Difference between revisions of "Auto Keef"

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== Links ==
 
== Links ==
 
In English:
 
In English:
* [http://www.westlicht-auction.com/index.php?id=76834&acat=76834&_ssl=off Auto Keef] in [http://www.westlicht-auction.com/ Westlicht Photographica Auction] no.11, 26 May 2007, lot no.706
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* [http://www.westlicht-auction.com/index.php?id=76834&acat=76834&_ssl=off Auto Keef] in the [http://www.westlicht-auction.com/ Westlicht Photographica Auction] no.11, 26 May 2007, lot no.706
 
* Catalogues at [http://www.leski.com.au/ Charles Leski Auctions]:
 
* Catalogues at [http://www.leski.com.au/ Charles Leski Auctions]:
 
** [http://www.leski.com.au/catalogues/a191/2.htm Auction no. 191] (lot 140, with picture)
 
** [http://www.leski.com.au/catalogues/a191/2.htm Auction no. 191] (lot 140, with picture)

Revision as of 18:15, 12 September 2007

Japanese Baby (3×4) and Four (4×4) (edit)
folding
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4×4 Adler Four | Rosen Four
rigid or collapsible
3×4 Baika | Baby Chrome | Comet | Cyclon | Gelto | Baby Germa | Gokoku | Hamond | Baby Hawk | Kinka Lucky | Lausar | Light | Baby Light | Molby | Mulber | Olympic | Baby Ōso | Peacock | Picny | Ricohl | Rorox | Shinko Baby | Slick | Baby Sport | Tsubasa Arawashi | Baby Uirus | Zessan
3.5×4 Kenko 35
4×4 Alma Four | Andes Four | Anny 44 | Arsen | Balnet Four | Bonny Four | Freude | Kalimar 44 | Auto Keef | Kraft | Letix | Mykey-4 | Olympic Four | Roico | Royal Senior | Seica | Terra Junior | Vero Four | Welmy 44 | Yashica Future 127
unknown
Baby First | Baby Lyra Flex
Japanese SLR, TLR, pseudo TLR and stereo models ->
Japanese 4×5 and 4×6.5, 4.5×6, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Auto Keef (オートキーフ) is a Japanese coupled-rangefinder camera taking 4×4cm pictures on 127 film. It was made from late 1940 or early 1941 by Kokusaku Seikō and was advertised until 1945 and again in 1946–7.

See also the Semi Keef.

General description

The Auto Keef has a rigid body and a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. This telescopic tube is mounted on a focusing helical, coupled to the rangefinder by a pinion. The range- and viewfinder is combined in a single eyepiece and is contained under a top housing. The square viewfinder window is in the middle. The camera has auto-stop film advance, a necessary feature because the paper backing of 127 film is not marked for 4×4cm exposures.

Early documents and prototype model

The official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, already has a "Keef I" (¥77) and "Keef II" (¥125).[1] They are listed among 3×4 and 4×4 cameras but no further detail is given; they might correspond to the Auto Keef but it is unconfirmed.

The Auto Keef was advertised from June 1941 in Asahi Camera.[2] The September advertisement says that the camera would be "available soon" (近日発売) and has a picture of what is certainly a prototype model.[3] The advance knob is on the right and the round rangefinder window is on the left (as seen by the photographer holding the camera). It seems that the name KEEF is engraved above the rangefinder. There is no accessory shoe and the position of the exposure counter is unclear. The rangefinder coupling pinion is on the right (same convention) and it is apparent and not hidden under a housing.

The release button is placed atop a large housing protruding on the right (same convention) of the shutter casing. The lens offered in the advertisement is a K.O.L. Keef 60/2.8 and the shutter gives 1–500 pictures. The advertisement wears the name of the maker and the name of the distributor Kazenderu Shōkai.

Description of the production model

The production model has a reversed configuration: the advance knob is on the left and the rangefinder window is on the right. There is an accessory shoe on the left of the viewfinder and the exposure counter window is at the right end of the top housing. There is a sliding button behind on the right, probably used to reset the exposure counter, and another button behind the accessory shoe, probably used to unlock film advance. The name Auto KEEF is engraved above the range- and viewfinder. The rangefinder coupling mechanism is protected under a tortuous plate but there are variations in the cover of the coupling pinion (see below).

It seems that the back is removable together with the bottom plate for film loading. It contains a single uncovered red window to set the position for the first exposure. (These features of the back were probably already there on the prototype model.)

The shutter release is mounted on a small casing attached to the shutter assembly. This casing also sports the same KEEF logo. This casing moves together with the shutter when the telescopic tube is extended and this is not a real body release, even if it was advertised as thus.

