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Revision as of 21:10, 21 March 2008

Japanese Bolta film cameras (edit)
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The Silver (シルバー), Dan 35 (ダン35) and Minon 35 (ミノン35) are Japanese cameras using Bolta film. They are postwar evolutions of the Boltax. All the models are related together, but the chronology and attribution to specific companies are not completely clear.

The Silver

Description

The Silver is a derivative of the Boltax. It has the same body with rounded edges, the same focusing helical graduated in metres down to 2/3m, and the same back door hinged to the left, used to make film loading easier and to set the position of the first exposure. The main metal parts are nickel-plated, the same as on the Boltax I and early Boltax III. The name Silver is embossed in the covering of the back door.

The shutter is the same as on the Boltax I. The shutter plate is black, has the speeds engraved at the top in the order 100, 50, 25, B, silver stripes on the sides and the name PICNY D inscribed at the bottom. The shutters were perhaps taken from old stocks of parts. The lens is a Silver Anastigmat 40mm f/4.5. Old stocks of Picner Anastigmat 40mm f/4.5 lenses originally made for the Boltax were perhaps reused after changing the lens bezel only.

The film is loaded through the bottom plate, the reverse of the regular Boltax. The bottom plate has two film flanges, a tripod thread and a locking key with O and L indications (for Open and Locked), shaped about the same as the top opening key of the Boltax.

The top plate is attached by four screws. It has a torpedo-shaped optical finder offset to the right, as seen by the photographer, the same as on the Boltax. There is a film flange further to the right, with no accessory shoe, the same as on the Boltax I. The film is advanced by a knob at the top left, placed above a small metal casing containing an auto-stop mechanism. Frame numbers 1 to 12 are engraved on the base of the advance knob, facing an index on the metal casing. There is a small lever protruding to the rear of the casing, used to unlock the film advance after each exposure.

Advertisements, origin of the camera

The Silver was advertised in Japanese magazines from May 1947 to March 1948.[1] The December 1947 advertisement in Kohga Gekkan was placed by the distributor Murakami Shōkai.[2] It shows absolutely no detail, and does not mention the name of the manufacturer.

The maker of the Silver is not known for sure but there are two plausible candidates. The first candidate is Miyagawa Seisakusho, the maker of the Boltax. It is known to have released a complete redesign of the Boltax called the Picny B in late 1948, distributed by Chiyoda Shōkai, and it was certainly the owner of the "Picny" brand. The Silver is attributed in Sugiyama and McKeown to Miyagawa, perhaps because of the "Picny D" shutter name.[3] The other candidate is the maker of the Dan 35, whose model II (described below) is very similar to the Silver. This maker is related to the Hagimoto sales company, and is perhaps Yamato Kōki (see below about the Dan 35).

The decisive factor is probably the release date of the Dan 35. Some sources say that the Dan 35 I was released in 1946.[4] If they are right, then it is likely that the production of the simple Boltax derivatives was transferred from Miyagawa to the maker of the Dan 35 immediately after the end of the war. It would have developed the auto-stop device found on the Dan 35 II, and released the Silver as a rebadged version.

However, no advertisement for the Dan 35 I is known before February 1948, and the camera was featured in the new products column of the February 1948 issue of Kohga Gekkan.[5] Moreover construction details and the better finish of the Dan seem to indicate that it was made after the Silver. It is thus possible that Miyagawa made the Silver as a derivative of the Boltax with auto-stop advance and "Picny D" shutter in 1947, before developing the Picny B camera. The design of the Boltax and Silver would have been sold to the Hagimoto, but not the trademarks. The design would be developed as the Dan 35, with the new "Silver-B" shutter name.

The Dan 35 I and II

Origin

The Dan 35 was launched by Hagimoto Danji, who founded a camera shop in Ginza in 1945. The testimonies of his wife and of Fujimoto Katsumi, former manager of the Ginza shop, confirm that he set up a plant in Suwa to manufacture the Dan 35, sold for ¥3,000.[6] It seems that the name Dan was forged after the first name Danji, and the cameras have an H DAN logo certainly standing for Hagimoto Danji. From the advertisements observed so far, the distributor of the Dan 35 was called Hagimoto Shōkai in 1948 and Dan Shashin-yōhin in 1949–50.[7] It is said that Hagimoto's plans failed in 1950.[8]

The Dan 35 models are attributed to Yamato Kōki in some sources.[9] Yamato is known for sure to have made the Minon 35, a derivative of the Dan 35 III described below, and the Pax 35, a derivative of the Super Dan 35. It is not known if the manufacturer was already called Yamato Kōki in the Hagimoto period, or if the production of the cameras was transferred to Yamato after the 1950 bankruptcy. The words Dan Camera Works are engraved on the Dan 35 III. This has been interpreted by some sources as a company, maker of all the Dan models and predecessor of Yamato Kōki.[10] However this name is probably not the name of any actual company, as for many other names ending in Camera Works.

