Baby Pearl
Template:127 Japan The Baby Pearl is a Japanese 3×4 folding camera, made from 1934 to 1950 by Rokuoh-sha, later Konishiroku (the predecessor of Konica).[1]
The Baby Pearl is a vertical folding camera, with curved struts and a folding optical finder. It is inspired by the Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta, but it is not a dead copy. The film advance is controlled via two red windows in the back. On some examples, there is a metal part between the two red windows that could suggest a sliding cover, but that might as well be some element of the pressure plate. The leather covering is embossed BABY PEARL, and the camera has been observed with black or metal trimming.
The shutter is a Rox, made by Rokuoh-sha, later Konishiroku, and giving B, 25, 50, 100 speeds. The speed is selected by a small lever on top of the shutter housing. The Rox shutter is usually everset, but the last postwar examples have a cocking shutter and a body release.[2] The shutter plate is marked ROX at the top and Rokuoh-sha or Konishiroku at the bottom. The company changed its name in 1943, and it is said that all the postwar examples are marked Konishiroku while all the prewar ones are marked Rokuoh-sha.[3] The lens and shutter markings usually match, but at least one example has been observed[4] with a Konishiroku lens and a Rokuoh-sha shutter, maybe not original.
An advertisement dated January 1939[5] gives four lens options:
Advertisements dated May and September 1939[7] only list the Optor lenses. It is probable that the Optor was a triplet and the Hexar a Tessar-type four element lens.
The Baby Pearl is usually observed with a 50/4.5. Here are the lens markings observed so far:
- Rokuoh-sha NoXXXXX Optor 1:4.5 f=50mm, black face
- Rokuoh-sha NoXXXXX Optor 1:4.5 f=50mm, chrome face
- Rokuoh-sha NoXXXXX Hexar Ser.1 1:4.5 f=50mm, chrome face
- Konishiroku NoXXXXX Hexar 1:4.5 f=50mm, chrome face
Notes
- ↑ Dates: Miyazaki, pp. 10–3.
- ↑ Miyazaki, p. 12–3, with a picture of a Baby Pearl equipped with a body release.
- ↑ Miyazaki, p. 12–3.
- ↑ In a Yahoo Japan auction.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 82.
- ↑ This price is barely legible.
- ↑ Advertisements published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 82.
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 168 and 680. (See also the advertisements for item 170.)
- 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).
- 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). Pp. 537–8.
- Miyazaki Shigemoto (宮崎繁幹). Konika kamera no 50nen: Konika I-gata kara Hekisā RF e (コニカカメラの50年：コニカI型からヘキサーRFへ, Fifty years of Konica cameras: From the Konica I to the Hexar RF). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 2003. ISBN 4-257-12038-X.
Links
In Japanese:
- A-Z 127 film cameras at Asacame, with the Baby Pearl on this page
- The Baby Pearl in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
- Baby Pearl, small picture at Ken's website
- Baby Pearl specs and picture at the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website
