I haven’t found the detailed information of this xihu 80mm 1:1.8 lens, and I haven’t even found much detailed historical information about his manufacturer. In many cases, the information on domestic cameras and lenses is harder to find than foreign ones. . .
Xihu brand cameras (lenses) are produced by Hangzhou Camera Factory. Hangzhou Camera Factory was established separately from Hangzhou Optical Instrument Factory in October 1960. This lens is from Dong Chunli, an old lens enthusiast. This xihu 80mm 1:1.8 lens is a large aperture industrial lens. Numbers begin with YCZ. This is a fluorescent screen camera lens (I don’t know the specific function), with 6 lenses in the front and rear, that is, 12 lens structures, which are very rare. The machine was originally used in the Oriental TV factory, as well as the camera body and the 135 back and the 120 back. At the same time, the manufacturer of the fluorescent screen camera is not the previous Hangzhou Camera Factory, but produced by the Hangzhou Institute of Photographic Machinery (see below for information)
Hangzhou Camera Factory History and Product Age
In 1959, Hangzhou Optical Instrument Factory successfully trial-produced the “Qianjiang” brand 120-type simple camera.
In October 1960, Hangzhou Camera Factory was established separately from Hangzhou Optical Instrument Factory, and started to develop Hungarian “Cat Momita” 35mm small head-up viewfinder camera.
In April 1961, the “Momita” 35mm small head-up framing camera trial-produced by Hangzhou Camera Factory was successful and named as the West Lake brand.
The West Lake brand prototype was produced in 1959 by the public-private joint venture Hangzhou Optical Instrument Factory. The appearance of the West Lake brand prototype seems to be exactly the same as the Hungarian-made cat rice. The only difference is whether the viewfinder frame is recessed or not. The former is flat, and the latter has a recess in the middle. Take a pool in the middle of the three pools in the West Lake and the moon, and the two words West Lake are formed on the left and right sides of the pool. In 1961, several more cameras were assembled using redundant spare parts, but the trial production was finally stopped completely because the quality was not good enough.
In 1972, Hangzhou Camera Factory (in preparation) and Harbin Camera Factory (in preparation) respectively introduced the development and trial production of two 35MM head-up viewfinder cameras, “West Lake PT-1” and “Swan PA-35”.
In May 1974, the “West Lake YC-1” dual-lens reflex one-shot camera and black-and-white one-shot photographic paper developed by Hangzhou Camera Factory were successfully trial-produced.
In November 1976, the “West Lake PT-1 Type” 35MM head-up viewfinder camera developed by Hangzhou Camera Factory was officially put into mass production and supplied to the market.
From Yu Zemin’s Development History of China’s Photographic Machinery Industry
in addition
Hangzhou Institute of Photographic Machinery has also produced and sold Xihu brand cameras (Xihu AE rangefinder cameras)
Remarks: According to Mr. Zhuang Keming’s book “Chinese Camera”: West Lake AE was developed and produced by Hangzhou Camera Factory in 1985. However, the manufacturer on the product certificate attached to my Westlake AE is Hangzhou Institute of Photographic Machinery. In addition, the lens of this West Lake AE is an irreplaceable Hongmei 26/2.8 lens. The Hongmei camera is made in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Is there any connection between the two?
See the article: Camera Collection via Eyes https://www.sohu.com/a/162429260_822443
Hangzhou Institute of Photographic Machinery, established in 1978, is an industry focal point and a research institute for scientific and technological development in China’s photographic machinery industry. Our institute is located in the north of the beautiful Xizi Lake, adjacent to Zhejiang University and Hangzhou High-tech Development Zone, and the collaboration and communication are very convenient. Our institute covers an area of 38,000 square meters (57 acres), with a construction area of 20,000 square meters. The institute is shady with green trees, soft grass and pleasant environment, which is very suitable for the research and development of electronics, optics and instrumentation industries. Our institute has set up national camera quality supervision and inspection center, national standardization technology of photographic machinery, “Camera” magazine, China Office of Photographic Machinery Association and other industry management service departments. research and development projects. The special lens engineering center includes the development department, the optical plastic department, the optical cold processing department, the comprehensive department and other subordinate departments, with strong product development and production capacity. In recent years, our institute has expanded technical exchanges and cooperation with domestic and foreign counterparts, breaking through the original scope of photographic machinery research and production. In addition to traditional camera lenses and viewfinders, we have also developed and produced various slide projector lenses, LCD/ LCOS large-screen LCD rear projection TV lens, projector lens, video camera lens, microscope (telephoto) magnifying glass, scanner lens, digital camera lens, zoom monitoring lens, and various spherical and aspherical plastic lenses, with strong The design, development, and manufacturing capabilities of optical lenses, especially in the development and manufacturing of aspherical plastic lenses, have obvious advantages.
sample
The sample is from Yu Laojiao, an old lens enthusiast, and the copyright of the photo belongs to the original author. The center of the oscilloscope lens is of better quality, and the edge effect is very artistic. Especially the bridge, the blurred feeling of the bridge in the distance is very good.
