Shanghai
This is the predecessor of the Seagull 4 and granddaddy of all Seagulls. It is a heavy camera made between 1960 and 1964 and feels rather more solid than later derivatives made of thinner metal.
Taking lens unnamed 75mm f3.5
Shutter Chinese script 1 to 1/300
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Seagull 4A-105
Upgraded Seagull with lever advance from the Shanghai Camera Factory. A ubiquitous workhorse, still in production today. Some say its wind mechanism is suspect, but I find it solid.
Taking lens Haiou 75mm f3.5
Shutter Chinese script 1 to 1/300
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Seagull 4A-107 (WWSC-120)
This a later lever-advance Seagull from the end of the 1990s - a slightly modified model sold in the West for some reason under the name WWSC-120. It uses a 3-element SA-96 lens
Taking lens Haiou SA-96 75mm f3.5
Shutter unnamed 1 to 1/300
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Seagull 4A-109
This is the current top-end Seagull model, which I purchased new in box. The 4A-109 is modelled closely on the late-model Rolleiflex, right down to the complex double-folding hood design copied from the later 3.5/2.8 series Rolleis. The lens is a better four-element Tessar type.
Taking lens SA-99 3-G 4-E 75mm f3.5
Shutter unnamed 1 to 1/500
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Hongmei 5
A plastic TLR made in the 1960s in Changzhou, this is very basic, but functional. It was built down to a price, but with a reasonable shutter and lens - not as flimsy as some Hong Kong models.
Lens Hongmei 75mm f4.5
Shutter Hongmei Kuamen 1/10 to 1/200
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Hua Zhong
One of several derivatives of the Seagull 4B, made in Central China somewhere between the 'sixties and 'eighties. It's functional with knob wind, coated lens and a fairly decent shutter.
Taking lens Hua Zhong 75mm f3.5
Shutter Chinese script 1 to 1/500
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Qingdao SF-2
This rare and unusual Chinese model departs from the general run of Shanghai/Seagull clones. It is a sort of Rolleicord/Rolleiflex cross, with knob wind and the two setting wheels straddling the inter-lens gap. The settings show in a window above the viewing lens like Rolleiflexes. It came from the coastal city of Qingdao, and St Denny shows two versions, with the nameplates of both in English. This one with Chinese characters for the name is apparently rarer.
Taking lens SF-2 75mm f3.5 coated 3-element
Shutter SF(?) 1 to 1/500
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Tianjin Eastar
This is another Seagull 4B derivative, very little different from the original. The Eastar was made in the Tianjin factory around 1977 and is very common in China, according to St. Denny.
Taking lens unnamed 75mm f3.5
Shutter Chinese script 1 to 1/300
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Wuhan Youyi
Yet another Seagull 4B derivative, this time made in the factory at Wuhan. Its name means "friendship". Again, apart from the nameplate, there's little distinguishing it from the Seagull.
Taking lens Youyi 75mm f3.5
Shutter unnamed 1 - 1/300
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Pearl River
Another Seagull 4B variant with some better design features, a metal body but some flimsy plastic parts. Made in Guangdong 1960s-80s.
This is, I think, an earlier model, without Bay 1 filter
mounts.
Lens Pearl River 75mm f3.5
Shutter Pearl River 1/25 to 1/250
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Pearl River
(later?)
This is a pretty similar camera to the earlier Pearl
river, but differs by having Bay 1 filter mounts, and a
restyled nameplate. Interestingly, it seems slightly
better made of stronger parts
Lens Pearl River 75mm f3.5
Shutter Pearl River 1/25 to 1/250
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