Semi Sport
The Semi Sport (セミスポーツ) was a 4.5×6 folding camera introduced by Fujimoto in 1940. The body was a copy of the Ikonta A. There was a folding optical finder, a body release and one red window in the back, at the bottom left, protected by a sliding cover. The folding struts were engraved SEMI SPORT in some sort of logo. It is said that Fujimoto also made the Semi Prince, another copy of the Ikonta.
The Semi Sport was advertised during the war (see here, wartime post 1942) with a selftimer equipped Rapidex T, B, 1–300 shutter and a choice of three lenses:
- 7.5cm/3.5 Lucky Anastigmat, for ¥188
- 7.5cm/4.5 Lucky Anastigmat, for ¥142
- 7.5cm/4.5 Laack Regulyt (probably: 3 unreadable kanji characters followed by ラックレグリット), also for ¥142
A case was available for an additional ¥7.7.
The front leather was usually embossed Semi Sport, as in the ad's picture. This marking is absent from the example presented at Japan Family Camera, maybe its leather covering is not original.
The Semi Sport has been observed various times with the 7.5cm/3.5 Lucky Anastigmat lens and the Rapidex T, B, 1–300 shutter, and it has been reported at an eBay auction with the same shutter and a 7.5cm/4.5 Laack Regulyt lens.