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2026-09-29 Regula Cita III Camera

This complete blog was downloaded from — //camera-wiki.org/wiki/Regula_III_series
The Illustrations are from our camera.
Our next blog will be how we attempted to fix our camera’s shutter. 
 
Regula Cita III

Manufacturer: King
Date of Production: 1956
Type of Camera: Rangefinder
Film Type: 35mm
Lens: See description
Shutter:         Prontor-SVS
Shutter Speed range: 1s-300 + Bulb
Focus areas:         1m-Infinity
Viewfinder: Yes
ASA/ISO Range: 10-3200
Size (w*h*d):         130mm x 85mm x 70mm  (5 x 3.3 x 2.8 inch)

    The Regula Cita III is a fixed lens rangefinder camera based on the Regula IIId. It is in essence a fixed lens Regula IIId. There are three versions of this camera, the difference between them is the lens used, either a Steinheil Cassar 45mm f/2.8, Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8 or the rarer Enna Ennalyt 45mm f/1.9. It has the same light meter, rangefinder and shutter, though it lacks the f/22 setting of the IIId. The viewfinder in the Cita III is the same as the IIId with a small circular focus spot and no frame markings.
The rangefinder control is similar to the previous generation Cita camera where the focus ring is mounted behind everything next to the camera body. This makes using it quite awkward as at either end of the focus scale (1m or inf.) your fingers tend to block either the viewfinder or rangefinder windows.
    

    The camera has a light meter made by Gossen and it reads using the EV System The light meter has a flap covering it (missing on this camera), in bright daylight situations you keep the flap closed and take a reading, when using inside or darker condition open the flap. The meter dial can be a little confusing to read, when the flap is up use the orange numbers on the meter (the metal flap has a little orange notch on it when open to remind you presumably), when it is down use the white numbers on the dial. On the aperture ring there are red numbers from 2-18 (these are EV values), take your number reading from the light meter and line up the red arrow with the red number using the meter reading, this will give you the exposure required for the shot. When the value is set it limits you to a particular set of shutter speeds/apertures that correspond to that EV value, this lets you adjust for depth of field without affecting the exposure of the shot.

Lens 1:         Steinheil Cassar 45mm f/2.8 (Camera Shown)
Lens 2:         Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8
Lens 3:         Enna Ennalyt 45mm f/1.9
Shutter:         Prontor: SVS - Bulb, 1s, ½, ¼, ⅛ , 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/300th.
Apertures: f/1.9 or f/2.8 to f/16 in 1 stop increments
Light meter:   Gossen selenium type, EV 2-18
Self timer: Yes, around 10 seconds, use V mode switch on the lens
Flash:         PC socket on the body, flash synchronization at all speeds, 
                        X and M modes
Filters:         30mm push-on
Strap lugs:     No, best to use the                                        camera's ever-ready style                            case's lugs

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