Mulber Six

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Japanese Six (6×6)
Prewar and wartime models (edit)
folding
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collapsible
Ehira Chrome Six | Minolta Six | Shinko Super | Weha Chrome Six
unknown
Freude Six | Heart Camera | Konter Six | Tsubasa Six
Postwar models ->
Japanese 6×6 TLR, pseudo TLR and medium format SLR ->
Japanese Semi (4.5×6) and older 6×9 ->

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, and it was perhaps the first Japanese 6×6 camera.[2]

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 paperback 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:[3]

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.[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" 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 seems that this shutter was the first Compur-type shutter made in Japan.[5]

The second model

The second model[6] 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[7] shows only two variants, while others dated October 1937, June and September 1938[8] 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.[9] 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 in the April 1939 issue of Asahi Camera,[10] with a mismatched picture showing the release lever of the second model. In the advertisements published in the June and September 1939 issues of the same magazine,[11] it was simply called "Mulber Six". 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.[12] These probably correspond to specific lens and shutter combinations mounted on the Mulber Six III, and it is not known if these model names were actually used by the distributor.

Notes

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341. Lewis, p. 53, also gives 1935 as the release date.
  3. ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
  4. ↑ Example observed in an online auction.
  5. ↑ Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p. 21, about the Mulber shutter equipping the second model.
  6. ↑ It is called "Mulber Six II" in Kokusan kamera no rekishi (item 259) but the two advertisements observed only say Mulber Six.
  7. ↑ Advertisement published in the 14 July 1937 of Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Gochamaze website.
  8. ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera October 1937, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95; advertisement published in Asahi Graph 8 June 1938, reproduced in the Gochamaze website; advertisement published in Asahi Camera September 1938, observed in an online auction.
  9. ↑ Example pictured in Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten, p. 21, and in Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten, p. 21.
  10. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
  11. ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 95–6.
  12. ↑ Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 4, sections 3 and 5B.

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.)
  • 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.
  • Template:Kakaku1940 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:

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