Baby Pilot
Template:127 Japan The Baby Pilot (ベビーパイロット) is a Japanese 3×4 folder that was made[1] and sold by Tachibana Shōkai between 1941 and 1943[2]. It is a vertical folding camera, with a folding frame finder and incurved struts copied from the Baby Pearl by Konishiroku. The advance knob is on the right side of the body when held vertically by the photographer.
The camera is announced in 1941[3] with 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 the camera was not yet effectively available that year, and that an f:6.3 lens option was also offered.[4]
The camera is sold in 1942[5], in two variants:
- Pilot Anastigmat f:4.5 lens (¥41);
- Pilot Anastigmat f:3.5 lens (¥52).
The only shutter available is a Pilot with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds, probably everset. The aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate and the PILOT name is at the top. There is no body release and the lens is certainly front-cell focusing.
Notes
- ↑ Advertisements published in the January and September 1941 issue of Asahi Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 83, confirms that Tachibana was the maker of the Pilot cameras: "パイロツト写真用品製造発売元".
- ↑ Dates of the advertisements mentioned by Kokusan kamera no rekishi.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Baby Pilot, Pilot Six and Pilot Ref, published in the September 1941 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 177.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 339.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Baby Pilot, Pilot Six and Pilot Ref, published in the February 1942 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 176.
Printed 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 176–7.
