[KOML] KO History

[pjcaplow@sprynet.com]

Clive wrote:

The 100 or Rapid-Omega handles a lot better than the 200 or M.  You have no
separate dark slide to consider (big advantage), there is a knob which when
turned operates an internal dark slide allowing lens changes mid-roll.
There are also fewer places for potential light leaks.

Clive:

I recently handled an old Koni-Omega Rapid which did have the built-in dark 
slide operated by a knob as described above.  However, by the time this camera 
evolved into the Mamiya produced Rapid-Omega 100, it had a removable dark slide 
just like the Koni-Omega Rapid M or the Rapid-Omega 200.  Other difference that 
I noticed between the later cameras and the Koni-Omega Rapid were as follows: 

1) The little door for the film reminder tab did not cover the back latch but 
was instead near the upper left side of the back.

2) The grip was much thinner and not adjustable.

3) The focus knob was much thinner.

I also saw an older KO Rapid M whose grip was a different shape than mine and 
not adjustable.  There may have been other differences as well but I only had 
these cameras in my hands for a short time.

Before that I had assumed that the KO Rapid was as closely related to the RO 100 
as the KO Rapid M is to the RO 200.  Now for some questions:

1) I read somewhere that the Omega was designed prior to WWII.  Is this true?  
Was a camera built to this design prior to the war?  In what ways did the 
original design differ from the later models?

2) I have also read that cameras were produced in the 50's by Simmons, in the 
U.S.  Were they called just Omega or Simmons-Omega.  How did they differ from 
later models and was there just a single model?

3) Were the later KO Rapid's just like the KO Rapid M except for the magazine 
back or were they always like the one that I described above?  Did early KO 
Rapid M's differ from the later ones?

4) When was the magazine back first introduced?

5) When did production start for the Simmons-Omega?  How about the Koni-Omega's? 
Did the KO Rapid come out before the KO Rapid M?  (I think the RO 100 and 200 
production started in the early 70's.)

6) Has anyone ever put together any sort of Omega history?


Peter Caplow