Kolt
The Kolt is a Japanese subminiature camera made by Okada in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
Description
The Kolt takes ten 14×14mm exposures on 17.5mm paper backed rollfilm. From a distance, it looks very similar to other Hit-type cameras, but it actually has a much better finish. There is a top housing covering the whole length of the camera and containing the viewfinder in the middle. The advance knob is on the left, as seen by the photographer, and has a red arrow inscribed at the top. The right part of the top housing has a KOLT CAMERA logo. The back is hinged to the right and is locked by a spring-loaded latch on the left. It contains a single red window, protected by a sliding cover. The bottom plate has no tripod thread; on at least some examples, it is engraved MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN.
The shutter is everset and has 100, 50, 25, B speeds set by an index at the top. The shutter plate has a silver background and is inscribed KOLT at the top and OKAKO at the bottom. The lens is a Kolt Anastigmat f/4.5, and the aperture can be set from 4.5 to 11.[1]
Paraphernalia
The Kolt was sold with a brown leather case, embossed Kolt at the front, in a blue box marked KOLT MINIATURE CAMERA and OKAKO.[2] At least one edition of the user manual, curiously titled "Explanatory note for Kolt camera", gives the maker's name "Okada Optical Industrial Co., Ltd.", a translation of Okada Kōgaku Seiki K.K. (whose name was often abbreviated to Okako); the document also mentions the Waltax as a higher class product made by the same company.[3]
Notes
Bibliography
- Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 5048.
The Kolt is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.
Links
In English:
- Kolt at Submin.com, with a reproduction of an English user manual
- Kolt at Subclub.org
In German:
- Kolt among miniature cameras at www.oldcameras.at