Japanese night camera
The Japanese night camera is a special military camera for night photography, made in Japan in the late 1930s or early 1940s. The camera is known from a single surviving example, which was perhaps the only prototype built.[1]
Description
The camera has a huge Simlar 13cm f/1 lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku, in a fixed all-black barrel. The name Simlar 1:1 f=13cm Tokyo Kogaku K.K. is engraved on the periphery. On the surviving camera, the lens has serial number 1 (engraved as Nr.1); it is not known if other examples were made. The barrel is surrounded by a massive aperture ring, graduated from f/1 to f/8.
The camera body is dwarfed by the huge lens. It consists of a box containing a focal-plane shutter (T, 5–2000) and taking 6.5×9cm plate holders. There is a tubular viewfinder attached at the end of a long arm at the top left — as seen by the photographer.
Notes
- ↑ Example pictured in Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.49, pp.82–3.
Bibliography
- Kurashikku Kamera Senka editorial board. "Yonaka satsuei-yō gun'yō shashinki" (夜中撮影用軍用写真機, Military camera for night photography). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.49, December 1998. ISBN 4-257-13022-9. Amerika-sei 35mm renzu-shattā kamera (アメリカ製35mmレンズシャッターカメラ, issue about American 35mm lens-shutter cameras). Pp.82–3.
