Difference between revisions of "Condor folders"
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{{Japanese Semi}}{{Japanese Six}} | {{Japanese Semi}}{{Japanese Six}} | ||
| − | The '''Condor''' is a series of 4.5×6 and 6×6 folders, made from 1939 to at least 1942 by | + | The '''Condor''' is a series of Japanese 4.5×6 and 6×6 folders, made from 1939 to at least 1942 by the company [[Condor Camera|Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha]], that sometimes used the name Condor Camera Works.<REF> Advertisements reproduced in {{Kokusan}}, pp. 72–3. {{McKeown}} attributes a "New Semi Condor" to "Nissan Kogaku" (p. 738) and a "Condor" folder to [[Neumann & Heilemann]] (p. 717), the latter probably by mistake.</REF> They were the successors of the nearly identical [[Victor folders]]. |
| − | All the | + | == General description == |
| + | All the Condor folders share the same body, inherited from the [[Victor folders|Semi Victor and Victor Six]] copied from the bigger model of the [[Baldax]] for #0 size shutters. When held vertically by the photographer, the advance knob is at the top right and the folding optical finder is at the middle left. The body release is on the right of the viewfinder, and the back is hinged to the left. | ||
== Semi Condor and Condor Six == | == Semi Condor and Condor Six == | ||
| − | + | The '''Semi Condor''' (セミコンドル) and '''Condor Six''' (コンドルシックス) appeared together in 1939<REF> They are both featured in the new product column of the May 1939 issue of ''Asahi Camera'' according to {{Kokusan}}. </REF>. The Semi is a 4.5×6 version and the Six is a 6×6 version, adding an automatic film advance with an exposure counter, externally similar to the device mounted on the [[Plaubel]] rollfilm backs and on the [[Roll-Op II]] camera. The Six is embossed ''Condor-Six'' in the front leather while the Semi is simply embossed ''Condor''. There is a strap on the right end of the body, covering the back latch. | |
| − | The '''Semi Condor''' (セミコンドル) and '''Condor Six''' (コンドルシックス) appeared together in 1939<REF> They are both featured in the new product column of the May 1939 issue of ''Asahi Camera'' according to {{Kokusan}}. </REF> | ||
These two models are advertised in 1939<REF> {{Showa10ad|Semi Condor and Condor Six|115–6|Aug 1939 and Sep 1939|Asahi Camera}} </REF> as made by Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha<REF> Three authorized dealers are cited: [[Sanwa Shōkai]], [[Mizuno|Mizuno Shashinki-ten]] and [[Yamamoto|Yamamoto Shashinki-ten]]. </REF>. A variant of the Condor Six without the exposure counter and with film advance by red window is offered as the '''Condor Six ordinary model'''<REF> A translation of 普及型. </REF>. | These two models are advertised in 1939<REF> {{Showa10ad|Semi Condor and Condor Six|115–6|Aug 1939 and Sep 1939|Asahi Camera}} </REF> as made by Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha<REF> Three authorized dealers are cited: [[Sanwa Shōkai]], [[Mizuno|Mizuno Shashinki-ten]] and [[Yamamoto|Yamamoto Shashinki-ten]]. </REF>. A variant of the Condor Six without the exposure counter and with film advance by red window is offered as the '''Condor Six ordinary model'''<REF> A translation of 普及型. </REF>. | ||
Revision as of 16:06, 28 October 2006
The Condor is a series of Japanese 4.5×6 and 6×6 folders, made from 1939 to at least 1942 by the company Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha, that sometimes used the name Condor Camera Works.[1] They were the successors of the nearly identical Victor folders.
Contents
General description
All the Condor folders share the same body, inherited from the Semi Victor and Victor Six copied from the bigger model of the Baldax for #0 size shutters. When held vertically by the photographer, the advance knob is at the top right and the folding optical finder is at the middle left. The body release is on the right of the viewfinder, and the back is hinged to the left.
Semi Condor and Condor Six
The Semi Condor (セミコンドル) and Condor Six (コンドルシックス) appeared together in 1939[2]. The Semi is a 4.5×6 version and the Six is a 6×6 version, adding an automatic film advance with an exposure counter, externally similar to the device mounted on the Plaubel rollfilm backs and on the Roll-Op II camera. The Six is embossed Condor-Six in the front leather while the Semi is simply embossed Condor. There is a strap on the right end of the body, covering the back latch.
These two models are advertised in 1939[3] as made by Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha[4]. A variant of the Condor Six without the exposure counter and with film advance by red window is offered as the Condor Six ordinary model[5].
In the advertisements, the lens name is probably Deltar Anastigmat[6] and the shutter is a Rulex made by Neumann & Heilemann, in A or B variant (speeds not specified). Here is a list of the variants offered:
- Condor Six, f:3.5, Rulex A, ¥98;
- Condor Six, f:4.5, Rulex A, ¥86;
- Condor Six (ordinary), f:3.5, Rulex A, ¥93;
- Condor Six (ordinary), f:4.5, Rulex A, ¥80;
- Condor Six (ordinary), f:4.5, Rulex B, ¥72;
- Semi Condor, f:3.5, Rulex A, ¥90;
- Semi Condor, f:4.5, Rulex A, ¥78;
- Semi Condor, f:4.5, Rulex B, ¥70.
Later in 1939[7], the Semi Condor was advertised alone by the distributor Sanwa Shōkai (三和商会). The shutter speeds were now mentioned: T, B, 1–250 for the Rulex A and T, B, 5–150 for the Rulex B.
No Condor Six model has yet been observed, and the Semi Condor is difficult to tell from the New Semi Condor that followed.
