Condor folders

The Condor is a series of 4.5×6 and 6×6 folders, made from 1939 to at least 1942 by a Japanese company called sometimes Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha (日産光學工業社) and sometimes just Condor Camera Works in Roman writing.

All the models are copies of the Baldax, with a folding optical finder and a body release.

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^[1]. It seems that both share the same body, copied on the bigger model of the Baldax for #0 size shutters. 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. These two models are advertised in 1939^[2] as made by Nissan Kōgaku Kōgyō-sha^[3]. 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^[4].

In the advertisements, the lens name is uncertain^[5] and the shutter is a Rulex made by Neumann & Heilemann, available in A and B variants with speeds not precised. Each of the three models is offered with a Rulex A and either an f:3.5 or an f:4.5 lens. The Rulex B is only offered with the f:4.5 lens on the Semi Condor and the Condor Six ordinary model. The price of all these variants is comprised between ¥70 and ¥98.

Some advertisements for the Condor models say that the 4.5×6 version can take 17 exposures on each film roll and the 6×6 version can take 13 exposures. One advertisement from Sep 1939^[6] describes this feature in detail.

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 as T, B, 1–250 for the Rulex A and T, B, 5–150 for the Rulex B.

No Condor Six model has been observed yet, 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, at first side by side with the Semi Condor. Apart from the reference to an exposure table certainly applied on the back, the difference between both models is unclear. Unlike 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), and the company name is now Condor Camera Works in Roman letters^[10]. By June 1940 the Rulex B shutter option had been upgraded to 1/200 top speed. By January 1941 the Rulex A option had been upgraded to 1/300 top speed and the Semi Condor was no longer an option. The price varied between ¥74 and ¥94 depending on the lens and shutter combination.

A variant with T, B, 1–300 shutter is sometimes offered as the New Semi Condor III^[11] 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^[12] by Sanwa Shōkai, together with a Semi Zeitax. 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.

Notes

• ↑ 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 (三和商會), Mizuno Shashinki-ten (水野寫眞機店) and Yamamoto Shashinki-ten (山本寫眞機店). The address of Nissan Kōgaku is Tōkyō-shi Hongō-ku Yushima-Tenjin-chō 1-chōme 105 (東京市本郷區湯島天神町一丁目一〇五).
• ↑ A translation of 普及型.
• ↑ It is written デルター・アナスチグマット, most probably Deltar Anastigmat, in all the advertisements observed.
• ↑ Advertisement for the Semi Condor and Condor Six, published in the Sep 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 115–6.
• ↑ Advertisement for the Semi Condor, published in the Nov 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 112. This advertisement 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. Advertisement inserted by Sanwa Shōkai and only offering 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. This advertisement 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.
• ↑ Condor Camera Works is based in Tokyo, but the rest of its address is not legible.
• ↑ 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.
• ↑ 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.

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.