A Camera Called Miranda

You might not have heard of the camera brand Miranda before reading the title of this article. It is one of many brands that were lost in the last century but one we can credit with playing a role in refining camera technology. Miranda was formed in the 50’s by an engineer named Ogihara Akira. He specialized in lens adapting and incorporated this principle into the Miranda camera system. During this time, various camera manufacturers relied on screw mounts for their lenses rather than using bayonets. This is why the Miranda mount was engineered to have two lens mounts. Aside from a dedicated four-fin bayonet, the Miranda mount incorporated an inner M44 screw mount. The M44 screw mount allowed users to adapt their M42 and M39 which were popular at the time. Other notable Miranda camera innovations included the adoption of modular camera design. They were the first to introduce a waist level viewfinder to a 35mm SLR camera using interchangeable prisms.

Miranda’s cameras were ahead of their time, but the company specialized in engineering cameras and not optics. To get a proper lens catalog, Miranda partnered with the U.S. trading company called the Allied Impex Corporation, or ‘AIC’ for short. AIC dedicated their business to importing Japanese photographic goods into the U.S. to resell under their house brands such as Soligor.

Soligor was already selling third-party lenses in the U.S. market and solely focused on marketing while collaborating with various Japanese optics manufacturers such Kawanon, Kobori, Komine, Sun Optical, Tamron, and Tokina to create lenses. This partnership helped Miranda sell a complete camera kit in the states under the Miranda-Soligor name.

By the 1970’s the Miranda brand was failing due to strong competition from Nikon and Canon. Miranda failed to innovate further and Soligor itself was being outcompeted by it’s manufacturing partners who started selling in the U.S. independently. What we are left with is an interesting set of lenses made by various brands. The Miranda Soligor lens worth finding include anything made by Tokina, Tamron, and Komine. The serial numbers you want to look out for go as follows:

We can recommend these lenses as they sport good optics for the price. The Miranda Soligor 50mm f1.9 and f1.8 are two we can recommend for your collection. The versions we had both have a serial number that indicates they were made by Tokina. Although soft wide open, both lenses had low chromatic aberration and amazing bokeh for price. If you find one for less than $30 it most likely has a broken aperture mechanism, so the lens is permanently at its widest. That was the case for the 50mm f/1.9 version we had on hand. Later versions that do not feature a shutter release arm tend to have better mechanical build quality over the earlier versions.

Miranda should be on your list if you’re into collecting niche lenses or if you’re a fan of the specific manufacturers involved in the Miranda venture. Below are some sample images taken with the 50mm f/1.9 for your reference. If you’re interested in adapting Miranda lenses to your camera system, click the link here to view our compatibility.