Balnet Four
The Balnet Four (バルネットフォアー) is a Japanese camera taking 4×4cm pictures on 127 film, announced in 1953 by Fuji Shōji, that was certainly the trading company associated to Fuji Kōgaku.
The Balnet Four was featured in the July 1953 issue of Asahi Camera.[1] It has a round-edged pressed metal body and a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. The advance knob is to the top right and there seems to be an accessory shoe at the left end. There is a tubular finder with a cylindrical shape, slightly offset to the left. The film advance is controlled via red windows. The back is removable together with the bottom plate for film loading.
The lens is a front-cell focusing Seriter 50/3.5 and the shutter is a synchronized Balnet giving B, 1–200 speeds and equipped with a self-timer.
It seems that no surviving example of the Balnet Four has ever been observed, and it is not known if the camera was actually sold.
Notes
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 359. It is the only occurrence of the Balnet Four mentioned by this source. It is probably the same magazine article that is reproduced on p. 34 of Camera Collectors News no. 31.
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 691.
- Letter to C.C.N. In Camera Collectors News no. 31 (January 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp. 33–4.
The Balnet Four is not listed in Sugiyama.
