" of mainland cameras. The development of industry depends on the accumulation of technology, which comes from the inheritance of industrial culture and the tempering in market competition. Of course, not all industries take this road, such as aerospace and military industry. When positioned at the level of national strategy, these industries may achieve leap-forward development after having certain conditions (including political will, economic foundation, knowledge reserve, etc.). ), but this is obviously not the normal development path of a country's overall industrial structure. Camera manufacturing is a high-end industry integrating precision instrument manufacturing, precision electronics and optics, but at the same time it is an industry that must rely on the market to develop and grow. Most cameras are ultimately consumed as consumer goods, so the development of the camera industry cannot be expected to be supported by the state from a strategic perspective. In other words, as a country with weak industrial culture, it is impossible for China to develop a camera industry with technological competitiveness at this stage, but we have indeed developed a huge camera manufacturing industry with the advantage of labor (of course, the technology belongs to others).
In fact, German cameras have been copied by many countries, but the starting point of plagiarism is different and the final result is different. But there is a basic law that the more countries accumulate industrial civilization, the higher the level of imitation; The more you experience the imitation of market competition, the more you have the stamina for development. You can give an example.
The Soviet Union is a big imitator of German cameras, and it is very strong in the field of optical basic research, but its industrial tradition is weak. It can do several brilliant things with a highly centralized system, but it has no strength in everything. The Soviet Union's imitation of German cameras is basically subtraction imitation, that is, removing those difficult movements and leaving the simple ones behind. This is also a helpless move, after all, the technical foundation can not be reached. Fortunately, in World War I, the Soviets transferred all their German property. Under Stalin's personal concern, the most successful imitation of the Soviet Union-Kiev 4 appeared. But the system decides everything. Without the test of market competition, Kiev 4 is just a flash in the pan. The original Kyiv -4 camera was completely assembled with captured Kangtaishi parts under the supervision of captured German technicians, and the product quality was the best among Kyiv models. With the use of German parts, the quality of Kiev cameras began to decline. In the end, the whole camera industry in the Soviet Union did not improve, and finally it was reduced to the point of distributing goods.
As the birthplace of the industrial revolution, Britain has a fine industrial tradition and naturally has its own characteristics in copying German cameras. Britain used to be a big manufacturing country, but it was gradually overtaken by Germany from the end of 19. Personally, I think the decline of British manufacturing industry is largely due to the fact that the British are not good at finding a balance between quality and cost. It can be said that in some industries, German manufacturing has the same influence on British manufacturing as Japanese manufacturing has on German manufacturing. To put it bluntly, competitiveness means technological advantages plus cost control, or it is in a monopoly position in any aspect. After World War II, European countries lacked national strength and had to implement strict foreign exchange control to restrict German cameras from entering Britain. But British society (especially the defense and scientific research departments) needs excellent cameras. There is no way. Britain, which pursues trade liberalization, has to make its own cameras in order to save money. The imitation model is Leica 3B. After all, ginger is old and spicy. Unexpectedly, the imitation made by the British suddenly went too far. Reed camera actually surpasses Leica in technical level, material and performance, but the cost is very high. With the implementation of Marshall Plan, the economic situation of European countries improved obviously, and foreign exchange and export controls were cancelled. The British are not good at cost control, and the road of imitation didn't take long. The famous Cook lens is still polished by the grinder designed and manufactured by 19 13, which shows its profound industrial accumulation.
Japan should be the country with the most industrial tradition in Asia. Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan decided to learn from the West respectfully in industry and introduced a very important system-market competition. It can be said that Japan's camera industry started from learning from Germany and competing in the market. The former provides technical accumulation for the Japanese camera industry, while the latter allows the Japanese camera industry to see the development direction clearly. It is in these two aspects that Japan has formed its own advantages. After the end of World War II, Japan quickly seized the big customer of the United States. Although the product quality is different from that of Germany, the price advantage can be fully compensated. Different from the imitation of the Soviet Union, the imitation of Japan is addition, constantly trying to add new functions on the basis of the German prototype. With the increase of technology accumulation, technology is becoming more and more mature. As a result, the original masters have fallen, but Japan has become the overlord of the camera industry. Even today, Japan's camera industry is still adhering to the tradition of attaching importance to technology research and development and mutual competition (German companies pay special attention to avoiding mutual competition), thus becoming more and more brave.
