Korok

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The Vest Koroku (ベストコロク) or simply Koroku (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.

The only surviving example observed so far, pictured in various sources, is reportedly in 6.5×9cm (daimeishi) format.[3] The picture in Sugiyama shows the full set, complete with original buck-skin wallets for the camera and for the six plate holders.[4]

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).[5]

Notes

  1. Date: Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, Sugiyama, item 1080, Lewis, p.35.
  2. Words in kanji script: Sugiyama, item 1080.
  3. Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 1080, in Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, and in Lewis, p.35. The format is quoted as 6.5×9cm or daimeishi in the two first sources. It is given in Lewis as 57×83mm for the camera in general, not referring to the pictured example; this is an alternate approximation for meishi size.
  4. Sugiyama, item 1080.
  5. Kikuoka, p.32 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.

Bibliography

Links

In Japanese: