Tsubasa Super Semi

Japanese Semi (4.5×6)

Prewar and wartime models (edit)
folding
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collapsible
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stereo
Sun Stereo
unknown
Semi Elka \| Semi Keef \| Napoleon
Postwar models ->
Japanese SLR, TLR, pseudo TLR and stereo ->
Japanese 3×4, 4×4, 4×5, 4×6.5, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Tsubasa Super Semi (ツバサスーパーセミ) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera, made by Optochrom between 1938 and 1941.^[1]

General description

All the models of the Tsubasa Super Semi have a horizontal folding body with incurved struts and a film advance key at the bottom right. There is a button on the top plate that looks like a shutter release, but it only opens the folding bed^[2], under which the shutter release is hidden. The back is hinged to the left and has two uncovered red windows to control the film advance. The back leather is embossed TSUBASA SUPER SEMI.

The original model

The original model has a folding optical finder. In the first version, the front part of the finder folds above the rear one, the folding bed release is on the left of the top plate, the two decorative knobs on each end are quite flat. In advertisements dated June^[3] and September^[4] 1938, this version was offered with a Tsubasa shutter giving T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds and a choice of two lenses:

Lucomar f/4.5 (¥45);
Lausar^[5] f/4.5 (¥50).

In an advertisement dated February 1939^[6] the body is similar but only the Lucomar lens is available, still for ¥45. No example of this first version has been observed yet.

In the second version, the folding bed release has moved to the right, maybe to look more like a true body release, and the decorative knobs look higher, with a more conical shape.^[7] This version was offered for ¥50 with the Lucomar f/4.5 lens in advertisements dated April and September 1939^[8]. Actual examples observed have a Lucomar Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens and an everset shutter with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds. The shutter plate is marked TSUBASA SHUTTER at the top, with a NE logo between the two words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom (similar markings are faintly visible in the advertising pictures).

The Tsubasa Super Semi was replaced by the Tsubasa II Super Semi (see below) for a short time in early 1940, but it was sold again from the middle of the same year, in a slightly revised form.^[9] This third version has a different viewfinder, with the rear part folding above the front one. Actual examples have been observed and no other difference is visible. This version was offered for ¥58 with the Lucomar f/4.5 lens in advertisements dated October 1940^[10] and March 1941^[11]. Kokusan kamera no rekishi mentions that the shutter is called Kikō (キコー) instead of Tsubasa in some 1941 advertisements.^[12] Kikō is an acronym of Kigawa Kōgaku, the later name of Optochrom.

The Rondex

The Rondex (ロンデックス) is a name variant of the Tsubasa Super Semi. The camera pictured in Kokusan kamera no rekishi is indistinguishable from the Tsubasa Super Semi except for the presence of an accessory shoe to the left of the viewfinder. The Rondex is attributed to Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten (certainly only the distributor), and it was featured in the new products column of the May 1940 issue of Asahi Camera. The lens and shutter are said to be a Ronder Anastigmat 75/4.5 and a Romper giving T, B, 25–150 speeds. Their characteristics are the same as for the Tsubasa Super Semi, and it is likely that only their names differ.^[13] The Rondex name is certainly related to the Rondo brand used by Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten in advertisements dated 1939 to 1942.

The Tsubasa II Super Semi

The Tsubasa II Super Semi (ツバサⅡ型スーパーセミ) has a direct vision eye level finder and a waist level brilliant finder, both under a short top housing. The rest of the camera is similar to the Tsubasa Super Semi, except maybe the shutter plate markings. It was offered in an advertisement dated April 1940^[14] with a Lucomar f/4.5 lens for ¥60. As said above, this model was only briefly advertised and the original Tsubasa Super Semi appeared again at the middle of 1940, together with more expensive models like the Tsubasa Nettar and the Tsubasa Kiko III.

Records have been found of a past eBay auction with a description probably corresponding to a Tsubasa II Super Semi with an Eagle Anastigmat 75/3.5 lens, a Pisca shutter (1–250) and a Kigawa 3 KOC embossing in the back leather, but no pictures have yet been observed.

Notes

↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 338.
↑ See this page of Aya's camera site.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 78.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in a page of prewar and wartime advertisements for Japanese cameras at the Gochamaze website.
↑ Inferred from the katakana ローザー
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 78.
↑ This version is pictured in Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p. 24.
↑ Both advertisements published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 79.
↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 338.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 79.
↑ Advertisement published in Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 79.
↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 338.
↑ Attribution to Yamashita, lens and shutter: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 344, and McKeown, p. 1020. Mention in Asahi Camera: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 344.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 79.

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 149–50 and 344. (See also the advertisements for items 144, 146–7 and 151–2.)
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. 56 (brief mention only).
McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). Pp. 465 and 1020.
Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten (思い出のスプリングカメラ展, Exhibition of beloved self-erecting cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P. 24.