Baby Rosen, Rosen Four and Adler Four

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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. They are embossed ROSEN in the front leather.

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:

The Corygon lens was made by Friedrich while Terionar a lens name that is frequently found on Fuji Kōgaku cameras.

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:

One example has been observed[7] with a Rosen Anastigmat 50/4.5 lens and an everset shutter giving 5–250, B, T speeds, engraved PKW at the top of the shutter plate, with a P or LP logo on the right. The meaning of these markings is unknown.

The Adler IV sold by Riken is probably a rebadged version of the Rosen Four.

Notes

  1. The attribution to Proud is confirmed by an advertisement published in the December 1936 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 104.
  2. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 343.
  3. Published in Ars Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 104.
  4. The advertisement is written テリナー but Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 343, writes テリオナー and McKeown, p. 804, mentions a Terionar lens.
  5. Inferred from the katakana アーグス.
  6. Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 104.
  7. Example pictured in Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p. 25.

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 326–7.
  • 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. 804.
  • 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.)

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