July First
This article is a stub. You can help Camera-wiki.org by expanding it.
The Qiyi (匕一) or July First[1] is a folding camera for 120 roll film, apparently a copy of the Mamiya Six IV. The camera has a rangefinder (it is impossible to see if this is coupled), incorporating a depth-of-field indicator. It has a frame counter scale around the film advance knob, suggesting auto-stop film advance.[2] It was the first camera made by Tianjin Camera Factory, in about 1956-8.[2][3] Only forty copies of the camera are thought to have been made.
Notes
- ↑ The name refers to 1st July 1921, when the Chinese Communist Party was founded.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Article An antique camera collector in Tianjin in People's Daily Online, showing a picture of Qiyi serial no. 12. The owner Wang Guosheng dates the camera to 1956.
- ↑ Flickr member Jun Peng in this discussion about the Easter TLR, dates the founding of the factory to '58.
