Lyra (6×9)
The Lyra 69 (ライラ69) is a Japanese 6×9cm folding camera, made by Fuji Kōgaku in limited quantities and apparently never released. It is only known from an entry in Sugiyama and a brief mention in a JCII exhibition catalogue.
Context
In 1937, the company Fuji Kōgaku was already offering a copy of the Ikonta 3×4 (the Baby Lyra), 4.5×6 (the Semi Lyra) and 6×6 (the Lyra Six). This model probably dates from that period.[1] Fuji Kōgaku would have become the only Japanese company to offer a folder model in all four formats. However the 6×9cm cameras only met limited success in Japan, in part because the price of the films, and this is probably why the Lyra 69 did not enter production.
Description of the body
The Lyra 69 is a vertical folding camera, plain copy of the Ikonta and Nettar 6×9 models. There is a folding optical finder and no body release. The advance key is at the bottom right, as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally. The back is hinged to the left and the back latch is covered by a leather handle.
The name LYRA is embossed in the front leather.
Pre-series cameras
It is said that 30 examples of the camera were made.[2] It is not known if the name "Lyra 69" was effectively used by the company or if it was crafted by collectors. It is probable that the camera would have been sold under another name.
The only surviving example observed so far is pictured in Sugiyama. It is equipped with a Telma shutter, marked ZEISS IKON at the top, giving T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds. The lens is reported to be a Nettar 110/4.5. This lens and shutter assembly was probably taken from a Nettar camera and it is possible that the company never went to the point of making a lens covering 6×9cm format.
Notes
Bibliography
- Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten (思い出のスプリングカメラ展, Exhibition of beloved self-erecting cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P. 7 (brief mention only).
- Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 1169.
