Adler
This page only deals with the 4.5×6 models. See also the Adler IV (4×4 model), the Adler Six (6×6 model) and the Olympic page for the Vest Adler, a possible name variant of the Vest Olympic.
The Adler[1] (アドラー) is a series of folding cameras sold from 1938 by Riken or by its depending company Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō. According to the Ricoh corporate site, they were not made by Riken itself but bought to other manufacturers. Most Adler models are vertical 4.5×6 folders.
The Adler A and B
The Adler A and Adler B have a body exactly similar to 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. Kokusan kamera no rekishi says that they are featured in the new products column of the October 1938 issue of Asahi Camera.
According to Kokusan kamera no rekishi, the Adler A has an Ukas 75/3.5 lens and a Peerless shutter with T, B, 5–200 speeds, while the Adler B has an Ukas 75/4.5 lens and a Fiskus shutter with T, B, 25–150 speeds.
This page of the Ricoh official website disagrees on various points. It says that both versions have a 75/3.5 triplet lens, named Adler on the A and Ukas on the B. This is not very plausible, and the lens name was more likely switched from Ukas (like the lens of the Olympic) to Adler at some later time.
The same source also says that the shutters are both everset: a Peerless with three blades and T, B, 5–200 speeds on the A and a Fiskus with two blades and T, B, 25-50-100 speeds on the B. However the Peerless shutter is unlikely to be of the everset type with such a range of speeds, and the Fiskus shutters observed on Olympic cameras have T, B, 25-50-100-150 speeds.
One such camera is displayed in a page of the Japan Family Camera website, with an Adler Anastigmat 75/3.5 lens and a Neumann & Heilemann Rulex shutter with 5–200, B, T speeds. It is presented as an Adler B but is most probably a late Adler A.
The Adler III
The Adler III is a copy of the Baldax, with a 75/4.5 Adler triplet lens and an everset Peerless shutter in #0 size, with T, B, 5–150 speeds. It had a folding optical finder on the left of the body. However the picture at Ricoh's site does not show the typical Baldax struts but other flimsier struts, looking like the struts on the Kuribayashi Semi First. McKeown cites the Adler III with 75/4.5 Ukas Anastigmat lens and Heil shutter T, B, 5–200.
The Adler CII
The Adler CII has better specifications, with a body release, a Peerless T, B, 5–200 cocking shutter and a 75/3.5 Adler triplet lens. The folding optical finder is on the other side of the body, and the struts are typical of the Baldax.
An Adler CII with the Peerless shutter and a 75/3.5 Solar lens has been reported[2].
A Semi Adler is advertised in Britain in 1938[3], looking the same as the Adler CII but with the finder on the left, with an Ukas Anastigmat f/4.5 lens and a 25-50-100-150, T, B shutter marked New Olympic, as on the Olympic models. The advertisement is inserted by Asahi Bussan, the distributor of the Olympic cameras, and does not mention Riken.
McKeown illustrates the Adler with a picture of yet another body, a copy of the Ikonta 4.5×6, with a Neumann & Heilemann Perfekt shutter.
Notes
- ↑ The name "Adler" was clearly used to demonstrate Japan's alliance with Germany. During the war period, Riken often used such names (they also sold a Heil camera), or other "patriotic" names.
- ↑ In this page of the Photoethnography website
- ↑ Advertisement for the Olympic and Semi Adler, published in the 1938 edition of the British Photography Journal Almanac
Printed bibliography
Links
In English:
In Japanese:
- Ricoh camera list at the Ricoh corporate site, with:
- Adler B page and repair notes at Japan Family Camera
| Asahi Bussan and Riken prewar and wartime cameras () | ||
|---|---|---|
| rigid or collapsible | ||
| Vest Adler | Gokoku | Semi Kinsi | Letix | Olympic | New Olympic | Regal Olympic | Semi Olympic | Super Olympic | Vest Olympic | Riken No.1 | Ricohl | Roico | Seica | Zessan | ||
| folders | pseudo TLR | TLR |
| Semi Adler | Adler III | Adler A | Adler B | Adler C | Adler Four | Adler Six | Gaica | Heil | Kinsi | Chukon Ref | Ricohflex | Ricohflex B |
