Chronology of the Chinon brand
Manufactured in Japon from 1990 until after 1990.
Index of rarity in France : Rare (among non-specialized garage sales)
Sold listing on Ebay.com
Inventory number: 7641
See the complete technical specifications
This is the north American version of the Chinon GS-9. It is an SLR without any of the useful features of an SLR. It is entirely automatic, large, heavy, clumsy, expensive, and designed according to the (then) new 'science' of ergonomics. The manual tells us that the viewfinder shows 85% of the actual recorded view both horizontally and vertically i.e.only 72% of the actual frame.
It does not have a hot shoe for a flash, although Chinon offered its own more powerful flash and a 'slave unit' to mount an automatic flash. A shoe on the camera would have been useful, particularly when the built in flash failed; as on this one.
The lens has no real wide angle or close focus capability, but it has a 58 mm screw thread, to which filters, hoods and conversion lenses could be attached. The manual warns that a lens hood might disrupt the automatic focusing and spot focus must then be used. The camera has a large number of complicated settings and adjustments all controlled by a panel located awkwardly on the side.
It is difficult to know who the target consumer was. The whole concept was not so much a 'bridge' as a 'cul de sac' and was quickly abandoned, only to be revived by Minolta and Nikon when Kodak introduced APS film.
(see also Chinon GS-9, Ricoh Mirai, Olympus IS)
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