Letix
Template:127 Japan The Letix is a 4×4cm format camera, using 127 film, released by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō (Asahi Optical Industries) around 1940. This company was a sub-company of Riken (today Ricoh). At about the same time, Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō was making the Roico, another 4×4 camera. The Letix appears in advertisements dated 1940[1] and 1941, with the mention of Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō as the maker and K.K. Kaneki Shōten (株式会社カネキ商店) as the distributor.
The Letix has a bakelite body, like the Olympic, but the lens and shutter assembly is mounted on a metal telescopic tube. The Letix has a tubular optical finder in a short top housing with an accessory shoe and what seems to be an exposure counter. This device was necessary because at the time, the film paperback was not marked for 4×4cm pictures. The advance knob is on the left end of the top plate. The back seems to be removable together with the bottom plate. The front of the body is embossed LETIX, but McKeown shows a picture with the body embossed Retix. This funny mistake can be explained because the Japanese language does not distinguish between the "l" and "r" letters.
The lens is a front cell focusing Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f:4.5. It is said to be a triplet, and it is also said that the lens name later became Helios Anastigmat[2]. The shutter has T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds, and is probably the same as on the Olympic cameras. The shutter plate is marked Letix, with an AKK logo (for Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō).
A camera looking very much like the Letix has been observed at an eBay auction with the name Kraft followed by No2586, with a Seikosha Licht shutter. See also this page at Asacame with a Kraft. Maker said to be Ehito Kogaku (エヒト光学).
Links
In Japanese:
- Letix in the camera list at the Ricoh official website
Other:
- Riken 127 cameras and A-Z 127 cameras, including the Letix on this page, at Asacame
- A page from the All Japan Classic Camera Club, presenting the Roico and the Letix side by side
| Asahi Bussan and Riken prewar and wartime cameras () | ||
|---|---|---|
| rigid or collapsible | ||
| Vest Adler | Gokoku | Semi Kinsi | Letix | Olympic | New Olympic | Regal Olympic | Semi Olympic | Super Olympic | Vest Olympic | Riken No.1 | Ricohl | Roico | Seica | Zessan | ||
| folders | pseudo TLR | TLR |
| Semi Adler | Adler III | Adler A | Adler B | Adler C | Adler Four | Adler Six | Gaica | Heil | Kinsi | Chukon Ref | Ricohflex | Ricohflex B |
- ↑ Advertisement for the Letix, published in the October 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 319.
- ↑ According to this page of the Ricoh official website. The name Helios Anastigmat is mentioned by McKeown on the Seica.
