TBT – Miranda Sensorex

Post by Paul Brodek our Used Equipment buyer

These throwback features often feel self-indulgent, in that so many of my youthful objects of lust cross my desk. I get to handle them, photograph them, and write about them. If only Raquel Welch…..never mind.

I first drooled over a Miranda Sensorex brochure back in ’72, held onto it for more than a couple years, but never managed to fondle an actual camera till several years into this century. The Sensorex is another one of those niche cameras, from a small manufacturer, that very cleverly addressed those basic technical hurdles that kept photography from the masses. How can you eliminate the need for a hand-held light meter? Even better, can you meter through the lens? Can you put the light meter inside the body, instead of the finder, so you can change finders without losing the meter? How does the meter in the body know the maximum aperture of the lens so it can meter properly? How can the meter measure light without stopping down the aperture, which darkens the viewfinder and makes focusing at small apertures almost impossible? Is the metering pattern general enough that an amateur can just point and meter, but sophisticated enough to deliver printable exposures despite common lighting problems, like backlighting?  

Then there’s haptics—-can you easily focus, meter, expose and advance film with the camera at eye level? Does loading/rewinding film require more than three hands? Can you change lenses quickly? Can you make a wide variety of lenses available to maximize versatility? They really should be GOOD lenses. Can you easily use helpful attachments like extension tubes or bellows? How about using other manufacturers’ lenses or accessories?

The Sensorex addressed all these issues admirably, at a time when heavyweights Nikon and Canon hadn’t yet gotten there. There’s a crazy amount of really excellent engineering and design poured into the Sensorex, yet Miranda never got the respect it deserved, and both the cameras and the brand languished, then disappeared.

For starters, the Sensorex has in-body, TTL open-aperture metering, with the metering cells behind the mirror and a center-weighted metering pattern. That means wide-open metering with all native lenses and any of the interchangeable finders. Handy rotary switch on the front/left of the body to index maximum lens aperture. Small tab on native lenses quickly mates with aperture lever on body to transmit aperture to meter. A _dual lensmount_, bayonet on the outside for native lenses, standard M42 screwmount internally for all the then-available M42 (Pentax screwmount) lenses and accessories. A purposely designed short lens flange to film plane distance, a dimension often shortened to “backfocus,” allowing the use of many different manufacturers’ lenses with adapters. Kinda like mirrorless cameras today.

All of that’s a mouthful, and more meaningful when compared with contemporary state of the art. The Sensorex hit the market in ’67. The Nikon F in’67 had its meter in the prism, so only the prism finder was metered. You had to preset the lens to a specific aperture when mounting, index the meter by sweeping the aperture ring back and forth, then set the lens to a different aperture to remove it. Same damn drill every time you changed the lens. The film back had to be completely removed to load film. Canon still didn’t have the F1 to market, so no pro-level body with interchangeable finders.

The Sensorex also had some fun weirdness, with the shutter release located on the front of the body. Because a squeezing action to trip the shutter generates less camera body shake than a downward jabbing action. And if you look at the top plate, you’ll see the oversized, easily legible shutter speed dial, and the giant exposure counter. A camera made in 1967 for where my eyes are today! How about the short wind lever, with a short throw, and ratcheted so that it doesn’t just hang out in space if you miss a full stroke? And that very space-age design on the front of the standard eyelevel finder just oozes grooviness. What’s not to like?  

All that, but like Rodney Dangerfield, it got no respect. I’m already out of words here, so ask me sometime to relate the story of Mr. Olden of Olden Camera in NYC, the leak in his warehouse roof, and the pallet of unsold Miranda cameras. Oh wait, I guess I just told you that story.

Our lovely Sensorex, with matching 50/1.9 Auto Miranda standard lens, is just back from service, rated Exc for some cosmetic flaws, and available to be under your Hannukah bush, Xmas tree or other holiday plant for only $189.99.