Chinon 35 F-A

Photos by JPHB text by Sylvain Halgand. From the collection of JPHB. Last update 2023-03-09 par Sylvain Halgand.

Manufactured or assembled in Japan from 1978 to (After) 1981.
Index of rarity in France: Infrequent (among non-specialized garage sales)
Inventory number: 10583

See the complete technical specifications

Chronology of cameras Chinon

Traduction de P-Y Petit.

The Chinon 35 F-A uses the same flash and lens than the 35 F EE, but the shutter is a little bit different. The real big difference between both cameras is that, even though they share the same dimensions and weight, the 35 F-A is autofocus.

Several LED (light-emitting diode) are found on each side of the finder. Even with the eye stuck to the finder, they are easy to see. On the left side, there is a green and a red LED. On the right one, there is only an orange LED. The orange one lit up when the flash is ready to fire. The red one lit up when the shutter is slightly depressed (it is also therefore a battery control), and the green one lit up when the focus is correct.

The collimated finder has parallax correction. There is also a frame that shows the limits of the Visitronic autofocusing system. When one slightly depress the shutter release, a small needle in the finder goes from the “mountain” symbol to the required focusing distance: the green LED then lit up and one can depress the shutter. The Visistronic system was then upgraded: keeping the shutter release slightly depressed now locks the focusing disctance.
The flash is synchronised for all speeds higher than 1/60th.

Cocking the shutter and advancing the film is done by using the advance lever. Film rewinding is also manual. These functions will be motorised on the Chinon 35 F-AM.