Lyra (6×9)
The 6×9cm Lyra (ライラ) is a Japanese folding camera, made by Fuji Kōgaku in limited quantities and apparently never released.
In some sources, the camera is called "Lyra 69",[1] but there is no evidence that this name was effectively used by Fuji Kōgaku, and it rather seems that it was crafted by camera collectors. It is probable that the camera would have been sold under another name.
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.[2] 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 6×9cm Lyra 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 6×9cm Lyra were made.[3] It seems that the camera was not advertised,[4] and no original document mentioning the camera has been found yet.
The only surviving example observed so far is pictured in Sugiyama.[5] 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 as 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.
- Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Sonota no nihon no supuringu-kamera" (その他の日本のスプリングカメラ, "Other Japanese folding cameras"). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.8, September 1986. No ISBN number. Supuringu kamera (スプリングカメラ, special issue on spring cameras). Pp.76–80.
The 6×9cm Lyra is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.
Fuji Kōgaku cameras ( ) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
prewar and wartime models | postwar models | |||
3×4 | 4×6.5 | subminiature | 4×4 | subminiature |
Baby Lyra | Baby Lyra Flex | Baby Balnet | Dianette | Pionette | Lyravit | Balnet Four | Comex |
4.5×6 | 6×6 | 6×9 | 4.5×6 | 6×6 |
Bakyna | Semi Lyra | Lyrax | Lyra Six | Lyra Flex | Lyra (6×9) | Semi Lyra | Pioneer | Lyra Six | Lyraflex |