Noble
The Sakura Noble Hand Camera (さくらノーブル手提暗函) or Noble Hand Camera (ノーブル手提暗函)[1] is a Japanese folding camera made from 1908 by Rokuoh-sha, the manufacturing branch of Konishi (predecessor of Konica). It reportedly exists in hagaki (8×14cm) and kabine (12×16.5cm) formats.[2]
Early model, no tilt movement
The Noble was reportedly released in January 1908 in kabine-size.[3] It is a vertical folder, with double extension bellows driven by a small wheel on the photographer's right. The front standard mainly consists of two cylindrical masts, and allows vertical and horizontal movements. The brilliant finder is perched atop the left-hand mast and has a bubble level attached on the side.
An advertisement dated 1908 gives the model name Noble Hand Camera (ノーブル手提暗函).[4] It says that the camera is made of mahogany with aluminium or nickel-plated metal parts, and insists on the small dimensions of the camera (20.3×15.2×4.8cm) and case (22.7×21.2×12.1cm), containing the body and three double-sided plate holders. The following versions are listed:
- Carl Zeiss Ser.IIb No.5a lens, Compound shutter, ¥205;
- Carl Zeiss Ser.IIa No.3 lens, Auto shutter, ¥160;
- Bausch & Lomb Symmetrical lens, Auto shutter, ¥75.
Notes
- ↑ The words tesage anbako (手提暗函) are rendered as "Hand Camera" in the Konishi catalogue dated December 1911. In modern sources, the same words are often translated as "Portable Camera", and the camera is sometimes called "Sakura Noble Portable" or "Noble Portable". The Japanese word anbako, literally meaning "dark box", was forged after "camera obscura" and was used for cameras until the 1910s approximately.
- ↑ The "postcard"-size model is mentioned in Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.
- ↑ Kikuoka, p.30 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, chronology from the official company history Shashin to tomo ni hyaku-nen, reproduced in Tanaka, p.94 of the same magazine, and this page of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology. The date is simply given as 1908 in the chronology at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha (near the top of the page).
Bibliography
- Kikuoka Sei (菊岡清). "Konica history 3. Meiji 41-nen – Taishō 12-nen." (Konica history 3. 明治41年–大正12年. From Meiji year 41 (1908) to Taishō year 12 (1923).) Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.24–32.
- 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). Pp.20 and 24.
- Tanaka Yoshirō (田中芳郎). "Meiji–Taishō jidai no Konishi Honten no kamera wo shiru tame no hon" (明治・大正時代の小西本店のカメラを知るための本, Books about the Konishi Honten cameras of the Meiji and Taishō eras). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.92–4.
The Noble is not listed in Sugiyama.
Links
In Japanese:
- Sakura Noble in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
- Pages of the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website:
- Noble
- Noble in the camera list
Konishiroku prewar and wartime cameras ( ) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plate | hand cameras | stereo hand cameras | strut folders | box | telephoto | SLR |
Idea (original) | Idea A | Idea B | Idea Snap | Idea No.1 | Idea (metal) | Lily (original) | Lily (horizontal) | Lily (metal) | Tropical Lily | Noble | Ohca | Sakura Palace | Sakura Pocket Prano | Sakura Prano | Idea Binocular | Sakura Binocular Prano | Minimum Idea | Idea Spring | Korok | Champion | Cherry | Sakura Army | Sakura Honor | Sakura Navy | Idea Telephoto | Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911) | Idea Reflex (1932) | Neat Reflex | Sakura Reflex Prano | |
rollfilm | folders | box or collapsible | TLR | |||
Pearlette | Special Pearlette | B Pearlette | Pearl (for plates and rollfilm) | Pearl No.2 | Pearl (Year 8) | Baby Pearl | Semi Pearl | Sakura Palace | Record | Sakura (box) | Sakura (bakelite) | Sakura-flex |