Equipment

Posted by icrewzbot

Vivitar V335/Cosina CT-1 EX; K-Mount + SMC Pentax-M 50/1.7 Film Tested Film tested and extensively used by me as a lightweight second body for street photography. Shutter speeds test well, meter is accurate in normal shooting conditions, and the camera operates properly. This is a genuinely used photographic tool, not a vintage camera pulled from storage and merely dry-fired for sale. This may be one of the great sleepers of the late manual-focus film era. A genuine sleeper: approximately 410g, Pentax K mount, fully mechanical shutter to 1/2000, simple LED metering, and Cosina CT-1 EX lineage. I have actually used this camera extensively as a lightweight street/second body. This is not a camera pulled from storage and dry-fired for sale. The Vivitar V335 was manufactured by Cosina in Japan and is essentially the Vivitar-branded version of the Cosina CT-1 EX — part of the extraordinarily long-lived CT-1 family of cameras. And this isn't merely an obscure rebadging footnote. Cosina itself identifies the original CT-1 architecture as the basis from which its later Voigtländer BESSA family was developed. So underneath the humble Vivitar badge is a very simple, very mature piece of Cosina camera engineering. Why I have kept one around for years I have used these cameras extensively, particularly as lightweight second bodies for street photography. The reason is simple: the V335 gets the important things remarkably right while weighing almost nothing. The body weighs approximately 425 grams. Put a small Pentax prime on it and you have a full mechanical 35mm SLR outfit that is remarkably easy to carry all day. Yet despite its weight, the shutter runs all the way to 1/2000 second — something many much more prestigious mechanical SLRs cannot do. And importantly, the shutter itself is fully mechanical. The batteries operate the exposure meter; they are not required to fire the shutter. The exposure system is almost comically straightforward. Three bright LEDs in the finder tell you: + = too much light ○ = correct exposure – = too little light That's essentially it. There are no modes to remember, no menus, no automation and very little between the photographer and the photograph. Set the shutter and aperture until the green LED appears and shoot. It is exactly the sort of simple camera that disappears in the hand. Great street-camera ergonomics This is where specifications don't tell the whole story. The V335 is very well balanced, comfortable to hold and extraordinarily light, with uncomplicated controls falling exactly where they should. I've carried these as second bodies on a lot of street shooting precisely because there is virtually no penalty for bringing one along. With a compact K-mount prime attached, the whole outfit feels more like carrying an accessory than another SLR. The finder is bright and straightforward, focusing is quick, and the LED meter is extremely easy to read without taking your eye from the subject. The Cosina / Voigtländer connection The V335 is Cosina's CT-1 EX architecture sold under the Vivitar name. The significance of that is much more interesting today than it probably seemed when these were inexpensive cameras on dealer shelves. Cosina continually refined the CT-1 family and ultimately used that basic platform as the foundation for the later Voigtländer BESSA rangefinder family. The Bessas are now highly regarded street and rangefinder cameras, but some of their engineering ancestry lies in these wonderfully simple Cosina-built SLRs. This particular camera Cosmetically, this is a particularly nice example and, more importantly to me, it feels excellent in the hand and has proven itself as a real photographic tool. I have owned and shot two of these extensively. This is the nicer of the two examples, and after years of using the V335 as a remarkably light street and second-body camera, I am finally thinning my working gear inventory. The shutter speeds test very well across the range. The very fastest 1/2000 setting runs slightly off nominal, which is not unusual in a mechanical camera of this age, but the shutter otherwise performs very nicely in actual use. The LED meter operates properly in normal shooting light. As is typical of this very simple metering system, it becomes less useful at extremely low light levels, but for ordinary daylight and street shooting I have found it perfectly practical. SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 I am pairing the camera with an SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 rather than an anonymous kit zoom. Attached imagery shot with this lens and this body with Kentmere 400 developmed in FA 1027 1+14 This is a classic compact Pentax prime: fast, sharp, small and extremely well suited to the lightweight V335 body. Together, the body and lens weigh only about 595 grams. The lens is particularly clean. Local Cash pickup in Murray Hill. Trades? of course. tempt me.....

Oct 22, 2026 $79.00

Location: New York, NY

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