Lustre

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K.K. Lustre Camera (㈱ラスターカメラ, Rasutā Kamera) was a Japanese camera maker in the mid-1950s. Its main address in early 1955 was Setagaya-ku Matsubara-chō (世田ヶ谷区松原町) 1–42 in Tokyo and the address of the plant was Shimoochiai (下落合) 353 in Yono (a city which was recently merged into Saitama).[1] The Tokyo address soon became the company's Tokyo service station, and the headquarters moved to the Yono address.[2] The company perhaps changed its name to Lustre Kōki K.K. (ラスター光機㈱) in 1956.[3]

The company made the Lustreflex TLR cameras and perhaps some versions of the Elegaflex and Echoflex. It also certainly made the Lustre and Lustre-Rapid shutters mounted on some of these cameras. The company's logo was the name Lustre written inside a doublet lens scheme.

It seems that the company was renamed Hara after its president Hara Giichi, at some time between 1958 and 1961, with a similar address: Shimoochiai 461 in Yono (Saitama); the Halma Flex, Halma Auto and Halma 44, as well as their Prinz and Tower name variants, are attributed to Hara, and all trace seems lost after 1964.[4] The full name was perhaps Hara Seisakusho, and the initials "H.S." are found on the accessory shoe of the Prinz Auto.[5]

Camera list

Made by Lustre:


Made by Hara:


Other cameras equipped with a Lustre shutter:

Notes

  1. Source: advertisements dated April and May 1955, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.204. The full address in Yono was Saitama-ken Kita-Adachi-gun Yono-chō Shimoochiai (埼玉県北足立郡与野町) 353.
  2. Source: advertisement dated June 1955 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.205.
  3. This name is given in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.413 (item 1749) for the Lustreflex M.
  4. All this is reported by Koji Namikawa in this page at tlr-cameras.com, based on documents about the camera inspections for export.
  5. The message by Koji Namikawa says "Hara Factory Ltd", perhaps a translation of "Hara Seisakusho".

Bibliography

Links

In English: