Difference between revisions of "First Center"

From Camera-wiki.org
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Evolution, lens and shutter equipment: mags)
m (cat)
Line 30: Line 30:
 
* {{Zukan}} Items 1047.
 
* {{Zukan}} Items 1047.
  
[[Category: 6x9 viewfinder folding]]
+
[[Category: Japanese 6x9 viewfinder folding]]
[[Category: Japanese viewfinder folding]]
 
[[Category: Japanese 6x9 folding]]
 
 
[[Category: Kuribayashi]]
 
[[Category: Kuribayashi]]
 
[[Category: F]]
 
[[Category: F]]

Revision as of 21:19, 12 May 2007

Japanese older 6×9 (edit)
folding First Center | First Roll | Kinka Roll | Lyra (6×9) | Pearl No.3 | Pearl No.2 | Year-Eight Pearl | Reex | Royal Junior
box Dox | Sakura (box)
3×4 and 4×4, 4×5 and 4×6.5, 4.5×6, 6×6 and plate ->
Modern 6×9 RF and SLR ->

The First Center (ファーストセンター) is a Japanese 6×9cm folding camera, sold by First Camera Works or Minagawa Shōten from 1936 or 1937 until the war.[1] It was certainly made by Kuribayashi.[2]

Description of the body

The First Center is a vertical folding camera taking both 6×9 and 4.5×6 exposures. It is self erecting and has folding struts inspired from the Balda products. It is actually a close copy of the Balda Gloria, Glorina or Pontina 6×9 folder. The name FIRST-CENTER is embossed in the front leather.

There is a folding optical finder and a brilliant finder attached to the lens standard. The focal length is always 105mm. The advance knob is at the bottom right, as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally. The back is hinged to the left and the back latch is covered by a leather handle. There are two red windows near the top of the back.

Evolution, lens and shutter equipment

The First Center was advertised in April 1937 with a Toko lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku and a Magna shutter by Seikōsha in two versions with f/6.3 and f/4.5 maximal aperture, respectively costing ¥38 and ¥45.[3]

In August 1937, the range was as follows:[4]

The First Center was still listed in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled in October 1940, in two versions called "First Center I" (¥56) and "First Center II" (¥103) with no further detail.[6]

Two surviving examples of the First Center have been observed so far. One has the State f/4.5 and Magna combination.[7] The lens has the Tōkyō Kōgaku logo and is engraved State 1:4,5 f=10,5cm Tokyo Kogaku Nr.xxxxx. The other is pictured in Sugiyama, Baird and McKeown and has the State f/4.5 lens in a Seikosha shutter giving T, B, 1–250 speeds.[8]

Notes

  1. The 1936 release date is given by Baird, pp. 19 and 94–5, Sugiyama, item 1047 and McKeown, p. 577. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 340, lists advertisements and articles dated 1937 only, and says that the camera was featured in the new products column of the January 1937 issue of Asahi Camera. The First Center was still listed in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled on October 25, 1940.
  2. Baird; McKeown, p. 577. No original document has been found to confirm this.
  3. Advertisement published in Camera Club, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 88.
  4. Advertisement published in Camera Club, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 88.
  5. The Rulex shutter name is not explicitly mentioned but it appears in the advertising pictures.
  6. Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 6, sections 2 and 4.
  7. Example observed in a Yahoo Japan auction.
  8. Sugiyama, item 1047, Baird, p. 94, McKeown, p. 577.

Bibliography