Difference between revisions of "Mulber Six"
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== General description == | == General description == | ||
| − | The Mulber Six is a vertical folder, unlike most 6×6 models. It is inspired by the [[Baldax]] but it is not an exact copy. It has a folding optical finder on the left of the body (as seen by a photographer holding the camera vertically) and the advance knob on the opposite side. There is a cross engraved in the finder's front element and indents in the four corners to indicate the 4.5×6 frame size. The back is hinged to the left (holding the camera horizontally). The front leather is embossed ''Mulber Six''. | + | The Mulber Six is a vertical folder, unlike most 6×6 models. It is inspired by the [[Baldax]] but it is not an exact copy. It has a folding optical finder on the left of the body (as seen by a photographer holding the camera vertically) and the advance knob on the opposite side. The camera has some sort of index surrounding the advance knob, whose usage is unknown. There is a cross engraved in the finder's front element and indents in the four corners to indicate the 4.5×6 frame size. The back is hinged to the left (holding the camera horizontally). The front leather is embossed ''Mulber Six''. |
== The original model == | == The original model == | ||
Revision as of 19:15, 27 November 2006
The Mulber Six (マルバシックス[1]) is a Japanese folding camera taking both 6×6 and 4.5×6 format pictures on 120 film. It was distributed by Kuwata Shōkai between 1935 and 1939.[2]
Contents
General description
The Mulber Six is a vertical folder, unlike most 6×6 models. It is inspired by the Baldax but it is not an exact copy. It has a folding optical finder on the left of the body (as seen by a photographer holding the camera vertically) and the advance knob on the opposite side. The camera has some sort of index surrounding the advance knob, whose usage is unknown. There is a cross engraved in the finder's front element and indents in the four corners to indicate the 4.5×6 frame size. The back is hinged to the left (holding the camera horizontally). The front leather is embossed Mulber Six.
The original model
The original model has no body release and an everset shutter. An advertisement dated December 1936[3], offers this model in the following variants:
- Eclat 75/4.5 lens, 5–150 shutter (¥60);
- Eclat 75/4.5 lens, 2–250 shutter (¥65);
- Eclat 75/4.5 lens, 1–300 shutter with self-timer (¥75);
- Lausar 75/4.5 lens, 5–150 shutter (¥65);
- Lausar 75/4.5 lens, 2–250 shutter (¥70);
- Lausar 75/4.5 lens, 1–300 shutter with self-timer (¥80).
An example of the cheapest variant has been observed.[4] The lens is engraved Eclat Anastigmat 1:4.5 f=7.5cm and the shutter has 5–150, B, T speeds. The shutter plate is marked Patents~Pending at the top and KOMVUR at the bottom in handwritten style. This rip-off of the Compur name is completed by a logo on the right of the shutter plate, with the letters "F" and "B" (or "D"?) mixed in a circle, obviously intended to remind the Deckel logo ("F" and "D") of the genuine Compur shutters. In the advertisement the shutter is called konvā (コンヴァー), this is very close to konpā (コンパー) which is how the Compur name is pronounced in Japan. It seems that the shutter plate is written COMBUR in the advertising picture instead of KOMVUR.
It is said that this shutter was the first Compur-type shutter made in Japan.[5]
The second model
The second model[6] has a setting shutter called Mulber. A release lever is attached to the shutter plate. The latter is marked MULBER at the bottom, and the rest of the markings are similar to the previous model.
An advertisement dated July 1937[7] shows only two variants, while others dated October 1937[8], June 1938[9] and September 1938[10] offer the same list as above, except that the 2–250 shutter option is replaced by a 1–300 shutter (without self-timer).[11] The prices were unchanged.
The Mulber Six III
The Mulber Six III has a body release. It was advertised in the April 1939 issue of Asahi Camera[12], with a mismatched picture showing the release lever of the second model. The following variants were listed:
- Mulber 75/4.5 lens, Mulber shutter (5–150, B, T), ¥70;
- Mulber 75/4.5 lens, Mulber shutter (1–300, B, T), ¥80;
- Mulber 75/4.5 lens, Mulber shutter (1–300, B, T, self-timer), ¥105.
In the advertisements published in the June and September 1939 issues of the same magazine[13], the camera is only called "Mulber Six".
Notes
- ↑ This page of the JCII says マルバーシックス, but the advertisements have no long vowel, except on rare occasions about the Mulber shutter written マルバーシャッター.
- ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341. Lewis, p. 53, confirms the 1935 release date.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
- ↑ Example observed in a Yahoo Japan auction.
- ↑ Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p. 21, about the Mulber shutter equipping the second model.
- ↑ It is called "Mulber Six II" in Kokusan kamera no rekishi (item 259) but the two advertisements observed only say Mulber Six.
- ↑ Advertisement published in the 14 July 1937 of Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Gochamaze website.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
- ↑ Advertisement published in the 8 June 1938 issue of Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Gochamaze website.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera.
- ↑ The camera is pictured in Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p. 21, with an Eclat Anastigmat 7.5cm f/4.5 lens and a Mulber 1–300, B, T shutter. No self-timer is visible.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 95–6.
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. Items 258–60. (See also the advertisements for item 261.)
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P. 53 (brief mention only).
- 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. 21.
Links
In Japanese:
- Mulber Six in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
- Advertisements reproduced in the 120 film camera page and in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website:
- Advertisement published in the 14 July 1937 issue of Asahi Graph
- Advertisement published in the 8 June 1938 issue of Asahi Graph