Finally, back to our Red Flag 20. In the early 1970s (197 1), the only Leica M copier in China, Hongqi 20, was born. It has the same range linkage interchangeable lens system, similar mechanical structure and the same lens holder as the prototype. In addition, the output of each camera is very small, which makes Hongqi 20 camera the pinnacle of traditional manual paraxial camera manufacturing in China. Therefore, Saburo Lutian, a famous Japanese AJCC camera collector, gave a high evaluation in his book The Story of Classical Cameras in China. The first phase started from 1956, and seven camera factories were established in Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Harbin and Hangzhou. 1956, the "Dalai" brand camera came out. 1958, Beijing copied the former Soviet Union "Zhuoerji", Tianjin copied Germany "Artesa" to form the happiness-1 model, and Shanghai copied "Leica"-1 model to form the Shanghai 58- 1 model. After mass production, it was changed to Shanghai 58-II, and Shanghai Zhao Chang also developed Seagull 4. 1964, Shangzhao Factory began to develop the Seagull DF 135 SLR camera, imitating Minolta SR- 1, 197 1 year and began to sell it. 197 1 year1month, the seagull DF- 1 came out.
In the second stage, from 65438 to 0973, five camera factories were established in Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Dandong and Qingdao, and Harbin Electric Meter Instrument Factory, Jiangxi Optical Instrument Factory, Yong Guang Factory, Guangjin Factory and Mingguang Instrument Factory began to run camera production concurrently. 1973 Five optical factories, including Sichuan Huayun, jointly developed the Pearl River S-20 1 SLR camera, which was finalized in 1978. Harbin Electric Meter Instrument Factory of the Ministry of Machinery Industry also developed Peacock DF SLR camera.
In the third stage, from 65438 to 0978, Wuhan Camera Factory, Ningbo Huaguang Camera Factory, Beijing Huabei Optical Instrument Factory, Nanjing 3304 General Logistics Factory, Northwest Optical Instrument Factory, Henan Guang Yun Factory, Wuxi Huguang Instrument Factory, Hubei Huazhong Precision Instrument Factory, Ningjiang Machinery Factory, Gansu Optical Instrument Factory, Shanghai No.2 Optical Instrument Factory and Shanghai Guangyao Lamps Factory started to run camera production concurrently. 1978, the Instrument Bureau of the Ministry of Machinery Industry set up the joint design group of Phoenix series cameras, and began to develop JG series charged metering or electronic shutter automatic aperture cameras, among which JG30 1 model 1978 started to design, 1979 passed the type identification,198/kloc-. The design of JG302 is based on the electronic program shutter design of Optima 535 camera in West Germany, and the exposure range is EV- 1 ~ 18. JG303M model 65438+ was designed in the second half of 0980, and passed the type identification in March of 0983. The design refers to Pentax ME and Chinon CM4 cameras. Its structure and function have reached the level of foreign countries in 1980s, and it is an updated product of DF camera. The standard lens with 50mm/F 1.4 aperture is 1 ~ 655. JG304-A model refers to the design of Konica, Ricoh, Fuji and Qinong plastic cameras, with built-in flash. JG304-C is the most common model in 304 series products. Its design mainly refers to Japanese Minolta SD camera, and its internal quality and appearance level have reached the level of Japanese products at that time. During this period, Huashan 35DF-S SLR camera was developed in 198 1 year, and came out in 1985. 1984, the great wall PF- 1 SLR camera passed the design approval; Design and finalization of Seagull DF-3 TTL camera: Mingjia MC-K 1000 and Jindu S-207 were jointly launched by Mingguang Factory and Guangjin Factory. As for the camera specific circuit, the electronic shutter integrated circuit was developed by 65438-0976 in China, and the electronic program shutter integrated circuit was developed by 65438-0980, the 207th Research Institute of Ordnance Industry. The electronic program shutter integrated circuit has been developed by Xiangfan Instrument Component Factory in Hubei, Shanghai Watch Component Factory and Shanghai Radio No.7 Factory. Up to 1983, there are 34 domestic camera manufacturers (including part-time manufacturers), and 45 kinds of cameras have been identified, including 20 kinds of 120 cameras and 25 kinds of 135 cameras. 35 kinds are foreign products of 1950s level, and 10 is an electro-photometric camera developed from 1978. By 1985, the national camera output is 1.8 million. During this period, because the country was in a planned economy for a long time, the domestic goods were in short supply, the camera market was in the seller's market for a long time, and the camera factory was thriving. The camera factory should have taken this opportunity to speed up the development of new products, but ignored the update of camera technology and followed the old rules. During the five years from 1983 to 1987, the camera manufacturers and their camera specifications in China have hardly changed, which made the camera factory suddenly fall into an extremely difficult situation after 88 years.
