Lord (Tōkyō Kōgaku)
The Lord was the first camera made by Tōkyō Kōgaku (later Topcon). It is a coupled rangefinder 4.5×6 camera. The lens and shutter assembly is mounted on a two-part telescopic tube with a focusing helical. The combined range and viewfinder is enclosed in a top housing, with a LORD logo at the front. There is a big advance knob at the left, with a crude type of exposure counter. You have to turn the knob and manually stop at the next number. It is necessary to set it to S for "start" after loading[1].
The Lord has a Simlar 7.5cm f:3.5 (said to be a four element Tessar type). The shutter is a Seikosha with T, B, 1–250 in #0 size[2]. The shutter plate is marked SEIKOSHA-TOKYO at the top and SEIKOSHA at the bottom. There is some sort of bar linked to the shutter, acting as a shutter release.
It is said only 50 were built in 1937 and 1938. The Lord is advertised in the March 1938 issue of Asahi Camera[3] for ¥180, with a Toko Anastigmat (トーコー・アナスチグマット) 75/3.5 lens and a S Seiko (Sセイコー) shutter by Seikosha. The full maker's name is Tōkyō Kōgaku Kikai K.K. (東京光學機械株式會社 in old writing).
Notes
- ↑ Jason Schneider, p.109
- ↑ Antonetto and Russo say that it is a "Seikosha type S" and that the top speed is 1/200. The latter point is contradicted by the pictures.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Lord, published in the March 1938 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 332.
Printed bibliography
In English:
- Topcon Story, by Marco Antonetto and Claudio Russo, published by NWG, p23
- Jason Schneider on Camera Collecting, Book Two, by Jason Schneider, published by WH, p109, the camera illustrated is probably the same, but the picture is better
In Japanese:
- 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 332.
Links
In Japanese:
- Lord in a page of the Topcon Club website (the mention of a 75/6.3 lens is contradicted by all the pictures)