Owla Camera Info

[drdave@xxxxxxxxxx (David W. Kesner)]

>You know, I've never seen an Owla except in one of Dalia's catalogues... I
>assume they are pretty uncommon?

>If you have a moment, I'd appreciate a "virtual tour" of the camera: glass,
>features, useability, value, etc.

>Thanks!


>Eric G.
>egoldse@xxxxxx

I would be glad to tell you what I know about the camera but that is pretty
limited. I have tried once or twice to get someone to post more, but to no
avail.

The Owla Stereo Camera was made in Japan in (I beleive) 1958. It has a
patent number of 34372. The lenses are 35 mm f3.5 with the wording Owla
Anastigmat 1:3.5 f=35mm and individually numbered. The smallest fstop is 16.
f8 is marked in red. Shutter speeds run from 1/10 to 1/200 and B. Focus
reads from 3 to infiniti with a far (30') medium (10') and near (6') arrow.
The viewfinder is top center and has a built in bubble level (fluorescent
green liquid). There is no rangefinder. There is a plain flash shoe on top
with a pc connect on the bottom front. There is a sync-switch for flashbulb
(F) or electronic strobe (X). It also has a frame counter on top. The
shutter is cocked with a little slide screw on the top of the lens housing.
The shutter release has a housing around it that can be screwed off and
replaced with an adapter for a cable release. Inside, one of the frames is
notched to identify one of the pairs.

As far as value goes??? My wife bought the camera and a Delta Stereo Viewer
from a local used camera and repair shop for around $200.00 a year ago last
Christmas. I check with the same dealer a few weeks ago and he looked up the
camera in some sort of collectors price list and told me they are now worth
about $350.00. Dr. T told me that Dalia is selling them for much more than
that (I haven't checked yet).

As far as usability and especially durability I can tell you that this is a
great camera. Most of my photography is done "under" much less than ideal
circumstances. Of the eight or so rolls of film I have shot so far all but
four shots have been underground in caves. These vary from bone chilling ice
caves to dry dust bowls to slimey, muddy, wet crawls. The camera is kept in
its original leather case wrapped in a sweatshirt and stuffed in my cave
pack which gets dragged, tossed, and banged around. The camera has not
failed yet except for one time when the small screw that cocks the shutter
came unscrewed. It was a little difficult getting it back in but a touch of
Locktite has solved that problem. All my shots are done on a tripod with the
shutter set on B. I open the shutter, fire the flash as many times as
necessary, and then close the shutter. On close shots I will actually
measure the distance with a tape and use a small fstop to get maximum DOF.
As I said earlier I can get good focus from 12-18" to 4' with f16 and
minimum focus set. I just recently aquired a light meter and will start
taking "normal" outdoor shots soon. I guess this will test whether the
shutter speeds are accurate or not (they do vary in length when viewed
through the back).

I hope this wasn't too much (or too little) information.

*****ALERT NEW ADDRESS*****

David W. Kesner (no I'm not a doctor - just a nickname)
drdave@xxxxxxxxxx


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