Omega Family

The Simmon Bros Omega 120 of the 1950s (first two photos below) is a classic American-made 6x7 camera from New York. The story is that when Simmon found they couldn't make a successor competitively, they handed over manufacture to Konishiroku (Konica) in Japan, who transformed it into the successful series of Koni-Omega Rapid press cameras. The third photo shows the first (1965) model Koni-Omega Rapid. This was succeeded by the Rapid M (next photo), with a new quick-change magazine which could be swapped mid-roll. The final third generation models were the Rapid Omega 100 and 200 of 1975 (subsequent photos below), by which time the whole design was becoming rather out of date.

In between came the 1969 Koni-Omegaflex M, which is the one of interest to my collection and subject. Although apparently a competely different format of camera, this is essentially a reclad Rapid M with a separate twin viewing lens and screen, along with a number of special attahcments, including a reflex viewer which (just) allows it to part-qualify as a TLR.

The definitive page on this series is Peter Lanczak's site. This site includes details of two badge-engineered Rapid variants sold only in Japan as "Konica Press" models.

I have an early Rapid model in my collection, and it is a solid, reliable press-type workhorse.