The fourth stage starts from 1988. During this period, the camera industry was ups and downs, imported cameras were full of parallel imports, camera technology was stagnant, and manufacturers were in a state of groping, wandering and confusion. After entering the "75" period, 135 mechanical head-up camera became a tight commodity in the market, and the demand was in short supply for some time. However, with the improvement of consumers' requirements for camera performance and the influx of imported cameras, electronic automatic cameras with excellent performance are generally accepted, which makes the supply of domestic 135 head-up cameras exceed the demand; In addition, due to the failure to establish basic industries such as raw materials, spare parts, equipment, tools, molds, testing instruments, and related institutions such as scientific research and trial production, education, and industry planning policies, products are irreplaceable and contradictions among varieties are prominent, and manufacturers are in an extremely difficult state. Before 1989, most enterprises in the camera industry invested a lot of money and technical strength to develop plastic cameras, but almost all of them were wiped out. This is mainly because of backward technology, low management efficiency, lax process discipline, irresponsible employees, poor work quality, quick success and instant benefit, and no attention to product quality and corporate reputation. 1989 since the second half of the year, due to the excessive consumption demand of the national macro-control, a large number of smuggled and tax-evaded foreign goods have entered the market, and the sales of cameras assembled by imported production lines have been in trouble.
In the fifth stage, from 1993, the camera industry began to recover and the market competition was extremely fierce. At the beginning of 1992, Henan Huaxia photoelectric instrument factory introduced Huaxia 843 camera on the basis of Huaxia 84 1 camera. The lenses are six-piece, four-group and double-Gaussian symmetrical lenses, and the frequency division reaches the national first-class standard. Electronic photometry adopts micro-integrated circuit, and the whole electronic system is very compact and has multiple exposure function. Seagull ZQ6-35 panoramic camera and QCK- 180 panoramic printer were developed by Shanghai Photographic Factory. 1993, DF-300x was introduced from Shangzhao Factory, and DF-200 and DF-300m were developed and produced on the basis of DF-300. Jiangxi Optical Instrument General Factory has introduced DC838 and DC838AW SLR cameras and Ls930 automatic cameras, and many enterprises have introduced various models of Ls cameras. There have been many joint ventures this year; Jiangxi Optical Instrument General Factory and Taiwan Province Tuohan Co., Ltd. jointly established Jiang Hui Photographic Equipment Co., Ltd., Beijing Camera General Factory and Hong Kong Baoyuan (China) Optical Industry Co., Ltd. jointly established Beijing Zhao Bei Baoyuan Optical Industry Co., Ltd., Changzhou Camera General Factory and Hong Kong Fengda Instrument Co., Ltd. jointly established Changfeng Camera Co., Ltd., Suzhou Camera General Factory and Hong Kong Huabo Industrial Co., Ltd. and other four parties invested to establish Suzhou Yilifa Camera Co., Ltd. Shangzhao Factory cooperates with pryor Camera Co., Ltd., Qingdao Camera General Factory cooperates with Taiwan Province Qingteng Camera Company, and Gansu Optical Instrument Industry Company cooperates with Japanese Pentax Company. 1August, 1994, Zhejiang Shangyu Tieji Photography Center launched "Shenlong" 120 single-lens reflex landline. From 65438 to 0995, the national optical instrument engineering technology research center of Zhejiang University designed FF-222S camera for Korea. 