That is a long name for this amazing camera. I almost passed this one by as I have never heard of the maker, so glad I didn’t. BUT the sticker on the front made me take a second look, 10cm macro. Seriously, that couldn’t be true, 10cm. What camera from the past or present has a 10cm minimum focal length. I thought it must be a translation error.

I had to try it. Once I got it home and took a closer, it was no mistake.

Once a CR123 battery was inserted I tried out the buttons. On the top is a macro button which then moves the lens and changes the settings. Inside the viewfinder are two guides for the different focal lengths. The “U” guide is really small. Holy moly this might just be a stunning camera. But who is “macromax” and where does this camera come from….and does it actually work.

There is very little on the net. A few other examples for sale in the past, with varying prices. The main manufacturer seems to be a company called Goko, which specialises in microscopes. On their historical products page they make this claim…

“These were the world-first and only camera series that provided 10-cm close-up shooting and 3x zoom in a single machine without attachments, which had not then been achieved by any SLR or compact camera….The Japanese Camera Industry Institute (JCII) selected our Z3000 as one of their Historical Japanese Cameras of 2000.”

Impressive, especially as it was over 15 years ago. This site has more technical details.

But did mine work? I decided to test the camera under a variety of condition. I knew of a statue in a dark pace that would make a great subject. It is in a building in a park, a totally opposite kind of environment. Off I trotted. Oh and I took it to Mount Fuji, because I can 🙂

Yes! This camera is AWESOME! It really does have macro at 10cm, I was practically touching that statue. It is just so sharp. If you ever see one of these buy it. Why are Goko not making cameras anymore??