Mulber Six
The Mulber Six (マルバシックス) was a Japanese folding camera taking both 6×6 and 4.5×6 format pictures on 120 film. In the ads observed, the company name was Kuwata Shōkai, probably the distributor's name.
The Mulber Six had a vertical folding body, unlike most 6×6 folders. It was copied on the Baldax. There was a folding optical finder, with a cross engraved on the front window and indents in the four corners to indicate the 4.5×6 frame size.
The Mulber Six was advertised in the 14 July 1937 issue of Asahi Graph (ad visible in this page) as a new model, for both 6×6 and 4.5×6 formats. It was offered in two variants, both with an f:4.5 Eclat lens (written エクラ) and a Mulber shutter (exceptionally written マルバー):
- speeds from 1s to 1/300, for ¥75
- speeds from 1/5 to 1/150, for ¥60
The case cost an extra ¥5.
It was also advertised in the Sep 1938 issue of Asahi Camera, together with a 3×4 camera simply called Mulber (3×4). A total of six variants of the Mulber Six were offered, all with a 75/4.5 lens. The lens names were Eclat and another name, maybe Lausar (ローザー):
- Mulber 5–150 shutter, Eclat lens for ¥60 and Lausar (?) lens for ¥65
- Mulber 1–300 shutter, Eclat lens for ¥60 and Lausar (?) lens for ¥65
- 1–300 shutter with selftimer, Eclat lens for ¥60 and Lausar (?) lens for ¥65
The Mulber Six has been observed with a 7.5cm f:4.5 lens and a 5–150, B, T shutter marked Patents~Pending on top and MULBER at the bottom in handwritten style. There was a logo on the right of the shutter plate, with the letters F and D (or B?) mixed in a circle. This logo was obviously intended to remind the Deckel logo present on the Compur shutters.
Another example has been observed with an Eclat Anastigmat 7.5cm f:4.5 lens and a similar 5–150, B, T shutter with the same markings except that MULBER was replaced by KOMPUR, with obvious afterthoughts.
A later camera has been offered for sale as a Mulber Semi. It had a squarer body with different folding struts. There was a small housing containing both an eye level and a waist level finder. The front leather was embossed Mulber. The lens was a Mulber Anastigmat (at least f:3.5 considering the diameter of the front element) and the shutter was a Mulber-Rapid (speeds B, 1s to unknown).
Notes
Bibliography
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Items 258–60. (See also the advertisements for item 261.)
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P. 53 (brief mention only).
Links
In Japanese:
- The Prince Flex page in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
- Old Japanese ads, including the Mulber Six