Japanese 3×4 and 4×4 pseudo TLR
Template:127 Japan The Chukon Ref (チューコンレフ)[1] is a 3×4cm format camera released by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō (today Ricoh) in 1939. According to this page of the Ricoh official website, the camera was only sold by Riken but it was made by another company. It appears in the new products column of the August 1939 issue of Asahi Camera[2].
It is a pseudo TLR: its shape imitates a twin lens reflex but it is fixed-focus and the finder is nothing more than a big brilliant finder. It has a black bakelite body, and the lens is said to be a Chukon Anastigmat 50/6.3 with three elements[3] The shutter has B, 25, 50, 75, 100 speeds. The shutter plate is marked Chukon Ref at the top and R.K.K. at the bottom (for Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō).
There is a reference on this page at tlr-cameras.com to a 1939 fixed focus pseudo TLR made by Prince and called "Prince Baby Ref", possibly the same as the Chukon Ref. A very similar camera called "Clover Baby Ref" is also reported as made in 1937 by Hagi Kōgyō Bōeki (荻工業貿易, Hagi Industries and Trade) (see the links).
Notes
- ↑ The name Chūkon can be written 忠魂 and then it means "faithful spirit", sometimes in the sense of "loyal dead" or "war dead". Riken used such weird "patriotic" names during the war.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi p. 337.
- ↑ In this page of the Ricoh official website.
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. Item 142.
Links
In Japanese:
- Ricoh camera list at the Ricoh official website, with:
- The Clover Baby Ref in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
| Asahi Bussan and Riken prewar and wartime cameras () | ||
|---|---|---|
| rigid or collapsible | ||
| Vest Adler | Gokoku | Semi Kinsi | Letix | Olympic | New Olympic | Regal Olympic | Semi Olympic | Super Olympic | Vest Olympic | Riken No.1 | Ricohl | Roico | Seica | Zessan | ||
| folders | pseudo TLR | TLR |
| Semi Adler | Adler III | Adler A | Adler B | Adler C | Adler Four | Adler Six | Gaica | Heil | Kinsi | Chukon Ref | Ricohflex | Ricohflex B |
