Difference between revisions of "Kraft"
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== Bibliography == | == Bibliography == | ||
* {{Showa10}} Item 76. | * {{Showa10}} Item 76. | ||
| + | * {{Kakaku1940}} | ||
* {{McKeown12}} Pp. 548–9. | * {{McKeown12}} Pp. 548–9. | ||
This camera is not listed in {{Sugiyama}}. | This camera is not listed in {{Sugiyama}}. | ||
Revision as of 00:41, 5 March 2007
The Kraft (クラフト) is a 4×4cm format camera, using 127 film, made by Ehito Kōgaku Kōgyō from 1941 to 1943.[1] It is very similar to the Letix, made from 1940 by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō (a sub-company of Riken), but it has a metal body instead of bakelite. The early examples of the Kraft share many parts with the Letix and the two cameras are surely related. It is not known if Ehito was a subcontractor of Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō that made the metal parts of the Letix from the beginning or if Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō transfered the design of the Letix to Ehito which modified it with a metal body.
General description
The Kraft has a metal body (unlike the Letix that has a bakelite body). There is a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly.
The camera is covered by a top housing except the space around the advance knob, at the left end of the top plate. This advance knob is very thick and has an arrow engraving above. The camera is equipped with auto-stop film advance, a device that is necessary because the film paperback is not marked for 4×4cm pictures. Between the finder and the advance knob there is a button that perhaps unlocks the auto-stop advance device. There is also an exposure counter on the right, of which two variants are known, and an accessory shoe on the right end.
The back is said to be removable together with the bottom plate (like the Letix).[2]
The name KRAFT and the serial number are engraved on a nameplate screwed to the front of the top housing and surrounding the viewfinder window.
Early model
On the early model, the exposure counter consists of a fully exposed disc engraved from 1 to 12, and the tubular optical finder is a separate part, attached to the middle of the top housing. On the nameplate, the serial number is written after the name KRAFT. This model has the same viewfinder, exposure counter, advance knob, accessory shoe and telescopic tube as the Letix, and the top housing is only slightly different.
The camera was listed in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled on October 25, 1940 and published in January 1941, under the names "Karft I" (¥95) and "Kraft II" (¥125), with no further details.[3] The same document also lists a camera called "Ehito" for ¥125, in the same category, which is perhaps the same as the Kraft II.
In an advertisement dated January 1942, the early model was offered in two versions, both with a Kraft Anastigmat f/3.5 front-cell focusing lens:[4]
- Kraft I: Licht shutter by Seikōsha, T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds, self-timer (¥109);
- Kraft II: Perfect shutter by Neumann & Heilemann, B, 1–300 speeds, self-timer (¥125).
The advertisement mentions a double exposure prevention device. However that would need a linkage from the shutter release lever to the advance mechanism, that is obviously not present in the variant equipped with an everset Licht.
The focal length of the lens is not given. An example (n°2751) has been observed with a Kraft Anastigmat 5cm f/3.5 lens.[5] The B, 1–300 shutter is marked KRAFT-WORKS on the speed rim and at the bottom of the shutter plate. It is perhaps a rebadged Perfect shutter. Another example (n°2785) has been observed with a Kraft Anastigmat 60mm f/3.5 lens mounted in a Licht shutter, thus corresponding to the Kraft I.[6]
The names of two companies are indicated in the advertisement: Ehito Kōgaku Kōgyō and Ishii Shōkai, probably the distributor.
Late model
On the late model, the exposure counter disc is placed under the top housing and is only visible though a crescent-shaped window. The viewfinder is incorporated in a slightly modified top housing, with a depression under the left hand button. On the nameplate, the serial number is written under the name KRAFT.
One example has been observed with a Kraft Anastigmat 5cm f/3.5 front-cell focusing lens, mounted in the same Kraft-Works B, 1–300 shutter as described above.[7]
Notes
- ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 336.
- ↑ Back: this page at Asacame.
- ↑ Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 1, sections 9 and 10.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 68.
- ↑ Example n°2751 pictured in McKeown, p. 548.
- ↑ Example n°2785 pictured in this page at Asacame.
- ↑ Example n°5117, pictured in McKeown, pp. 548–9.
Bibliography
- 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. Item 76.
- Template:Kakaku1940
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). Pp. 548–9.
This camera is not listed in Sugiyama.
Links
In Japanese:
- Kraft in the A–Z 127 film cameras at Asacame
