CARENA
Porst was a German photographic distributor and marketer. They
rebadged and sold cameras from a large number of camera manufacturers, and
one of these was Seagull. There were a couple of Seagull DF-300-type
cameras that were sold, mainly in France, under the Carena
name.
Carena DF-300
In terms of features, the Carena DF-300 is just a Seagull DF-300 -- with the Carena name -- which is just a variant of the Minolta X-370/300. But the Carena DF-300 has one "feature" that no other Seagull SLR has. Although the camera only came in a chrome version, the face plate under the name is black, not chrome.
It has speeds of 4 - 1/1,000 (in auto mode) and 1 - 1,000 (in manual mode), plus B. It features TTL metering, and the camera can be used in manual, metered-manual, or aperture-priority automatic exposure modes. A shutter speed scale with LED's is displayed in the viewfinder. Like the Minolta X-370, the Carena DF-300 lacks a stop down button and PC connection. There is a motor-drive connection, however, which can accept the Minolta auto-winder G, as well as several Chinese auto-winders which offer single or continuous operation -- similar to, but not as fast as, the Minolta Motor Drive 1.
Carena SX-300 (model 1)
Apparently, Carena or Seagull wanted a more distinct name for the camera, so it was changed from "DF" to "SX". Maybe someone simply thought the new name was SXier. The Carena SX-300 is just a Carena DF-300 but it came in two versions -- just like the Seagull DF-300. The first model was covered in leatherette. But unlike the Seagull DF-300, It was only available in black
And it had the same cable release, but no DOF button or PC conection.
Carena SX-300 (model 2)
This model saw the same changes to the body as the Seagull DF-300 (model 2), such as a rubberized covering.
It did have a dedicated hot shoe.
And it accepted a power winder.
The back was changed to include a film window and a thumb grip.
Carena also made a CX-300 (left, below) , a 100SX, and a 1000SX (right, below) -- probably just to confuse things -- but all of these used the Pentax K-mount.
Carena SLR cameras are often seen with Exakta lenses, but there are
numerous lenses with the Carena label as well -- from wide-angle to tele-photo.
The vast majority of these have a 42mm screw mount, but several had
a Minolta SR, MC, and MD mount, such as:
There probably were others. Some were obviously made by Seagull, such as the 50mm f1.8 below, but others were undoubtedly made by other firms.
| Shutter | Shutter speeds |
Flash synch speed |
TTL meter- ing? |
ISO settings |
Auto expo- sure? |
AE lock? |
View- finder info |
Flash shoe |
Sensa- switch? |
PC plug? |
Multi- expo- sure? |
Cable release plug? |
Stop down button? |
Self timer? |
Mirror lock-up? |
Motor drive option? |
Battery used for |
Film indicator |
|
| Carena DF-300 | cloth, horizontal |
4-1,000 B |
1/60 | Y | 12- 3200 |
Y | Y | Shutter speed scale |
Dedicated | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | Y | meter | Tab holder |
| Carena SX-300 (Model 1) |
cloth, horizontal |
4-1,000 B |
1/60 | Y | 12- 3200 |
Y | Y | Shutter speed scale |
Dedicated | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | Y | meter | Tab holder |
| Carena SX-300 (Model 2) |
cloth, horizontal |
4-1,000 B |
1/60 | Y | 12- 3200 |
Y | Y | Shutter speed scale |
Dedicated | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | Y | meter | Tab holder |