Japanese aerial cameras

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Various Japanese companies manufactured aerial cameras. Most were made for the Japanese military forces before and during World War II. Further cameras, such as the Konica Type G, were made after 1945 for Japan's Self-Defense Forces or for other countries.

Handheld reconnaissance cameras

To be done.

Fixed reconnaissance cameras

To be done.

Machine-gun training cameras

Machine-gun training cameras are shaped as a machine gun, and are used to train the gunners. Rokuoh-sha made various such cameras from the mid-1920s onwards, and Tōkyō Kōgaku made at least one model in the late 1930s.

The Type 15 Gun Camera with Watch (一五式写真銃時計附)[1][2] was made by Rokuoh-sha for the Navy, and the Type 15 Gun Camera Modified 1 (一五式写真銃改一)[3] was certainly an evolution. This machine-gun camera was ordered by Yamada Kōgorō (山田幸五郎) of the Japanese Navy, was produced from 1926 under the supervision of Mōri Hirō (毛利広雄), and delivered from 1927; it would be produced until 1942.[3] It was based on the Hythe gun camera made by Thornton-Pickard in Great-Britain from 1915,[1][3] and it was initially equipped with Wollensak or Zeiss Tessar lenses.[3] The camera takes 120 size rollfilm, and makes 4×4.5cm exposures.[1] The time was printed on the rest of the 6×6cm frame, and target rings were also superimposed on the image.[1]

The Rotational Target-checking Camera (廻転式射撃鑑査写真機) was a similar camera made by Rokuoh-sha for the Army.[4][3] (In the name, the word "rotational" or "rotating" is perhaps an allusion to the drum magazines of the original Lewis machine gun from which it is inspired.) The original label inside the box has the subtitle "Hythe type" (ハイス型),[5] plainly saying that the camera was inspired by Thornton-Pickard's Hythe gun camera. This model was perhaps released around 1926, at the same time as the Type 15 for the Navy, also with Wollensak or Zeiss Tessar lenses.[3] Later versions have an Optor 28.5cm f/11 lens.[4] The image size is 4.5×6cm on 120 film.[4]

The Rotational Target-checking Camera Model 17 (廻転式射撃鑑査写真機第十七号) was made by Tōkyō Kōgaku, after the same Thornton-Pickard model.[6][7] It takes 4.5×6cm exposures on 120 film,[6] and is generally quite similar to Rokuoh-sha's own Rotating Target-checking Camera. It is said that 605 units were supplied to the Japanese Army.[6]

The Type 89 Machine-gun Camera (八九式活動写真銃) was an all new model by Rokuoh-sha, taking 18×24mm pictures on 35mm cine film. It is driven by a spring motor, taking 10 frames per second.[8] It is said that four experimental cameras were made in 1929.[3] (In the name, "Type 89" stands for year 2589 in the Japanese mythological calendar, i.e. 1929.) Four examples of the Modified 1 (改一) version were made in 1931, followed by another batch of ten.[3] This version adopted a Hexar Ser.1 7.5cm f/4.5 taking lens and another Hexar Ser.1 4cm f/4.5 auxiliary lens to reproduce the dial of a stop watch to register the firing time.[9] The Modified 2 (改二) was made from 1933 to about 1944.[3] All the cameras observed so far correspond to the latter version.[10] Variations are known, notably differing by the presence or absence of a handgrip and attachment lugs.

Target cameras

Target cameras are attached inside or outside the aircraft, and are able to shoot a rapid sequence of images to document the result of a combat action or for training purpose.

Tōkyō Kōgaku made at least one such camera, sometimes called "Zero Fighter Target-checking Camera", perhaps officially called Fixed Target-checking Gun Camera (固定射撃鑑査銃), issued in 1941 and used on the Zero fighter.[11] The latter was contained in an aerodynamic fairing, attached under the aircraft fusealge. It also takes 4.5×6cm on 120 film, and it has a Toko 35.6cm f/4.5 fixed-focus lens, and a single shutter speed.[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sugiyama, item 6014.
  2. ↑ Nakayama and Imai, pp.126–7 of Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 this page at R.Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sugiyama, item 6018.
  5. ↑ Picture observed in an online forum.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Sugiyama, item 6016.
  7. ↑ The camera is also mentioned in Antonetto and Russo, p.25, who say that it was a "rapid-firing camera capable of shooting a burst of 4.5×6cm frames". The actual camera does not seem to have a motor drive, and this description is perhaps misleading.
  8. ↑ Sugiyama, item 6015.
  9. ↑ this page at R.Konishi Rokuoh-sha. The auxiliary lens is also described in Sugiyama, item 6015, and in Nakayama and Imai, pp.124–5 of Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan, for the Modified 2 version.
  10. ↑ This includes the camera pictured in Sugiyama, item 6015, and that in Nakayama and Imai, pp.124–5 of Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan.
  11. ↑ Sugiyama, item 6017. This is repeated in Antonetto and Russo, p.25. The latter says that it was relatively similar to the preceding "Model 17" machine-gun target-checking camera, but this is wrong.
  12. ↑ Sugiyama, item 6017.

Bibliography

  • Antonetto, M. and Russo, C. Topcon Story. Lugano: Nassa Watch Gallery, 1997. ISBN 88-87161-00-3. P.25.
  • 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.538, 545 and 673–4.
  • Nakayama Kaeru (中山蛙) and Imai Kesaharu (今井今朝春). Militarī gun'yō kamera daizukan (ミリタリー軍用カメラ大図鑑, Album of military cameras). Tokyo: Green Arrow, 1997. ISBN 4-7663-3192-3.
  • 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 6010–18.

Links

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