Miyoshi
Miyoshi Kōgaku was a Japanese optical company from 1937 to the war.
Contents
History
Miyoshi Kōgaku K.K. (三好光学株式会社) was founded in 1937 by Uemura Taijirō (植村泰二郎).[1] The factory was in Yodobashi, Tokyo, and it also had an address in Ginza.[2] Miyazaki Shizuma (宮崎静馬), the founder and CEO of Proud-sha, was in charge of the commercial operations.[3]
Lens production
The company should have been called "Uemura Lens Laboratory", but it was finally decided to call it Miyoshi Kōgaku.[4] The initials U.L.L. were retained as the brand name of the lenses. The U.L.L. lenses equipped various prewar and wartime Japanese cameras, and Proud-sha was of course one of the main clients. They were available at least in 50mm, 65mm, 75mm and 80mm focal lengths and in f/4.5, f/3.5 and f/2.9 maximal apertures (but maybe not in all combinations).[5]
John Baird says that they were made from "B grade optical glass" (it seems to be an official designation in Japan at the time), sometimes even obtained "by melting and reusing the glass from spectacles and camera lenses".[6]
Kajiro Hitoshi (上代斉) was employed by Miyoshi Kōgaku for a couple of years, as the director of the factory, before founding Kajiro Kōgaku (the maker of the K.O.L. lenses).[7]
Camera production
It seems that Miyoshi Kōgaku was gradually merged with Proud-sha, and that it inherited its camera activity. The Semi Prux, a 4.5×6 folder, copy of the Kodak Duo, was jointly advertised by the two companies,[8] and its probable successor the Roavic (inspired by the Kodak Duo Series II) has a U.L.L. engraving inside the back.[9] The company also made the Semi Kelly, a little-known Baldax copy, perhaps a successor to the Semi Proud. The last camera was the Alma Four, released during the war.
After the war, the camera production was certainly continued by Sumida Kōki Seisakusho: the Roavic was revived as the Apollo and Mikado and a number of other cameras were made under the name Proud.
List of cameras:
- Semi Prux (4.5×6 folder)
- Roavic (4.5×6 folder)
- Semi Kelly (4.5×6 folder)
- Alma Four (4×4 collapsible)
Shutter production
Miyoshi produced the Parkur, Selon and Kerio shutters.[10] This activity was probably inherited from the Proud company too. It also made the Vic I and Vic II shutters.[11]
Camera list
4×4
4.5×6 folder
- Semi Kelly (1941)
- Roavic (1941–2)
The Semi Prux (1938–40) was maybe made in cooperation with Proud.
Other cameras with U.L.L. lenses
- Semi Proud
- Super Semi Proud
- Doris (3×4)
- Baby Doris
- Alma Four
- Flex Six
- Semi Rody
- Semi National and National Six
Notes
- ↑ Inoue, p.131 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14.
- ↑ Its address in 1938, 1942 and 1943 was Tōkyō, Yodobashi, Nishi-Ochiai 2–514 (東京市淀橋区西落合2の514). Source: advertisement in Asahi Camera June 1938, p.A77; advertisement dated February 1942 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.105; and "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"). The Ginza address was 東京市京橋区銀座3—豊玉館. Source: June 1938 advertisement.
- ↑ Inoue, p.131 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14.
- ↑ Inoue, p. 131 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14.
- ↑ Advertisement for U.L.L. lenses, reproduced in Inoue, p.131 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14, in Baird, The Japanese Camera., p.62, and in Baird, Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras, p.24.
- ↑ Baird, The Japanese Camera., p.63.
- ↑ Inoue, p.131 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14.
- ↑ Advertisement in Asahi Camera February 1940, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.90.
- ↑ See the pictures in this post at www.chinesecamera.net.
- ↑ Attribution to Miyoshi: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter items 18-R-5, 18-U-10 and 18-V-2.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter items 18-U-13 and 18-V-5.
Bibliography
- Asahi Camera. Advertisement by Miyoshi in June 1938, p.A77.
- 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.
- Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6.
- Baird, John R. Collectors guide to Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. Grantsburg, WI (USA): Centennial Photo Service, 1991. ISBN 0-931838-16-9.
- Inoue, Mitsuo (井上光朗). "Shashin renzu no yoake. Renzu-ya Funsenki" (写真レンズの夜明け・レンズ屋奮戦記, Dawn of the photographic lens — Fierce war tales between lens shops). 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.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp.128–132.
- "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7.
