Baby Lyra
Template:127 Japan The Baby Lyra (ベビーライラ) is a Japanese 3×4 folder that was made by Fuji Kōgaku between 1936 and 1938[1]. It is a vertical folding camera, with a folding frame finder, inspired by the Baby Ikonta. It is simply embossed LYRA in the front leather.
The shutter is a Picco with T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds, probably everset. The aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate and the Picco name is at the top. There is no body release and the lens is front-cell focusing.
Advertisements dated December 1936[2], September 1937[3] and September 1938[4] list three variants of the Baby Lyra:
- Pionar[5] f:6.3 lens (¥25 in 1936 and 1937, ¥28 in 1938);
- Terionar f:4.5 lens (¥32 in 1936 and 1937, ¥36 in 1938);
- Terionar f:3.5 lens (¥42 in 1936 and 1937, ¥46 in 1938).
The focal length is certainly 50mm, at least it is the case for the Anastigmat Pionar f:6.3 lens mounted on the Baby Lyra presented in this page at Asacame.
Notes
- ↑ Dates of the advertisements mentioned by Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 342.
- ↑ Advertisement published in the December 13, 1936 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi in two parts, p. 100.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera.
- ↑ The lens names are only mentioned in the September 1937 advertisement cited above, not in the ones dated December 1936 and September 1938, but we can probably assume that they were unchanged.
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 291. (See also the advertisement for item 164.)
- Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten (思い出のスプリングカメラ展, Exhibition of beloved self-erecting cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.)
Links
In Japanese:
- Page with the Baby Lyra in the A-Z 127 film cameras at Asacame
- Baby Lyra, small picture at Ken's website
- Advertisement for the Baby Lyra and Semi Lyra published in the December 13, 1936 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website
