Japanese subminiature on cine film (edit)
8mm film Camera "A" | Camera-Lite | Echo 8 | Kaitenkei
9.5mm film Doryu 1 | Fujica 8×11mm SLR | Yashica Atoron
16mm film Albert | Beauty 16 | Bell 16 | Bell Kamra | Binoca | Camera "B" | CM-16 | Cyclops | Dan 16 | Darling-16 | Doryu 2-16 | Fujica 16mm SLR | Gemmy | Glico Pistol | Konan-16 Automat | Mamiya 16 Automatic | Mica Automat | Micta | Minolta-16 | Minolta-16 EE | Minolta-16 MG | Minolta-16 MG-S | Minolta-16 P | Minolta-16 Ps | Minolta 16 QT | Mycro Super 16 | Mykro Fine Color 16 | Nice | Nikon 16 | Poppy | Ramera | Ricoh 16 | Ricoreo 16 | Rubina | Rubix | Seiki 16 | Seiki 16 (pistol) | Shaty 16 | Sonocon 16 | Spy 16 | Steky | Golden Steky | Teleca | Viscawide-16 | Yashica Y16 | Yashica 16 EE | Zany | Zuman Super 16 | Zunow Z16
unknown Matchbox camera
roll film and other film see Japanese roll film subminiature
110 film see Japanese 110 film

The Zunow Z16 (ズノーZ16) is a subminiature camera made in limited quantities by the Japanese company Zunow in 1959.


The Zunow Z16 has a bar-shaped horizontal body, similar to other 16mm subminiature cameras of the 1950s and 1960s. It is said to take 10×14mm pictures on 16mm film stock loaded in Minolta-16 cassettes.[1] Most of the camera is chrome finished, but the front face is made of black plastic.

The camera has an exposure meter at the left end (as seen from the photographer), with a selenium cell behind a honeycomb-patterned window, and a disc at the top to read the meter's indications. The viewfinder is on the same side, buried between the exposure meter and the main body. The rest of the top plate is probably hinged upwards for film loading. The film advance mechanism is unknown, and no advance control is visible on the pictures known so far.

The fixed-focus lens sticks out of the front plate. It has no marking, but some sources report 23mm focal length.[2] Two wheels, placed above the front plate, control the speed (B, 50, 100, 200, on the right) and aperture (from 3.5 to 11, on the left). The shutter is synchronized for flash, and there is a PC socket on the front plate, next to the viewfinder window. The square release button is next to the speed setting wheel, towards the right end of the body.

The camera name Z16 is inscribed in white on the front plate, and in smaller red letters on the exposure meter. The company name Zunow is engraved on the top plate in black letters.

Commercial fate[]

It is said that the Zunow Z16 was designed around 1959, only one year before the Zunow company went bankrupt, and that it was never commercially released.[1]

At least two surviving examples are known: one is pictured in Sugiyama (item 5162); the other is the property of a Japanese collector and is pictured in the AJCC website.


  1. 1.0 1.1 Sugiyama, item 5162.
  2. Focal length: Sugiyama, item 5162, and various websites.


The Zunow Z16 is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.


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In Japanese: