Kinka Lucky
The Lucky (ラッキー) or Kinka Lucky (錦華ラッキー) is a Japanese camera taking 3×4cm exposures on 127 film. It was released by Yamamoto Shashinki Kōsakusho in late 1935 and advertised until 1937.[1]
Contents
General description
The Kinka Lucky is inspired from the Picny, itself copying the Gewirette by Wirgin. It has a rounded metal body and a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly.
The top plate supports the advance knob on the right end, a key to open the camera, a tubular optical finder slightly offset to the left and a round plate on the left end. The top plate is removed for film loading, like the Picny and in the same spirit as the bottom loading of the Leica screw models.
Commercial life
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| Advertisement for the Lucky in Asahi Camera July 1936. (Image rights) |
The first mention of the camera is an advertisement in Asahi Camera July 1936, reproduced above.[2] In this document, the model is simply called Lucky Camera. Two versions are listed and pictured, with f/6.3 and f/4.5 lens, respectively priced at ¥22.50 and ¥33. Both have a folding optical finder, whose front part is inscribed Lucky and folds above the rear one.
In an advertisement in the January 1937 issue of the same magazine, the camera is offered as the Kinka Lucky and more details are given about the two versions:[3]
Actual examples
Only two surviving examples are known so far, both pictured in Sugiyama.
The f/6.3 example is similar to the camera pictured in the January 1937 advertisement.[6] It looks like it has a focusing helical at the base of the telescopic tube. The settings 2 and 5 are visible but they are very far apart and this hardly looks like a distance scale.
The shutter is everset and gives T, B, 100, 50, 25 speeds, selected by turning the rim. The lens name is written on the shutter plate, like on the Picny. It begins with ORIENTAL OPTICAL CERONAR and probably continues with the lens aperture and focal length. The shutter plate is also written MADE BY Y.C.E.W. TOKYO. Some of the initials certainly stand for Yamamoto, Camera and Works but the meaning of the "E" is unclear.
The f/4.5 example is similar to the f/4.5 Lucky presented in the July 1936 advertisement, except for the tubular finder.[7] It has a front-cell focusing lens and the base of the telescopic tube is plainly screwed to the body. The lens is an Anastigmat Trionar 50/4.5 and the aperture is set by an index at the bottom. The shutter is a dial-set Elka, marked ELKA on the speed setting wheel. The shutter plate also has a logo on the right, perhaps reading TB. The release lever is attached to the front of the shutter housing, and there is also a distant release connector on the side and a hole at the bottom, probably for a thread and needle release device (a crude replacement for a self-timer).
Notes
- ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.335. The camera was featured in the new products column of the December 1935 issue of Asahi Camera.
- ↑ Advertisement in Asahi Camera July 1936, p.A62, also reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.102. It is the oldest document listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.335 and 343.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.67.
- ↑ Name inferred from the katakana トリオナー.
- ↑ Name inferred from the katakana ヴァルダー.
- ↑ Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 3027.
- ↑ Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 3026.
Bibliography
Original documents
- Asahi Camera. Advertisements by Yamamoto Shashinki Kōsakusho:
- July 1936, p.A62;
- December 1936, p.A58;
- January 1937, p.A56;
- April 1937, p.A65.
Recent sources
- 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. Items 67 and 304.
- 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. Item 3026–7.