Wartime advertising

The camera pictured in the October 1941 advertisement in Asahi Camera[4] is very similar to the production model. It is perhaps a late prototype or an early production example: it seems that the cover of the coupling pinion supports a rotating distance scale, with an index next to it, and the shutter plate is plain silver. No actual example has been observed in that configuration. The camera is again mentioned as "available soon", and no price is given. Two versions are listed:

  • Auto Keef I, K.O.L. Keef 60/3.5 lens, 1–200 speeds;
  • Auto Keef II, K.O.L. Keef 60/2.8 lens, 1–500 speeds.

The names of two distributors are mentioned: Kazenderu Shōkai and Hattori Tokei-ten.

A similar picture appears in an advertisement dated February 1942,[5] where the Auto Keef I was priced at ¥222.

Advertisements dated September 1942, January and March 1943[6] offered the Auto Keef I for ¥223 and the Auto Keef II for ¥264. The price was quite hefty, the Auto Keef II costing nearly as much as the Auto Semi Minolta. In the pictures, the coupling pinion cover has the KEEF logo engraved and a PAT. P. marking (for "Patents Pending") under the rangefinder window; all the examples actually observed have a similar configuration. The shutter plate is marked KOKU SAKU at the top and probably KEEF at the bottom, but it is unsure which version is illustrated. All these advertisements mention the same two distributors Kazenderu and Hattori.

The Auto Keef is mentioned in the April 1943 government inquiry.[7] This document says that the camera was made by Tōa Kokusaku Seikō and distributed by Kazenderu. The lens is the three-element K.O.L. Keef 60/3.5 and the shutter is said to give T, B, 1–300 speeds.

An advertisement by Sanwa Shōkai dated November–December 1944 offered the model I only, priced at ¥307 with the K.O.L. Keef 60/3.5 lens and T, B, 1–200 speeds.[8] The camera was advertised at least until February 1945, a very late date. (The maker was probably a state-owned factory and it was maybe not submitted to the same restrictions as other companies.)

Postwar period

The Auto Keef was advertised again in 1946 and 1947, reportedly with the K.O.L. Keef 60/3.5 lens and a Kokusaku shutter giving T, B, 1–300 speeds.[9] An advertisement dated February 1946 only shows the company name Sanwa Shōkai.[10] This company was probably selling remaining stocks, and it is very unlikely that the Auto Keef was manufactured at that date.

Variations in actual examples

Some examples of the Auto Keef have the K.O.L. Keef 6cm f/3.5 and a shutter giving 300–1, B, T speeds.[11] The shutter plate is marked KOKUSAKU at the top and KEEF at the bottom.

One example reportedly has a Toko 50/3.5 lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku (the focal length is dubious).[12] The shutter has T, B, 1–250 speeds and is reported as a Keef II, but the picture of the camera shows the name PATENT MARS engraved at the base of the speed rim. The Patent Mars shutter was made by the company Mars and mounted on some other Japanese cameras.[13]

Another example is reported with a Toko 60/3.5 lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku and a Keef Koku-Saku shutter.[14]

Notes

  1. Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 1, sections 7 and 10.
  2. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 335.
  3. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 65.
  4. Advertisement reproduced in Nakamura, p. 32 of Camera Collectors' News no. 171.
  5. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, visible in this page of Xylocopal's photolog.
  6. September 1942 and January 1943: advertisements published in Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Gochamaze website. March 1943: advertisement published in Hōdō Shashin, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 65.
  7. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), item 148.
  8. Advertisement published in Shashin Kagaku, reproduced in Awano, p. 10 of Camera Collectors' News no. 274.
  9. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 350.
  10. Advertisement published in Ars Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 132 and in Awano, p. 4 of Camera Collectors' News no. 275.
  11. An example is pictured both in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 14 and in Lewis, p. 58, and another is pictured in Sugiyama, item 3025. A similar one has also been observed for sale at a Japanese dealer.
  12. Charles Leski Auction no. 191, lot 140. Reported body no. 2961, reported lens no. 52679.
  13. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter item 18-U-12.
  14. Charles Leski Auction no. 249, lot 21 and Auction no. 270, lot 9. Reported body no. 2234, reported lens no. 51828.

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 56 and 470. (See also the picture on p. 14.)
  • Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Maikuro kamera (senzenhen)" [マイクロカメラ(戦前編), Mycro cameras (prewar compilation)]. In Camera Collectors' News no. 274 (April 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp. 1–10.
  • Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Maikuro sengohen 1" [マイクロ戦後編1, Mycro postwar compilation, 1]. In Camera Collectors' News no. 275 (May 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp. 1–7.
  • The Japanese Historical Camera. 日本の歴史的カメラ (Nihon no rekishiteki kamera). 2nd ed. Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2004. P. 40.
  • "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7. Item 148.
  • Template:Kakaku1940 Type 1, sections 7 and 10.
  • 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. 57–8.
  • Nakamura Kin (中村欽). "Hanseiki-mae no kugatsu ni ha..." (半世紀前の九月には..., Half a century ago...). In Camera Collectors' News no. 171 (September 1991). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 32.
  • 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. Item 3025.

Links

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In Japanese: