Baby Chrome

Template:127 Japan The Baby Chrome^[1] (ベビー・クローム) is a 3×4 camera made by the Japanese company Optochrom from 1936 to 1938 and maybe later^[2].

Description

The Baby Chrome has a black bakelite body, embossed BABY CHROME on the front. The lens and shutter assembly is surrounded by a heavy metal ring, with Baby-Chrome engraved at the top and the serial number at the bottom. The metal ring looks like a helical focusing ring, but no focusing scale is visible. The whole assembly seems to be mounted on a spring loaded telescopic tube.

There is a tubular optical finder at the centre of the top plate. On the right of the viewfinder is something that looks like a body release, but is either a release for the spring loaded tube or an accessory attachment. The shutter is surely everset, with only one lever acting as a release. The aperture is set at the bottom of the shutter plate. The advance knob is at the left end of the top plate. The back is detached together with the top plate to load the film.

Evolution

The Baby Chrome originally has two red windows in the back, both uncovered. The advance knob is squarish, has three knurled rows on the rim and is attached by a flush screw. The shutter plate is marked OPTOCHROM SHUTTER at the top, with a NE logo between both words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom.

This version figures in an advertisement dated February 1937^[3], listing two variants:

Optochrom shutter (B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f:6.3 lens (¥15 — case ¥3.50 extra)^[4];
Optochrom shutter (T, B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f:4.5 lens (¥28).

An advertisement by the distributor Matsuzaki Shashinki-ten, dated May 1937^[5], only lists the f:6.3 variant.

Later examples of the Baby Chrome have only one red window, uncovered and placed at the bottom right of the back. The advance knob is more rounded, with one row of knurls, and it is attached by a protruding screw. The shutter plate is marked TSUBASA at the top and NEW GOLD at the bottom, with the NE logo on the right.

This version appears in later advertisements dated September 1938^[6], February^[7] and April 1939^[8]. Two variants are listed:

Tsubasa shutter (B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f:6.3 lens (¥18 — case ¥4.50 extra);
Tsubasa shutter (B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f:4.5 lens (¥33.50).

Both versions of the Baby Chrome have been observed. The f:6.3 lens equipment seems much more common: no example has yet been observed with an f:4.5 lens.

It seems that the successor of the Baby Chrome was the Tsubasa Arawashi released in 1939, but an advertisement for the Baby Chrome dated September 1941 is reported.^[9]

Notes

↑ McKeown, p. 464, calls it "Tsubasa Baby Chrome", surely by mistake.
↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 336, mentions advertisements dated between 1936 and 1938, and one dated September 1941.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 61.
↑ This variant is pictured in this page at Asacame.
↑ Advertisement published in the May 2, 1937 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in the Japanese camera page of the Gochamaze website.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in the Japanese camera page of the Gochamaze website.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 78. This advertisement is looking the same as the one dated September 1938 cited above, but there are some detail differences.
↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 79.
↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 336.

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. Item 91. (See also the advertisements for items 144 and 147.)
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. 464.