New Semi Condor
The New Semi Condor (ニューセミコンドル) appears in 1940[8] in 1941[9] advertisements. The company name is now Condor Camera Works in Roman letters. At first, the new model is offered side by side with the Semi Condor. Apart from the reference to an exposure table on the back, the difference between the two is unclear. Unlike all the previous models, the New Semi Condor is offered with all four lens and shutter combinations (3.5 A, 3.5 B, 4.5 A, 4.5 B). By June 1940 the Rulex B shutter option has been upgraded to 1/200 top speed. By January 1941 the Rulex A option has also been upgraded to 1/300 top speed and the Semi Condor is no longer an option. Here is a list of the variants offered that month:
A variant with T, B, 1–300 shutter is sometimes offered as the New Semi Condor III[10] with either f:4.5 or f:3.5 lens, it is probably only an alternate name of the above model with Rulex A shutter.
The New Semi Condor is still offered in 1942[11] by Sanwa Shōkai, together with a Semi Zeitax[12]. Only the T, B, 1–300 shutter option is given[13], with an f:4.5 or f:3.5 lens, for a price of ¥93 or ¥108.
A New Semi Condor has been observed at a Yahoo Japan auction. It differed from the advertised model only by the addition of an accessory shoe to the right of the viewfinder and by the shutter model: a Koho with 1–200, B, T speeds, made by Takachiho, of the variant mounted on the late Semi Olympus II. This variant of the Koho is not meant to be coupled with a body release, but it seems that a complicated linkage was added between the body release and the shutter release lever. The lens mounted on this example was a 7.5cm f:3.5 apparently called Deller Anastigmat[14]. The case was embossed SEMI CONDOR. Another case for a Condor folder has been observed for sale, this time only embossed CONDOR.
The 17 exposure and 13 exposure feature
The Condor models are intermittently advertised as taking 17 exposures per film roll for the 4.5×6 version and 13 exposures for the 6×6. One advertisement from Sep 1939[15] is titled "Red Window Revolution" (赤窓の革命). It says that the Semi Condor was one of the first cameras (at least in Japan) to make use of the '1' to '16' numbers printed in the rollfilm paperback for the 4.5×6 format, while at the time other similar cameras had two red windows and were using the '1' to '8' numbers intended for 6×9. The use of only one red window ensures a more regular frame spacing, thus sparing some film. The advertisement says that after taking the 16 exposures it is possible to advance one more frame by hand, without the help of the film numbers, to attain a total of 17 exposures. This method was certainly very inconvenient, which is surely why the mention of 17 exposures was abandoned some months later[16]. The explanation about red windows is irrelevant to the 6×6 models, but in the same advertisement the exposure counter of the Condor Six is nonetheless said to be designed for 13 exposures. This is strange because an advertisement published one month earlier in the same magazine only says twelve.
Notes
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 72–3. McKeown attributes a "New Semi Condor" to "Nissan Kogaku" (p. 738) and a "Condor" folder to Neumann & Heilemann (p. 717), the latter probably by mistake.
- ↑ They are both featured in the new product column of the May 1939 issue of Asahi Camera according to Kokusan kamera no rekishi.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Semi Condor and Condor Six, published in the Aug 1939 and Sep 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 115–6.
- ↑ Three authorized dealers are cited: Sanwa Shōkai, Mizuno Shashinki-ten and Yamamoto Shashinki-ten.
- ↑ A translation of 普及型.
- ↑ It is written デルター・アナスチグマット in all the advertisements observed, and McKeown reports a Deltar Anastigmat on the New Semi Condor attributed to "Nissan Kogaku".
- ↑ Advertisement for the Semi Condor, published in the Nov 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 112. It was inserted by Sanwa Shōkai and does not necessarily reflect the full range offered by the maker. It offers only the f:4.5 lens, with the two shutter options.
- ↑ Advertisement for the New Semi Condor, published in the June 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 113. It was inserted by Sanwa Shōkai and only offered the New Semi Condor. — Advertisement for the Semi Condor and New Semi Condor, published in the August 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 114. It was inserted by the Condor Camera Works company and shows the same three authorized dealers as in note 3. It again mentions the possibility to make 17 exposures. The New Semi Condor appears as a new model, together with the Semi Condor, for which the 3.5 B combination is not offered. No price is indicated.
- ↑ Advertisement for the New Semi Condor, published in the Jan 1941 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 114. Advertisement inserted by Condor Camera Works. The "New" in "New Semi Condor" only appears in the katakana name, the Roman name is simply Semi Condor.
- ↑ Advertisement for the New Semi Condor III, published in the May 1941 issue of Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 114. In this advertisement, the camera is overtly said to remind the German Baldax. The advertisement does not show any company name, Kokusan kamera no rekishi ambiguously attributes it to Ueno Shōten (上野商店)
- ↑ Advertisement for the New Semi Condor and Semi Zeitax, published in the Mar 1942 issue of Hōdō Shashin, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 118.
- ↑ The Condor folders are very similar to the first Zeitax model. Some hints might suggest that they were related: they appear together in this advertisement, both have been advertised elsewhere as taking 17 exposures and both have been observed with a Koho shutter. Maybe this is only coincidental.
- ↑ This shutter option is only called "A shutter", with no mention of the Rulex name, but the camera pictured is equipped with a Rulex shutter.
- ↑ The lens name is not easy to read in the auction's pictures, and Deller is not fully compatible with the デルター name mentioned above.
- ↑ Advertisement mentioned above, originally published in the Sep 1939 issue of Asahi Camera.
- ↑ It is still present in the advertisement originally published in the Aug 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, mentioned above.
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. Items 112–6.
- 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). Pp. 717 and 738.
