Semi Frank
The Semi Frank (セミ・フランク) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera, made in 1951 and 1952 by Tōsei Kōki.
An advertisement in the May 1952 issue of the Japanese magazine Camera Fan[1] offers the camera with a Seriter 75/3.5 coated lens and a TKS synchronized shutter (B, 1–200 and self-timer), for ¥9,800.
It is a vertical folder, but the viewfinder is to the right when the camera is held vertically by the photographer, the reverse of the usual arrangement. The viewfinder is contained in a top housing, with the advance knob on the left end. From what can be judged with the small advertising picture, the body and struts look very similar to the Semi Mihama. The advertisement does not mention the maker, and the distributor is Million Shōkai (ミリオン商会). It seems that it was also sold by Endō Kamera-ten[2].
It has also been reported with a Tosei Anastigmat 80/3.5 lens[3] and with a Chibanon[4] f/3.5[5].
Notes
- ↑ Reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 174.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 362.
- ↑ In this web archive link.
- ↑ Inferred from the katakana チバノン.
- ↑ It appears in the book Kamera Zukan by Sugiyama and Naoi, according to Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 362.
Printed 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. Item 783.
- 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). Page 75 (brief mention only).
Links
- Semi Frank (web archive link, Shift-JIS encoding)