Kely

The Kely is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera, about which very little is known. It seems that the camera was made by Kigawa in the early postwar period. It is very similar to the Kiko Semi with folding finder and front-cell focusing, of which it was perhaps a rebadged version.

See also the Kelly made in the early 1940s by Miyoshi Kōgaku, which has a similar name but seems unrelated.

Description

The Kely is known from a single example, observed in an online auction. The name KeLy appears on a hexagonal plate riveted to the front of the camera body.

The body is copied from the Nettar, with straight diagonal struts. There is a folding optical finder in the middle of the top plate. The body release is to the left — as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally. The folding bed release is to the right, and there are film flanges at both ends.

It seems that the film is advanced by a key at the bottom right. The back is hinged to the left and the back latch consists of a long sliding bar.

On the particular camera observed, the shutter is a Kiko-C (150–25, B, T). Its front plate is marked PATENT TUBASA at the top and KIKO–C at the bottom. The lens is an Erinar Anastigmat 75mm f/3.5, with serial number 1314. It might belong to the same batch as other Erinar Anastigmat lenses with four-digit number mounted on postwar examples of the Gotex.

Bibliography

The Kely is not listed in Sugiyama or Kokusan kamera no rekishi.