1997, Jiangxi Phoenix Optical Instrument (Group) Co., Ltd. solved the processing problem of key parts of zoom lens: replacing the traditional coating process with optical plane hard film process, applying and popularizing CAD technology, shortening the product design and mold manufacturing cycle, completing major optical transformation, and promoting optical plasticization and non-spheroidization. 1998, Shanghai Seagull Camera Co., Ltd. celebrated its 40th anniversary and launched the digital camera DC-33. Hangzhou Photographic Machinery Research Institute cooperated with Nikon Company of Japan to establish AirAsia Company. During this period, through the adjustment of product structure, the products produced are closer to the market, and the technical content of photographic machinery products is getting higher and higher, which is more suitable for the requirements of consumers. Head-up viewfinder cameras can basically meet the requirements of different demand levels, but at present, the level of SLR cameras is limited to middle and low grade, and some high-demand professional cameras and automatic SLR cameras can not meet the requirements at present. By 1998, according to incomplete statistics, there are11companies engaged in the production of photographic machinery products, 26 camera manufacturers and color film processing.
Shanghai seagull camera factory
1957, Shanghai 58- 1 camera was developed in an attic of Luo Hui Company in Sichuan Middle Road, Shanghai, which opened the curtain of camera production in China. In the early 1960s, Shangzhao Factory designed and produced "Shanghai-4" reflex camera, "203" camera and DF SLR camera, and began to export four models of 1964 120 reflex camera, which changed the situation that cameras in China were only imported but not exported. In the early 1970s, Shanghai Camera Factory was newly built at No.70 Zhongshan East Road, Songjiang. DF- 1ETM built-in photometric camera 1985 was successfully developed; Since then, DF-300 SLR camera has been introduced and produced. After a long and difficult period, 1996 was transformed into Shanghai Seagull Camera Factory in April of 10, and the original Seagull Company was transformed into Shanghai Seagull Camera Co., Ltd. from 1997, forming two series of DF300 curtain shutter and DF200 steel shutter, and developing a series of lenses.
Jiangxi optical instrument main factory
1965 Jiangxi Optical Instrument General Factory was established in Damaoshan District. 1969 after the completion of the infrastructure, it consists of Shanghai Camera No.2 Factory, Shanghai Film Machinery Factory, Nanjing Optical Instrument Factory, Nanjing Surveying and Mapping Instrument Factory and Nanjing Mould Factory. Relocation and reconstruction began with 198 1 loan, and 1988 completed the relocation project from damao mountain District to Shangrao City. The Phoenix 205 camera produced in 1980s sells well all over the country. /kloc-0 developed SLR camera in July, 1990;/kloc-0 developed DC303 SLR camera in June, 1992; cooperated with Seiko Corporation of Japan to produce electronic steel shutter in June, 438+0993; and developed DC8 18 camera and 28 ~ camera in June, 438+095. 1996 developed a disposable camera and exported it to the United States. /kloc-0 ~ DC 828 ~ DC 858 cameras went on the market in 1997. The zoom lens groups are 18-28mm, 28- 105mm, 28- 135mm, 28-200 mm and 28-200mm, which are fully automatic.
Gansu optical instrument industrial company
Founded in 1966, it is a third-line enterprise jointly relocated by Nanjing, Shanghai, Harbin Film Machinery Factory and Shaanxi Instrument Factory. JG304 program shutter camera was produced from 1979, JG series camera from 1988 and PG series camera from 199 1. Ganguang Company has become a first-class super-large optical lens processing enterprise in Asia.
Chongqing Mingjia photoelectric instrument factory
1972 developed and produced Mei Duo brand 135 SLR camera, started to produce S-20 1 camera in the early 1980s, and produced Zhujiang S-207 internal metering SLR camera in the mid 1980s. At present, the research and development of Mingjia MAE 1900 high-grade SLR camera is under way.