Common features

The Dan 35 I (ダン35Ⅰ型) and Dan 35 II (ダン35Ⅱ型) are evolutions of the Boltax. They have a new type of focusing helical, turning in the reverse direction. The distance scale is engraved in metres down to 1m or in feet down to 4ft. The main metal parts are chrome-plated and the name Dan 35 is embossed at the bottom of the back.

The shutter is a Silver-B, similar to the Picny D shutter mounted on the Silver. It only differs by the name SILVER–B inscribed at the bottom of the shutter plate. The lens is a Dan Anastigmat 40mm f/4.5, supposedly the same as the Silver Anastigmat lens of the Silver camera, except for the name.

The Dan 35 I

The Dan 35 I has no auto-stop advance. The top plate is removable for film loading, and is very similar to the top plate of the Boltax. It is locked by a key with O and L indications, whose direction is reversed when compared to the locking key of the Boltax. The advance knob is at the left end of the top plate. It is surrounded by a disc with frame numbers engraved in black on a silver background, for manual control of the film advance. The torpedo-shaped viewfinder is placed on a small hump, absent from all the other models. There is a logo engraved on this hump, to the right of the viewfinder, and reading H DAN.

The bottom plate is attached by four screws and has a hump at each end. The hump on the supply side contains the tripod thread. The back has a single red window in the middle, protected by a horizontally sliding cover, and used to set the position of the first exposure.

The Dan 35 II

The Dan 35 II has a fixed top plate, similar to that of the Silver camera, with an auto-stop advance mechanism contained in a small metal casing. The name DAN 35 and the body serial number are engraved on this casing. The torpedo-shaped finder is directly attached to the top plate, and the hump visible on the Dan 35 I has disappeared. The film flange at the right end has the same H DAN logo as on the model I.

The bottom plate is removable for film loading. It is locked in place by a key and has film flanges at both ends. One of the film flanges contains the tripod thread, and the other is sometimes engraved MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN. The back has no red window but a screwed metal part, perhaps used to used to fine tune the infinity focusing during assembly or repair.

Commercial life

The Dan 35 I was advertised in Japanese magazines from February 1948 to December 1949, and the Dan 35 II was advertised from September 1948 to May 1950.

The 20 April 1948 advertisement in Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin shows a drawing of the Dan 35 I in front of a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes.[11] The camera is simply called "Dan 35", and the picture size is mentioned as 25×25mm. The advertisement was placed by the distributor Hagimoto Shōkai, and a list of seven authorized dealers is provided.[12] No price is indicated.

The November 1949 advertisement in Asahi Camera shows the Dan 35 I, II and III.[13] It was placed by the company Dan Shashin-yōhin, and displays the H DAN logo. The models I and II are also briefly mentioned in the March 1950 advertisement in the same magazine.[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.352.
  2. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.140.
  3. ↑ Sugiyama, item 4262, McKeown, p.693.
  4. ↑ Sugiyama, item 4196, Lewis, p.60.
  5. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.354.
  6. ↑ Wife of Hagimoto Danji: this page at Out of Focus, quoting an interview in a TV program. Fujimoto Katsumi: history page of Katsumido.
  7. ↑ Hagimoto Shōkai: advertisement on p.5 of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin, April 20, 1948, reproduced on p.83 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. Dan Shashin-yōhin: advertisements dated November 1949 and March 1950 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.147.
  8. ↑ See this page at Out of Focus.
  9. ↑ Sugiyama, items 4196–9, Lewis, p.60. The attribution of the Dan 35 II and IV to "Daiwa Koki" in Lewis, p.66, is certainly a translation mistake for Yamato Kōki: 大和光機.
  10. ↑ McKeown, pp.241–2.
  11. ↑ Advertisement on p.5 of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin, April 20, 1948, reproduced on p.83 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku.
  12. ↑ The authorized dealers are Ueda Shōten, Yamashita Shōten, Haruna Shōkai, Chiyoda Shōkai, Asanuma Shōkai, Ōmiya Sangyō and Misuzu Shōkai.
  13. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.147.
  14. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.147.

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 535 and 593–5.
  • Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). Pp.60, 66 and 68.
  • 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.241–2, 693 and 1021.
  • Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin (日本写真興業通信). Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku (百号ごと十回の記録, Ten records, every hundred issues). Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin Sha (日本写真興業通信社), 1967. No ISBN number. Advertisement on p.83, corresponding to p.5 of the April 20, 1948 issue.
  • Takezaki Harutoshi (竹崎春年). Boruta-han arekore (ボルタ判あれこれ, This and that Bolta-size camera.) In Camera Collectors' News no.34 (April 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
  • Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Items 4196–8, 4247 and 4262.

Links

In English:

In Japanese:

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