Heliostar
The Heliostar lenses, originating from the German company Steinheil, are found on various Japanese cameras of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Heliostar lenses are not found on Western cameras, and it seems that the trademark was used for export to Japan only.
 
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| Left: Heliostar Anastigmat München 105mm f/4.5 lens no.79355 on a Lomax. Right: Heliostar Anastigmat München 105mm f/6.3 lens no.96185 on a Tokiwa No.3. Pictures courtesy of eBayer hbpartner. (Image rights) |
The full engraving is M. Steinheil München Heliostar on the early lenses, replaced by Heliostar Anastigmat München with no indication of the company on the later lenses.[1] (In the marking, the word "Heliostar" is easily mistaken for Hellostar.)
It is not completely certain that the Heliostar lenses were assembled in Germany. At a later date in the mid-1930s, some Japanese companies assembled complete lenses from separate lens elements imported from Germany (see the Radionar lenses by Neumann & Heilemann). The same might be true of the Heliostar, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Contents
List of cameras equipped
This list is incomplete, and not all the versions have a Heliostar lens:
- Arcadia: 105mm f/4.5 (observed)
- Eaton: 105mm f/4.5 (observed)
- Happy: 105mm f/4.5 (observed)
- Lomax: 105mm f/4.5 (observed)
- National (4×6.5): f/6.3 (advertised)
- Nifcarette: 75mm f/6.3 (observed)
- Sirius: 105mm f/6.3 and 105mm f/4.5 (observed)
- Super and Special Super: f/4.5 (advertised)
- Tokiwa: 105mm f/6.3 and 105mm f/4.5 (observed)
- Weha: 105mm f/6.3, 105mm f/4.5 and 130mm f/4.5 (observed)
- Weha Idea: f/6.3 and f/4.5 (advertised)
Enlarging lenses
 
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| Left: Heliostar Anastigmat München 105mm f/6.3 enlarging lens no.94093. Picture courtesy of Jay Tepper. (Image rights) Right: Asanuma Shōkai catalogue dated October 1941, listing the Heliostar 105mm f/6.3 enlarging lens. (Image rights) |
The Heliostar 105mm f/6.3 lens was also supplied for enlargers.[2] It was listed in an Asanuma Shōkai catalogue as late as October 1941, for ¥33.43.[3]
Table of known lenses
Lens numbers are known in a wide range: lowest is 73230 and highest is 96185. Here is a list of the Heliostar lenses observed so far:
| lens number | lens type | shutter | camera[4] |
| 73230 | 105mm f/6.3 (Steinheil marking) |
Koilos | Sirius |
| 73x25 | 105mm f/6.3 (Steinheil marking) |
Koilos | Sirius |
| 7427x | 105mm f/4.5 | Koilos | Sirius |
| 75004 | 75mm f/6.3 | Koilos | Nifcarette |
| 75739 | 105mm f/4.5 | Neuheil | Arcadia |
| 75791 | 130mm f/4.5 | Ibsor | Weha |
| 78237 | 130mm f/4.5 | Neuheil | Weha |
| 7912x | 105mm f/4.5 | Neuheil | Weha |
| 79355 | 105mm f/4.5 | Koilos | Lomax |
| 81392 | 105mm f/4.5 | Lidex | unknown[5] |
| 81897 | 105mm f/4.5 | Lidex | Happy |
| 84086 | 105mm f/6.3 | Neuheil | Weha |
| 84311 | 105mm f/6.3 | Koilos | Tokiwa |
| 861x1 | 105mm f/4.5 | Koilos | unknown[6] |
| 8758x | 105mm f/4.5 | Lidex | Weha |
| 94093 | 105mm f/6.3 | _ | enlarger[7] |
| 96185 | 105mm f/6.3 | Lidex C | Tokiwa |
Notes
- ↑ The early marking is visible in this page at Asacame.
- ↑ Examples pictured in this article, in this page at Takasaki Motohiro's website, and observed in an online auction on a CH enlarger.
- ↑ Catalogue by Asanuma Shōkai dated October 1941, p.16.
- ↑ The source is indicated in the page on the corresponding camera, or in a dedicated footnote when the camera model is unknown.
- ↑ Lens pictured in Yazawa, p.16 of Camera Collectors' News no.56.
- ↑ Camera pictured in this page at Monomono.
- ↑ Lens pictured in this article.
Bibliography
- Asanuma Shōkai. Shashinki to zairyō (写真機と材料, Cameras and supplies). Catalogue dated October 1941. Pp.7 and 9. Document partly reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.
- Kamera no mekanizumu sono I: "Hai! Chīzu" Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten (カメラのメカニズム・そのⅠ・「ハイ！チーズ」瞬間をとらえ続けるシャッター展, Camera mechanism, part 1 "Cheese!" Exhibition of instant taking shutters). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2002. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number) P.21. (Has a picture of a Heliostar 105mm f/4.5 lens in a Lidex shutter.)
- Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Shashin renzu hattatsu-shi dai-12-kai: Kokusan renzu no rekishi (zenpen)" (写真レンズ発達史第12回・国産レンズの歴史[前編], History of the development of photographic lenses no.12: History of the Japanese lenses [first part]). In Camera Collectors' News no.56 (February 1982). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.11–6. (Shows a picture of a Heliostar lens.)
Links
In Japanese:
- Sirius with a Heliostar 105mm f/6.3 lens and a Koilos shutter at Asacame
- Unknown plate folder with a Heliostar 105mm f/4.5 lens and a Koilos shutter at the Monomono blog
- Plate folder (certainly a Happy) with a Heliostar 105mm f/4.5 lens and a Lidex shutter at takemovies
- Heliostar 105mm f/6.3 enlarging lens at Takasaki Motohiro's camera site
