Hope plate folders

The Hope (ホープ) are Japanese 6.5×9cm plate folders, made by Ōhashi Kōki Seisakusho and distributed by Ōhashi Takeji Shōten around 1935.

Metal model

The Hope has a metal body and double extension bellows. Versions with an f/6.3 and an f/4.5 lens were reportedly advertised in the December 1935 issue of Photo Times.

Hope in a Ōhashi leaflet. Click on the image for a translation. (Image rights)

An undated leaflet by Ōhashi (reproduced in this page) offers a single version called Hope Improved B (ホープ改良B型) with a Genira Special f/6.8 lens and a Genira shutter giving 25, 50, 100, T, B speeds. The price is indicated as ¥15, including three metal holders, one film pack holder and a cable release. However, the advertising picture shows a different version, with a Rulex shutter by Neumann & Heilemann and a lens probably wider than f/6.8. The pictured camera has a brilliant finder on the lens standard and a wireframe finder.

Wooden model

One example of a plate folder with a wooden body has been reported as a 6.5×9cm Hope in this page at Asacame. It looks much earlier than the metal model. It has a simple front standard made of two poles attached to a transversal plate at the bottom, allowing horizontal and vertical movements. This front standard moves on a central focusing rail, with a small focusing wheel on the photographer's right and a distance scale on the left. There is a cubic-shape brilliant finder at the top of the left-hand pole. The shutter is a dial-set Vario giving 25, 50, 100, B, T speeds. The lens is a Rodenstock-Periskop f/11, perhaps having 12.0cm or 13.0cm focal length, as appears on the lens rim; however the camera is reported as having a Deltas Anastigmat f/6.8. There is a possibility that the picture and description are mismatched, and that the camera is not a Hope.

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. Item 240. (Unlike most other entries in this book, no advertisement is reproduced and no picture is given.)
• 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). P.48 (brief mention only).
• Ōhashi Takeji Shōten (大橋武治商店). Leaflet for the Hope, Seves, Baby Light, Roll Light Ref, Bosch enlarging lens, Cross filters and Riken hood. Date not indicated. Document partly reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.

The Hope is not listed in Sugiyama.

Links

In Japanese:

• Hope (wooden) at Asacame