Difference between revisions of "Miranda"
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Revision as of 16:40, 17 April 2009
Miranda was a Japanese company, which made a long line of 35mm SLR cameras.
Contents
History
Early period
The company's founder was Ogihara Akira (萩原彰, 1920–1992[1]). Ogihara studied aeronautical engineering in the Imperial University of Tokyo during World War II, then worked on pulse jet engines for the Japanese Navy.[1] He notably developed the pulse jet engine of a manned flying bomb inspired by the German V1,[1] certainly the Ka-10 (カ10) engine for the Baika (梅花). When the war ended, all sort of military research was halted in Japan, and Ogihara turned to the camera industry.
Ogihara founded a company just after the war — some sources say 1946 but this is perhaps too early.[2] It was named Orion Seiki (オリオン精機) in 1946, reportedly after the constellation of Orion.[1] Around 1948, the company's full name was Orion Seiki Sangyō Y.K. (オリオン精機産業有限会社, meaning Orion Precision Products Industries Co., Ltd.), offering repairs and modifications for professional cameras.[1]
The company made various accessories in the early to mid 1950s, including the Mirax reflex housing, the Focabell bellows and Supreme lenses, and the Coupler, an adapter to use Contax lenses or Nikon lenses on Leica screw mount cameras while keeping the rangefinder coupling. The company used the name Orion Camera Co. on most of these, but its actual name remained Orion Seiki.[3] It is said that some products were designed by Ogihara's partner Ōtsuka Shintarō (大塚新太郎, 1921-2005), notably the Coupler.[1] These products were distributed by relatively minor companies, such as Summit Shōkai in 1953, Mastushima at least from 1953 onwards, and perhaps Mukui Labo. At some time in the mid-1950s, the company might have produced the Orion Six 6×6 folder in small quantities.
From Orion to Miranda
In 1954, the company developed the Phoenix 35mm SLR prototype, which was released in 1955 as the Miranda T, the first Japanese 35mm SLR camera commercially available with a pentaprism.[4] The company renamed itself Miranda Camera K.K. (ミランダカメラ㈱) after its main product in 1956 or 1957.[5]
On the Japanese market, the early Miranda were still distributed by Matsushima for some time, then perhaps by the company itself.[6] The distribution was briefly taken over by Ricoh from early 1959, as prominently announced in early advertisements for the Miranda B.[7] It is said that the decision was directly taken by Ricoh's founder Ichimura Kiyoshi (市村清).[1] The agreement was however short-lived: the sales of the Miranda camera abruptly stopped on the domestic market in mid-1959 for an unknown reason,[1] and the Miranda cameras were made for export only for a few years.[8] The US importer by Allied Impex (or AIC), owner of the Soligor brand, notably used on the lenses for the Miranda cameras.
In 1960, the company dropped the original dodecagonal body for a rounded body on the late Miranda D. It also released the Automex, with a built-in external selenium meter, and new lenses with internal diaphragm actuation and a cam transmitting the aperture setting to the body.
Into Allied Impex
It is said that the company set up its own lens factory in 1963[1] (earlier lenses were supplied by various manufacturers, except for the first Supreme). The company returned the Japanese market in autumn 1964,[9] but the US importer Allied Impex gradually took control, and was fully owning the company by the late 1960s.[10]
The Sensorex model was released in 1967, with TTL exposure metering. It is said that a new factory was opened outside Tokyo in 1970 or perhaps 1971.[11] In 1971, the company introduced the Sensorex EE with shutter-priority automatic exposure and a new set of viewfinders. Upgraded as the EE-2 in 1976, it would be the last Miranda with interchangeable viewfinder.
In 1972, the company released its only non-SLR camera, the Sensoret compact rangefinder. In 1975, it made an attempt at a compact SLR with fixed prism and electronically controlled shutter, called the Miranda dx-3. None of these met a great success, and the Miranda company went bankrupt on December 10, 1976[12] and stopped camera production the same month.[13]
The Miranda brand was re-used in the 1980s for cheap SLR cameras (apparently made by Chinon), lenses, flashguns or point-and-shoot cameras.[14]
Serial numbers
Early products by Orion and Miranda have six-digit serial numbers. The first two look like they might indicate the year of production, but this is certainly misleading: the transition from Orion Camera Co. to Miranda Camera Co. surely took place when the company changed its name in 1956 or 1957, but Mirax reflex housings with Miranda markings are known with 54xxxx serial numbers (see Mirax).
