Baby Rosen, Rosen Four and Adler Four
Template:127 Japan The Baby Rosen and Rosen Four are Japanese folding cameras using 127 film, made around 1935–6 by the company Proud[1]. The Baby Rosen is a 3×4 camera, copied from the Goldi, a German 3×4 camera made by the company Zeh. The Rosen Four is a 4×4 camera evolved from the Baby Rosen. Both are vertical folders, combining a folding bed with a metal plate mounted on scissor struts, supporting the lens and shutter, that slides forward when the bed is opened. Both cameras have a folding optical finder, a back hinged to the left and an advance knob at the left end of the top plate.
The Baby Rosen
The Baby Rosen (ベビーローゼン) is a direct copy of the Zeh Goldi. It was advertised in 1935 and 1936.[2] An advertisement dated September 1936[3] gives the following list of lens and shutter options:
- Trinar[4] f:4.5 lens, Argus[5] shutter (¥35);
- Corygon f:4.5 lens, Vario shutter (¥45);
- Corygon f:4.5 lens, S-Pronto shutter (¥55);
- Corygon f:4.5 lens, N-Compur shutter (¥80).
The Corygon lens was made by Friedrich while the Trinar is perhaps the corresponding lens by Rodenstock.
The Rosen Four
The Rosen Four (ローゼン・フォアー) is a version modified for the 4×4 format. It is equipped with what is probably an auto-stop advance device at the left of the top plate, under the advance knob. The reason for the introduction of this device was that the rollfilm paperback did not have a series of numbers for the 4×4cm format.
It is advertised in the December 1936 issue of Asahi Camera[6], distributed by Ōsawa Shōkai. The following lens and shutter options were offered:
- Rosen Anastigmat 50/4.5 lens, Rosen shutter, 5–150 (¥48)
- Corygon f:4.5 lens, New Vario I shutter (¥55);
- Corygon f:4.5 lens, Prontor II shutter (¥69);
- Corygon f:4.5 lens, Compur-N shutter (¥82);
- Corygon f:3.5 lens, Prontor II shutter (¥80);
- Corygon f:3.5 lens, Compur-N shutter (¥95);
- Corygon f:2.9 lens, Compur-N shutter (¥110).
The Adler IV sold by Riken is probably a rebadged version of the Rosen Four.
Links
- The Rosen Four in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology]]
