Baby Balnet

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unknown
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The Baby Balnet (ベビーバルネット) is a Japanese 3×4 folder, certainly made by Fuji Kōgaku at some time in the 1940s.[1]

Original documents

No original document mentioning the Baby Balnet has yet been observed. However the official list of set prices dated November 1941 has a "Balnet", placed among a host of 4.5×6cm cameras and attributed to Nomura Seisakusho, with no further detail.[2]

General description

The Baby Balnet is a vertical folding camera whose body is very similar to the Baby Lyra (and to the Baby Leotax). The advance knob is at the bottom right, as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally. The back is hinged to the left and probably contains red windows to control the film advance. The name BALNET is embossed in the front leather.

Evolution

Folding optical finder

The presumably early model has a folding optical finder. The only example observed so far is pictured in Sugiyama. It has a small black advance knob and a small body release. The lens is front-cell focusing and it is reported as a Nomular Anastigmat 50/2.9. (The name Nomular might be related with Nomura.) The shutter gives B, 1–200 speeds; the name BALNET is inscribed at the bottom of the speed rim in plain capital letters and there is another marking at the top, perhaps reading Mars Kogaku Tokyo and perhaps meaning that the shutter was made by Mars.[3]

Top housing and rigid finder

The presumably late model has a top housing covering all the top plate and containing the viewfinder, slightly offset to the left. There is an accessory shoe to the right of the finder and a body release on the left. The advance knob is all metal and is larger than on the previous model. The name BALNET is engraved at the front of the top housing and the serial number is engraved above the viewfinder. The folding struts are engraved with a FUJI.K TOKYŌ logo. The camera was certainly made after the war by Fuji Kōgaku, at about the same time as the postwar Lyra Six, to which it shows some design similarity. Surprisingly, the logo does not have the typical shape of the other logos used by the company: it only shows a cemented doublet lens scheme without the silhouette of Mount Fuji.

At least two surviving examples are known. One has B, 1–200 speeds and a Balnet Anastigmat 50/3.5 lens.[4] The name BALNET is engraved at the bottom of the speed rim in fancy letters, and the shutter plate has no other markings. The edges of the folding bed are silver finished. The other has B, 1–250 speeds and a Nomular Anastigmat 50/2.9 lens.[5] The name BALNET is engraved at the bottom of the speed rim in plain capital letters, and the shutter plate has another marking at the top, perhaps reading Mars Kogaku Tokyo again.[6] The edges of the folding bed are painted black.

Notes

  1. For unknown reasons, Sugiyama attributes the camera to "Fuji Optical Co." in item 1032 and to "Mars Optical Works" and "Fuji Trading Co." in item 1278.
  2. "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, section 7B.
  3. Sugiyama, item 1032.
  4. Example belonging to Katō Tomoaki, pictured on p.32 of Camera Collectors' News no.35, the body number is reported as no.2205.
  5. Example belonging to Mr Saji (who used the pseudonym Zaisu Ikon), pictured in Sugiyama, item 1278, in Camera Collectors' News no.38, p.27, and in Camera Collectors' News no.57, p.2. It has body no.2395, visible on p.27 of Camera Collectors' News no.38.
  6. The marking would explain the attribution of the camera to "Mars Optical Works" in Sugiyama, item 1278.

Bibliography

  • "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, section 7B.
  • Katō Tomoaki (加藤智顕). "Letter to C.C.N." In Camera Collectors' News no.35 (May 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P.32.
  • 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.328.
  • 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 1032 and 1278.
  • Zaisu Ikon (座椅子遺恨, probably a pseudonym of Y. Saji). "Besuto sanka (B-1)" (ベスト讃歌[B-1], Vest hymn [B-1]). In Camera Collectors' News no.57 (March 1982). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P.2.
  • Zaisu Ikon (座椅子遺恨, probably a pseudonym of Y. Saji). "Letter to C.C.N." In Camera Collectors' News no.38 (August 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P.27.

The Baby Balnet is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.


Fuji Kōgaku cameras (edit)
prewar and wartime models postwar models
3×4 4×6.5 subminiature 4×4 subminiature
Baby Lyra | Baby Lyra Flex | Baby Balnet Dianette | Pionette Lyravit Balnet Four Comex
4.5×6 6×6 6×9 4.5×6 6×6
Bakyna | Semi Lyra | Lyrax Lyra Six | Lyra Flex Lyra (6×9) Semi Lyra | Pioneer Lyra Six | Lyraflex