Mulber Six

The Mulber Six (マルバシックス) is a Japanese folding camera taking both 6×6cm and 4.5×6cm pictures on 120 film. It was distributed by Kuwata Shōkai from 1935 or 1936 to the early 1940s, and was one of the first Japanese 6×6 cameras.

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.

The camera has a folding optical finder on the left of the body — as seen by a photographer holding the camera vertically. There is a cross engraved in the finder's front element and indents in the four corners to indicate the field of view for 4.5×6cm exposures.

The film is advanced by a knob on the opposite side. The camera has some sort of index surrounding the advance knob, certainly a manual exposure counter. (This feature was necessary because the paper backing of 120 film sold in Japan was not yet marked for 6×6cm format when the camera was introduced.)

The back is hinged to the left — as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally — and opened by a sliding button on the right. The name Mulber Six is embossed in the leather covering at the front of the camera.

The original model

With Combur and Komvur shutter

The original model has no body release. It was reportedly advertised in the October 1935 issue of Asahi Camera. It was first produced with a Combur shutter, renamed Komvur at some point. These names are obvious rip-offs of "Compur", and it is plausible that the renaming occurred after a complaint from the German company Deckel. It seems that this shutter was the first Compur copy made in Japan.

The shutter's front plate is marked Patents~Pending at the top and COMBUR or KOMVUR at the bottom in handwritten style. There is a logo on the right, with the letters "F" and "B" mixed in a circle, obviously intended to ape the Deckel logo ("F" and "D") of genuine Compur shutters.

In the original documents, the shutter name is given in katakana script as komubā (コムバー) or komuvā (コムヴァー), this is very close to konpā (コンパー) which is how the Compur name is spelled in Japan.

The advertisements reproduced below were placed in Asahi Camera from October 1936 to May 1937, and show the camera with a Combur shutter.

October 1936	November 1936	December 1936	January 1937
February 1937	March 1937	April 1937	May 1937
Advertisements for the Mulber Six in Asahi Camera. (Image rights)

The October 1936 advertisement lists the camera as a new model, available with a Combur (コムバー, 5–150) and a choice of two lenses, either an Eclat Anastigmat f/4.5, at ¥60, or a Lausar Anastigmat f/4.5, at ¥65 (case ¥5 extra). The document shows a picture or a drawing of the camera; the marking on the front leather is absent, and details of the viewfinder differ from the regular examples.

The advertisements dated November and December 1936 show an actual picture of the camera. They use the katakana spelling コムヴァー (komuvā) instead of コムバー (komubā) for the shutter name, though the pictured camera has the same COMBUR engraving. Various lens and shutter combinations are listed, but it is unsure if all were actually produced at the time:

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

The advertisements dated January to April 1937 show the same picture, and only list the less expensive version with Eclat f/4.5 and 5–150 speeds, though that dated April mentions the existence of other options (外各種). The May advertisement sees the return of the 1–300 shutter option, announced as a new version; this might indicate that the only shutter actually produced before that date was the cheapest one.

Advertisements for the Mulber Six in Asahi Camera June and July 1937. (Image rights)

The advertisements placed in the June and July 1937 issues of Asahi Camera are identical, and show the Komvur shutter. A release arm has been added at the front of the shutter plate, for easier handling. Two models of Komvur shutters are shown, differing by the shape and position of the setting lever, release arm and cable thread; one has 1–300, B, T speeds and no self-timer; the other has a mushroom-shaped self-timer control at the top, as on the genuine Compur. Both are paired with an Eclat Anastigmat f/4.5 lens, and one of the lens numbers is legible as 1609. A full range of lens and shutter options is listed, with the most expensive ones still mentioned as new models:

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

A single example has been observed of the cheapest version with Eclat Anastigmat 7.5cm f/4.5 lens and Komvur shutter (5–150, B, T). The lens number is 1700, close to that visible in the advertisement.

With Mulber shutter

The Komvur shutter was renamed Mulber in summer 1937. The camera itself was unchanged, except for the MULBER name engraved under the lens.

An advertisement in Asahi Graph dated mid-July 1937 already shows the new shutter name. The advertisements reproduced below were placed in Asahi Camera from August 1937 to January 1939, and show the camera with a Mulber shutter.

August 1937	October 1937	November 1937	December 1937
January 1938	February 1938	March 1938	April 1938
May 1938	June 1938	September 1938	January 1939
Advertisements for the Mulber Six in Asahi Camera. (Image rights)

This is a work in progress.

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