Adler

This page only deals with the 4.5×6 models. See also the Adler Four (4×4 model), the Adler Six (6×6 model) and the Vest Adler, a possible name variant of the 4×6.5 Vest Olympic.

The Adler (アドラー) are a series of folding cameras sold from 1938 by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō (now Ricoh), or by its depending company Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō. They were not made by Riken itself but bought to other manufacturers. A number of 4.5×6 models exist, all of them vertical folders.

Original documents

A 1938 document by Riken lists the following Adler cameras:

• Semi Adler (¥60);
• Adler A (¥90);
• Adler B (¥65);
• Adler III (¥75).

It is said that the various Adler models listed in this document were sold by distance sale, with 10-month credit loans.

The Adler A, Adler B and Adler III were also featured in the new products column of the October 1938 issue of Asahi Camera, where they were perhaps attributed to Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō.

The Adler cameras were mentioned in an advertisement dated February 1939 for ¥60 and more.

The official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941 has many models:

• Semi Adler (¥62);
• Adler A (¥85);
• Adler AII at two places (¥85 and ¥98);
• Adler B (¥74);
• Adler C (¥85).

The Adler CII was offered in an advertisement dated January 1941, with a four-element 75/3.5 lens, T, B, 5–150 speeds and a body release which automatically retracts inside the body when the folding bed is closed. The latter feature is typical of the BB Semi First, and perhaps of the U Semi First as well. It is thus probable that the Adler CII is a rebadged variant of these cameras.

The official price list dated November 1941 has an Adler B and an Adler CII.

It seems that none of these documents shows a picture of the Adler models. The descriptions below are based on the observed surviving examples. It would be logical that the various names correspond to the different bodies, but nothing is clearly known. It might be that the model names and prices were dictated by the lens and shutter equipment, mounted on whichever body was available.

Rebadged Collex

Some Adler cameras are rebadged versions of the Collex. They have scissor struts inspired by the Zeh Goldi 3×4 camera, a tubular optical finder and two red windows in the back, protected by sliding covers, to control the film advance.

At least one of these cameras is known with the name Adler A embossed in the front leather. It has a Peerless shutter (5–200, B, T) and a lens reported as an Adler Anastigmat 7.5cm f/3.5. Another example is known with the same lens and an Automat shutter (5–150, B, T). A third example is known with the same lens and a Rulex shutter (5–200, B, T) by Neumann & Heilemann.

According to Kokusan kamera no rekishi, probably based on the October 1938 article in Asahi Camera, the Adler A has a tubular finder, a Ukas 75/3.5 lens and a Peerless shutter (T, B, 5–200). The lens name was probably switched at some time from Ukas (the same lens name as the Olympic cameras) to Adler.

Ikonta copy

Picture courtesy of Dave Metcalfe. (Image rights)

Some Adler cameras are Ikonta copies. They have a folding optical finder, a body release and an advance key. They might be rebadged Semi Lucky, supplied by Fujimoto.

Three examples have been observed, all of them having a Perfekt shutter (5–250, B, T) by Neumann & Heilemann and an Adler Anastigmat f/4.5 lens. One of them, pictured in this page, has the name Adler B embossed in the front leather.

According to Kokusan kamera no rekishi, probably based on the October 1938 article in Asahi Camera, the Adler B has a body release, a Ukas 75/4.5 lens and a Fiskus shutter (T, B, 25–150).

Baldax copies

The Adler III

The Adler III is a Baldax copy according to the picture shown in Kokusan kamera no rekishi and to the text of this page of the Ricoh official website. However the picture displayed on the latter page does not show a Baldax copy but a copy of the Welta Perle (early 4.5×6 model), like the Semi First by Kuribayashi. This is probably a mistake. Both cameras pictured have a folding optical finder. Kokusan kamera no rekishi attribute the Adler III to Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō, and says that it is featured in the new products column of the October 1938 issue of Asahi Camera, like the Adler A and B, and that it is also advertised in the April 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, apparently by Ueno Shōten.

There is some confusion about the lens and shutter equipment. Kokusan kamera no rekishi mentions an Adler 75/4.5 lens and a Peerless shutter with T, B, 5–200 speeds, but also says that it appears in the book Kamera Zukan by Sugiyama and Naoi with an Ukas 75/4.5 and a Rulex B shutter with 1/5 slower speed setting. The page of the Ricoh official website mentions an Adler 75/4.5 triplet lens and a Rulex shutter in #0 size, with three blades and T, B, 5–150 speeds, while McKeown mentions an Ukas Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens and a Heil shutter with T, B, 5–200 speeds. To add to the confusion, the example pictured in Kokusan kamera no rekishi has a shutter plate marked HEIL.

In conclusion, it is probable that all the Adler III variants have a 75/4.5 lens, first called Ukas and later Adler. They have a shutter with T, B, 5–150 or 5–200 speeds, sometimes the Rulex by Neumann & Heilemann and sometimes called Peerless or Heil. Maybe they are only rebadged variants of the Rulex.

It is probably the Adler III that was advertised in Britain in 1938 as the Semi Adler, together with various Olympic cameras. The advertisement is inserted by Asahi Bussan, the distributor of the Olympic, and it does not mention Riken. The camera is a Baldax copy with no body release and a folding optical finder on the right of the body, similar to the Adler III pictured by Kokusan kamera no rekishi. It is embossed Adler in the front leather and has an Ukas Anastigmat f:4.5 lens and a T, B, 150-100-50-25 shutter marked New Olympic with the AB logo for Asahi Bussan, as on some Olympic models. The same advertisement says that shutters with T, B, 1–250 speeds and f:3.5 lenses can be supplied on request.

The Adler CII

The Adler CII is advertised in January 1941 by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō, together with the Gaica II and the Roico II. It is offered with a four-element 75/3.5 lens and a T, B, 5–150 shutter, both with unspecified name, but it is not pictured and no price is mentioned. The advertisement says that the shutter release automatically retracts into the body when folding the bed.

This page of the Ricoh official website says that the Adler CII is like the Adler III with a body release, the finder on the opposite side of the body, an Adler 75/3.5 triplet lens and a Peerless T, B, 5–200 shutter. It shows a picture of a Baldax copy with both the folding optical finder and the body release on the left side of the body, the same side as the winding knob. The same source gives the year 1938, and the original price of ¥58.

A camera identified as an Adler CII has also been reported with the Peerless T, B, 5–200 shutter and a 75/3.5 Solar lens in this page of the Photoethnography 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 4–7. (See also the advertisement for item 53.)
• "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 3, sections 4A and 5B.
• Template:Kakaku1940 Type 3, sections 3A, 4A, 5A and 7A.
• 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). P. 828.
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Items 1028–30.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Rikō kamera no nagare" (リコーカメラの流れ, Evolution of the Ricoh cameras). 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.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 8–11.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Senzen no kamera 2: Supuringu kamera" (戦前のカメラ2・スプリングカメラ, Prewar cameras 2: folding cameras). 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.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 16–9.
• The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, edited by Arthur J. Dalladay, published by Henri Greenwood & Co., Ltd., London. Advertisement on pp. 694–5.

Links

In English:

• Adler C at Photoethnography

In Japanese:

• Ricoh camera list at the Ricoh official website, with:
  • Adler A & B
  • Adler III
  • Adler CII
  • an article about Riken wartime camera names
• Adler B page and repair notes at Japan Family Camera
• Advertisement for the Riken camera range (on the left) published in the 26 February 1939 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website