Mulber Six
The Mulber Six (マルバシックス) is a Japanese folding camera taking both 6×6 and 4.5×6 format pictures on 120 film. It was distributed by Kuwata Shōkai between 1935 and 1939.[1]
Contents
General description
The Mulber Six is a Baldax copy. It is thus a vertical folder, unlike most 6×6 models. It has a folding optical finder on the left of the body (as seen by a photographer holding the camera vertically) and the advance knob on the opposite side. There is a cross engraved in the finder's front element and indents in the four corners to indicate the 4.5×6 frame size. The back is hinged to the left (holding the camera horizontally). The front leather is embossed Mulber Six.
The original model
The original model has no body release and an everset shutter. In an advertisement dated December 1936[2], it is offered in the following variants:
- Eclat 75/4.5 lens, 5–150 shutter (¥60);
- Eclat 75/4.5 lens, 2–250 shutter (¥65);
- Eclat 75/4.5 lens, 1–300 shutter with self-timer (¥75);
- Lausar 75/4.5 lens, 5–150 shutter (¥65);
- Lausar 75/4.5 lens, 2–250 shutter (¥70);
- Lausar 75/4.5 lens, 1–300 shutter with self-timer (¥80).
The shutter plate is marked Patents~Pending at the top and perhaps COMBUR or KOMVUR at the bottom.[3] This rip-off of the Compur name is completed by a logo on the right of the shutter plate, maybe an intricate "F" and "B", obviously made to look like the FD logo of the true Compur shutters.
The second model
The second model[4] has a setting shutter. A release lever is attached to the shutter plate and the latter is marked MULBER at the bottom. This model appears in an advertisement dated July 1937.[5] Another advertisement dated October 1937 shows the full range of variants. The list is the same as above, except that the 2–250 shutter option has been replaced by a 1–300 shutter (without self-timer). The prices are unchanged.
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
- ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341. Lewis, p. 53, confirms the 1935 release date.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
- ↑ The advertising picture seems to read "Combur" and one example has been observed at a Yahoo Japan auction with an Eclat 75/4.5 and a 5–150, B, T shutter that reads "Komvur".
- ↑ It is called "Mulber Six II" in Kokusan kamera no rekishi (item 259) but the advertisements observed only say Mulber Six.
- ↑ Advertisement published in the 14 July 1937 of Asahi Graph, reproduced in this page at the Gochamaze website.
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
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