Photographica Pages

An online guide to collectable cameras and related stuff

Honor SL

In an attempt to make their design more competitive, it was given a cosmetic makeover and some slightly less outdated features. The rangefinder and viewfinder were combined, using a much bigger finder window and a longer base for the rangefinder. The advance was now by lever rather than by knob, and rewinding was done with a folding crank. Overall it gave the camera a much more contemporary look, very similar to the Canon V and L series rangefinders. However, the shutter speeds still had split dials for fast and slow speeds, and the top dial spun on firing, precluding a coupled clip on meter.

Like the S1, most had a top speed of 500, although some are known with speeds to 1000. The serial number range is 90000 to around 90500. Lenses provided were the 50/1.9 Konica Hexanon, and 50/1.9 Honor (probably also made by Konica).

This camera was introduced in 1959, the same year as the Nikon F. The end of the rangefinder era was dawning, and small companies like Zuiho must have had a difficult time finding a market against competitors like Canon, Nikon and Minolta. This was their final model.