Mulber Six

The Mulber Six (マルバシックス) 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, and it was perhaps the first Japanese 6×6 camera.

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, certainly a manual exposure counter and advance indicator. It was needed because the paper back of 120 film was not yet marked for 6×6cm format at the time the camera was sold. 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 name Mulber Six is embossed in the front leather.

The original model

The original model has no body release. An advertisement dated December 1936 offered this model in the following variants:

shutter	5–150	2–250	1–300, self-timer
lens
Eclat 75/4.5	¥60	¥65	¥75
Lausar 75/4.5	¥65	¥70	¥80

An example of the cheapest variant has been observed. 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" mixed in a circle, obviously intended to ape 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 seems that this shutter was the first Compur-type shutter made in Japan.

The second model

The second model has a shutter called Mulber. A release lever is attached to the shutter plate, which is marked MULBER at the bottom. The rest of the markings are similar to the previous model.

An advertisement dated July 1937 shows only two variants, while others dated October 1937, June and September 1938 have the same list as above, except that the 2–250 shutter option was replaced by a 1–300 shutter (without self-timer). The prices were unchanged.

The camera has been observed with an Eclat Anastigmat 7.5cm f/4.5 lens and a Mulber shutter giving 1–300, B, T speeds, with no visible self-timer. The shape of the release lever is not the same as in the advertising picture.

The Mulber Six III

The Mulber Six III has a body release. It was advertised under in the April 1939 issue of Asahi Camera; the picture still shows the release lever of the second model and is perhaps mismatched. In advertisements dated June, September and December 1939, it was simply called "Mulber Six" and no picture was shown. . In all these advertisements, the following versions 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.

The list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, still listed a "Mulber Six I" for ¥79 and a "Mulber Six II" for ¥128, with no further details. These probably correspond to specific lens and shutter combinations mounted on the Mulber Six with body release, and it is not known if these model names were actually used by the distributor.

Bibliography

Original documents

• Asahi Camera September 1937. "Atarashii kikai to zairyō" (新しい機械と材料, New equipment and machinery). P.523.
• Asahi Camera. Advertisements by Kuwata Shōkai:
  • October 1936, p.A63;
  • November 1936, p.A65;
  • December 1936, p.A61;
  • January 1937, p.A57;
  • February 1937, p.A52;
  • March 1937, p.A104;
  • April 1937, p.A108;
  • May 1937, p.A65;
  • June 1937, p.A52;
  • July 1937, p.A54;
  • August 1937, p.A53;
  • October 1937, p.A50;
  • November 1937, p.A50;
  • December 1937, p.A40;
  • January 1938, p.A44;
  • February 1938, p.A37;
  • March 1938, p.A44;
  • April 1938, p.A46;
  • May 1938, p.A44;
  • June 1938, p.A42;
  • September 1938, p.A36;
  • January 1939, p.A27.
• Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin (日本写真興業通信). Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku (百号ごと十回の記録, Ten records, every hundred issues). Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin Sha (日本写真興業通信社), 1967. No ISBN number. Advertisement on p.51, corresponding to p.17 of the December 15, 1939 issue.

Recent sources

• 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.)
• Kamera no mekanizumu sono I: "Hai! Chīzu" Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten (カメラのメカニズム・そのⅠ・「ハイ！チーズ」瞬間をとらえ続けるシャッター展, Camera mechanism, part 1 "Cheese!" Exhibition of instant taking shutters). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2002. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number) P.21.
• "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in 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. Pp.108—9. Type 4, sections 3 and 5B.
• 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.

The Mulber Six is not listed in Sugiyama.

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