Baby Uirus
The Baby Virus are Japanese 3×4cm cameras, whose name is uncertain and of which no pictures have been observed and no surviving example is known.
Contents
Strut-folding
Kokusan kamera no rekishi describes a bakelite strut-folding camera under the name "Baby Uirus" (ベビーウイルス, "Baby Virus" is more likely) and mentions two magazine articles, in Asahi Camera September 1938 and in Camera Club January 1939.[1] This source says that the camera was manufactured by "Takinogawa Kōryō-sha" (滝の川向陵舎). Takinogawa is a ward of Tokyo, written 滝野川, and the company was more likely called Kōryō-sha and based in Takinogawa.
The description says that the film is loaded through the bottom plate, the film plane is curved and the film advance is controlled by two covered red windows. The shutter is said to have only bulb and instant settings, and the lens is said to be a fixed-focus meniscus.[2]
Telescopic tube
A camera called "Baby New Yurisu" (ベビーニューユリス, the Roman name is uncertain) is mentioned in the April 1943 government inquiry on Japanese camera production.[3] It is registered as made by Kōryō-sha (向凌舎, the same company name written with different characters) and distributed by Koshimitsu (越光), and described as a 3×4cm camera made of light alloy and having a telescopic tube. This description does not fit the previous Baby Virus, and the Baby New Yurisu was perhaps a successor made by the same company. The camera has a Yurisu (ユリス) 55/6.3 three-element lens made by Koshimitsu and a New Yurisu (ニューユリス) shutter giving 25–150, B speeds made by Koshimitsu too.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 334. This source makes many mistakes in Roman spelling.
- ↑ Description from Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.334.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), item 154.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item K1, shutter item 18-V-10.
Bibliography
Original documents
- Asahi Camera September 1938. "Atarashii kikai to zairyō" (新しい機械と材料, New equipment and machinery). P.547.
- "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7. Item 154.
Recent source
- 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 18.
