Alexander from Jerusalem knew about my crazy bug with film cameras and tried for a long time to raise my interest in his SLR’s collection. A trip to Jerusalem doesn’t take more than one hour drive from Tel-Aviv, but still, I had no big rush to see a Canon or a Nikon. About a week ago he called me and said he has something very special for me. An SLR I just can’t miss. When I asked which SLR he was talking about, he whispered only one word: “Miranda…”. “Miranda who?” I asked. “Check it out” he said, and the conversation was over. I went quickly to the nearest Internet portal – in this case, my Ayo (That’s how Gefen calls my IPhone), and googled “Miranda camera”. Well, of course I was interested – Miranda is a beauty.

Miranda got me thinking all over again about what is it with old cameras we just can’t resist? Is it the mechanic ingenuity that runs by many small metallic parts as a clockwork and snaps light upon chemical papers? Is it the time-lapse that runs through the tool every time we touch it? Or maybe it’s only the end product that we get after 36 clicking or so? I’m sure it’s all of the above and more… You may add your own likeness to this list. When laying my eyes on Miss Miranda I was aware to the fact that beauty is a very important quality, and was immediately drawn to it. I held Miranda in my hands and was amazed how nice it looked. But it was also very heavy in comparison to other cameras I knew (about 988g with the lens). Well people, what can I say? It ain’t heavy… it’s my camera.

And now for some history if you’ll like: Miranda is a Japanese camera manufactured first in 1955 by a long dead company originally called Orion Camera Co.  A lot of thought and ergonomics went into their line of products, but eventually they didn’t last the race and had to close in 1976, leaving behind enough cameras to fill both collectors and users cabinets. The Miranda Sensorex was manufactured between 1966 and 1972 and considered to be a very popular model at the time. It has two unique features that I find to be very interesting. First, if you consider the ergonometric aspect, is the front-mounted shutter release. It will take you some time to get used to it, since we are so used to the shutter release on top of the camera, but once you’ve got it, you’ll ask yourself why it isn’t more popular in the world. The second feature, even more interesting, is the interchangeable prism allowing you to release the viewfinder and look at the prism from above like you’ll do with most medium format cameras. I, for one, am not familiar with this technique. Getting used to it let you take photos from a lower angle. It’s very confusing shifting and rotating the camera in all directions until you get hold of the opposite way in which you have to grasp the view. Nevertheless, having done just that may reward you with something a little bit different.