Mamiya Pistol

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The Mamiya Pistol (マミヤピストル) or Fast-action camera (速写カメラ) is a pistol-shaped half-frame camera made by Mamiya in 1954, for the Japanese police.

Description

The camera is shaped as a pistol, with a handgrip and a trigger. The lens is placed at the front end, at the gun nozzle. Most of the camera is black, except for the two side plates, the trigger and usually the lens barrel. There is a single strap lug at the bottom, under the handgrip. The camera has Mamiya's SM logo on the left side plate, and a five-pointed logo on the rear, immediately above the serial number.

The left-hand side plate is removable for film loading, and is locked by a latch at the rear. The camera takes 35mm perforated film, but it is not clear whether it accepts the regular film cassettes or takes its own specific cartridge.

The right-hand side plate is fixed and has the advance and rewind controls. The film is advanced by a lever on the rear, running vertically along the edge of the side plate. The shutter is cocked in the same movement. An exposure counter is visible in a crescent-shaped window next to the take-up spool axis. The rewind unlock button is on the axis centre, concealed in a slot to prevent unwanted activation. The rewind knob itself is on the same side, on the supply spool axis. A small window is visible closer to the lens, showing a red or white dot, presumably indicating if the camera is ready to shoot or not.

The shutter, from 1/50 to 1/150, is released by the trigger. The lens is a no-name 50/5.6, giving a slight telephoto effect on half-frame exposures. The diaphragm has only two blades, forming a square hole. The aperture and shutter settings are controlled by a single ring around the lens barrel, graduated from 1 to 6. This is an early form of programmed exposure, where the light level is input by hand (instead of an exposure meter). The position of the ring translates into actual exposure settings as follows:

position	speed	aperture
1	1/50	5.6
2	1/100	5.6
3	1/150	5.6
4	1/150	8
5	1/150	11
6	1/150	16

Bibliography

• 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. P.19.
• Inoue Mitsuo (井上光朗). "Kokkei tokubetsu shiyō no hāfusaizu — Mamiya Pisutoru [Sokusha Kamera]" (国警特別使用のハーフサイズ・マミヤピストルカメラ[速写カメラ], The Mamiya Pistol [Fast-action camera], a half-frame camera for special use by the national police). 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.35, November 1995. Nihon no kamera 50nen (日本のカメラ50年, special issue on 50 years of Japanese cameras). P.136.
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P.648.
• 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 3401.
• Watanabe Katsumi (渡辺勝美) and Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Mamiya Pistol" (マミヤピストル). In Camera Collectors' News no.31 (January 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.15–7.

Links

In English:

• Past auctions by Westlicht Photographica Auction:
  • Mamiya Pistol, lot no.504 of auction no.5 (May 29, 2004)
  • Mamiya Pistol, lot no.663 of auction no.11 (26 May 2007)
  • Mamiya Pistol, lot no.610 of auction no.13 (June 7, 2008)
• Mamiya Pistol among other 35mm Mamiya cameras at Ron Herron's Collecting Mamiya 35mm website
• Mamiya Pistol at Subclub.org

In Japanese:

• Mamiya Pistol among Japanese pistol-shaped cameras at Sepia World
• Mamiya Pistol among pistol-shaped cameras at the JCII Camera Museum
• Mamiya Pistol in the Mamiya page of the Japanese Wikipedia