Difference between revisions of "Korok"
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Revision as of 22:41, 15 January 2008
The Koroku (コロク) or Vest Koroku (ベストコロク) is a Japanese strut-folding plate camera. It was made from about 1914 by Rokuoh-sha, manufacturing branch of Konishi (predecessor of Konica), and it exists in 6.5×9cm (daimeishi) and 8×10.5cm (tefuda) size.[1] It was the successor of the Minimum Idea.
Description
The Koroku is one of the first Japanese cameras to have a metal body. It is inspired from the Vest Pocket Kodak and has a pop-out rectangular front standard mounted on trellis struts. This front standard contains a single brilliant finder at the top, in the middle, a meniscus lens and a simple shutter giving Time, Bulb and Instant settings selected by an index above the lens. The words MANUFACTURED BY ROKUOH-SHA TOKYO. are inscribed around the lens. The aperture is set by an index at the bottom, with four positions indicated both by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and by words in kanji script.[2]
The rear part of the camera has no similarity with the Vest Pocket Kodak, and simply consists of a box with attachment rails for the ground glass or plate holders.
Versions
The advertisement for the Koroku reproduced here at the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website presents the camera as a new model, evolved from the Minimum Idea through various improvements. The camera is called "Vest Koroku Camera" (ヴェスト、コロク、カメラ) in the title and simply "Koroku Camera" (コロク、カメラ) in the text. The format is mentioned as meishi size, approximately corresponding to 5.5×8cm. The camera was sold with six single-sided plate holders, the same as the Minimum Idea. It cost ¥15 with cloth wallets and ¥16 with a leather case.
It seems that the surviving example pictured in the various sources is one and the same.[3] Its format is quoted as 6.5×9cm or daimeishi in some sources.[4] In others, the format is given as 57×83mm for the camera in general, not necessarily referring to the pictured example;[5] this is an alternate approximation for meishi size. The picture in Sugiyama shows the full set, complete with original buck-skin wallets for the camera and for the six plate holders.[6]
According to Kikuoka, apparently quoting the official company history Shashin to tomo ni hyaku-nen, the camera also existed in 8×10.5cm (tefuda) size, and there was perhaps a wooden version in meishi (5.5×8cm) format, called the Sketch Camera (スケッチカメラ).[7]
Name
The name "Koroku" was certainly formed after Konishi Rokuemon, name of the founder of the Konishi company; "Konishi Honten" and "Honten Konishi Rokuemon" were two alternative names of the company at the time. The name, pronounced as "Korok" or "Kolok" in Japanese, is also an obvious imitation of "Kodak".
Notes
- ↑ Date: Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, Sugiyama, item 1080, Lewis, p.35.
- ↑ Words in kanji script: Sugiyama, item 1080.
- ↑ Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 1080, in Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, in Lewis, p.35, and in this page of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology. The camera is said to belong to M. Morihara in the two first sources, and the picture is the same in the last three.
- ↑ Format quoted as 6.5×9cm in Sugiyama, item 1080, and as daimeishi in Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.
- ↑ Format quoted as 57×83mm in Lewis, p.35, and in this page of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology.
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 1080.
- ↑ Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.
Bibliography
- Kikuoka Sei (菊岡清). "Konica history 3. Meiji 41-nen – Taishō 12-nen." (Konica history 3. 明治41年–大正12年. From Meiji year 41 (1908) to Taishō year 12 (1923).) 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.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.24–32.
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P.35 (the camera is called "Korok").
- 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 1080.
Links
In Japanese: