Difference between revisions of "Baby Pilot"
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| − | * {{Showa10}} | + | * {{Showa10}} Item 178 and 683. (See also the advertisements for item 177.) |
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* {{Zukan}} Item 1221. | * {{Zukan}} Item 1221. | ||
Revision as of 21:14, 22 January 2007
The Baby Pilot (ベビーパイロット) is a Japanese 3×4 folder, made by Tachibana Shōkai.[1] It was announced in 1941 and made in 1942 and 1943; after the war, it was advertised again in 1948.[2]
Contents
Description
The Baby Pilot is a vertical folding camera, with a folding optical finder and incurved struts copied from the Baby Pearl by Konishiroku. There is no body release and the advance knob is on the bottom side of the body (opposite the viewfinder). The back is hinged to the left and film advance is by red windows.
The camera is said to have a bakelite body, but this perhaps only applies to the postwar models.[3]
Prewar and wartime Baby Pilot
The camera was announced in 1941 as soon to be available.[4] An advertisement dated September 1941[5] lists two lens options (f/4.5 and f/3.5, both called Pilot Anastigmat) and three shutter options (T, B, 25–150; T, B, 5–200 and T, B, 1–300, all three called Pilot). Kokusan kamera no rekishi says that a f/6.3 lens option was also offered and that the camera was effectively sold only from the following year.[6]
An advertisement dated February 1942[7] lists two variants only:
The only shutter available is an everset Pilot with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds. The aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate and the PILOT name is at the top. The lens is certainly front-cell focusing.
The advertisements from this period do not mention bakelite and the pictures seem to show a metal body, but they were perhaps retouched.
Postwar Baby Pilot II and V
According to Kokusan kamera no rekishi, the Baby Pilot was advertised again in 1948 by Tachibana Shōkai. Two versions were available: the Baby Pilot II with a Pilot 50/4.5 lens and the Baby Pilot V with a Pilot 50/3.5, both having a bakelite body a Pilot shutter giving B, 25–150 speeds.[8]
Actual examples
McKeown shows a picture of a Baby Pilot with what looks like a bakelite body, a metal folding bed and a bakelite advance knob.[9] Sugiyama shows a picture of another similar camera.[10] It is not known if these examples are prewar or postwar.
The front of the body is marked Baby Pilot. The shutter speeds are marked 150, 100, 50, 25, B, T in that order in the shutter rim. The shutter plate is marked PILOT.O and the lens marking is Pirot Anastigmat, with a typo caused by the fact that Japanese phonology does not distinguish between the "l" and "r" letters. In both cases, the lens has a low three-digit serial number, perhaps indicating a prewar origin.
Notes
- ↑ Advertisements explicitly say that Tachibana was the maker of the Pilot cameras: "パイロツト写真用品製造発売元". This is found in advertisements published in the January and September 1941 issues of Asahi Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 83.
- ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 339 and 358.
- ↑ McKeown, p. 910. Kokusan kamera no rekishi says this only for the postwar models, p. 358.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 339.
- ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 83.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 339.
- ↑ Published in Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 83.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 358.
- ↑ McKeown, p. 910.
- ↑ Sugiyama item 1221, f/4.5 lens n°124.
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 178 and 683. (See also the advertisements for item 177.)
- 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. 910.
- 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 1221.