Camera list
35mm SLR
- Miranda A, AII
- Miranda Automex I, II
- Miranda Automex III
- Miranda B, C
- Miranda D
- Miranda dx-3
- Miranda DR
- Miranda EE-2
- Miranda F, FM,
- Miranda Fv, FvT
- Miranda G
- Miranda GT
- Miranda Laborec
- Miranda Laborec III
- Miranda Laborec Electro-D
- Miranda Memoflex
- Miranda MS-1
- Miranda MS-2
- Miranda Pallas TM
- Miranda Pallas TM-II
- Miranda RE-II
- Miranda S
- Miranda Sensomat
- Miranda Sensomat RE
- Miranda Sensomat RE-II
- Miranda Sensomat RS
- Miranda Sensorex, Sensorex C
- Miranda Sensorex II
- Miranda Sensorex EE
- Miranda ST
- Miranda T and TII (including the early versions marked "Orion Camera Co.")
- Miranda TM / Soligor TM
- Mirax Laborec
- Mirax Laborec II
35mm rangefinder
- Miranda Sensoret / Soligor Sensoret
35mm point and shoot
- Miranda A-X
6×6cm folder
- Orion Six (attribution incertain, see the discussion in the page)
Other
- Mirax reflex housing
- Focabell bellows system
- Supreme lenses
- Orion adapters for Contax or Nikon lenses on Leica screw mount
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Main page of the Miranda Society Japan.
- ↑ The year 1946 is found in the historical section of the Miranda dx-3 user manual, p.2, available in PDF format at butkus.org. It actually seems that all the years quoted in the user manual are one year too early (see the bibliography section of this page). Other sources mentioning the same date, such as McKeown, p.688, might be based on that same document, see e.g. this page of the Miranda Historical Society which quotes the user manual verbatim.
- ↑ The advertisement by Matsushima in the June 1955 special issue of Photo Art, reproduced in this Flickr page, gives the name "Orion Seiki".
- ↑ McKeown, p.688, says 1954 for the release of the Miranda T, but this is a mistake.
- ↑ The year 1956 is found in the user manual of the Miranda dx-3, p.31, available in PDF format at butkus.org. This date might be one year too early (see the bibliography section of this page). The first advertisement mentioning "Miranda Camera" reported in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.370, is in the May 1957 issue of Asahi Camera.
- ↑ The advertisement dated October 1955 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.200, was placed by Matsushima whereas those dated October 1957 and February 1959 reproduced on p.306 was placed by Miranda Camera.
- ↑ Advertisement dated March 1959 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.306. Another advertisement by Ricoh, dated July 1959, is reproduced on the same page, and others are reported on p.408.
- ↑ There is a gap in the advertisements listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.408–9, from August 1959 to September 1964.
- ↑ Advertisements listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.408–9.
- ↑ This page of the Miranda Historical Society says that AIC took control of Miranda in 1963, whereas the Main page of the Miranda Society Japan says that it bought all the shares in 1968 and took complete control in 1969.
- ↑ User manual of the Miranda dx-3, p.31, available in PDF format at butkus.org. The date might be one year too early (see the bibliography section of this page).
- ↑ This page at www.collection-appareils.fr.
- ↑ This page of the Miranda Historical Society.
- ↑ This page of the Miranda Historical Society.
Bibliography
- 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).
- Miranda Camera Co., Ltd. Owner's manual of the Miranda dx-3. Contains a short history of the company on pp.2 and 31. Available in PDF format at butkus.org.
- It seems that all the years quoted in this user manual are one year too early, perhaps because of a mistake in the translation of the Japanese Shōwa year:
- 1953 instead of 1954 for the Phoenix;
- 1954 instead of 1955 for the Miranda T;
- 1957 instead of 1958 for the Miranda A, A2 and B;
- 1959 instead of 1960 for the Automex;
- 1970 instead of 1971 for the Sensorex EE.
- All the other dates mentioned in this document should therefore be handled with caution.
Links
In English:
- Miranda Historical Society
- Bill's Miranda Camera Page
- Miranda instruction manuals, in PDF or HTML format, at orphancameras.com
In French:
- Cameras and User manuals at www.collection-appareils.fr
In Japanese:
