Neumann & Heilemann
Neumann & Heilemann was a company founded in the 1930s by Billy Neumann and Willy Heilemann, two German people living in Japan.
History
Billy Neumann had previously worked for Krauss in Paris, and Willy Heilemann for Kenngott, then they had helped Kazuo Tashima to found the Nichidoku company, later Molta (predecessor of Minolta).[1] Heilemann left Molta in November 1931, followed by Neumann in 1932, to found their own company, called Neumann & Heilemann Feinmechanisch Werkstätten Gōshi-gaisha (ノイマン・ハイレマン・ファインメハニシェ・ウエルクステッテン合資会社), whose logo was NH inside a circle..[2]
The company made the Neuheil, Rulex and Perfect or Perfekt shutters as well as lenses and maybe cameras.
Cameras
The company certainly participated in the development of the Prince Flex, the first Japanese TLR (1937), distributed by Fukada Shōkai. It sold a plant in Mukogawa to Fujimoto in 1937,[3] and the Prince Flex was perhaps taken over by Fujimoto at the same time (see Prince Flex). (The Semi Lucky by Fujimoto would be produced in this Mukogawa plant.)[4]
The attribution of the Condor folders to Neumann & Heilemann is a mistake.[5]
Shutters
- Neuheil
- Rulex (various versions)
- Perfect or Perfekt (various versions)
Lenses
- Radionar 7.5cm f/4.5, certainly assembled from elements supplied by Schneider[6]
- Tritar 10.5cm f/4.5[7]
List of cameras equipped with a Neumann & Heilemann lens (this list is incomplete, and that a model appears in the list does not mean that all its variants are concerned):
Notes
- ↑ Career of Neumann and Heilemann before entering Nichidoku: see Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Dates, company name: Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.51 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.11.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.51 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.11.
- ↑ Mistake in McKeown, p.717. Most Condor folders have a Rulex shutter made by the company.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.50 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.11, says that Schneider lenses were imported as separate elements and were assembled in Japan.
- ↑ Examples pictured in this page at ksmt.com, and in Hibi, p.65 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8.
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.
- Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6.
- Hibi Takashi (日比孝). "Nihon no supuringu kamera: Orinpasu" (日本のスプリングカメラ・オリンパス, "Japanese folding cameras: Olympus"). 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.8, September 1986. No ISBN number. Supuringu kamera (スプリングカメラ, special issue on spring cameras). Pp.62–5.
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover).
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Neumann & Heilemann: kieta ashiato, Minoruta setsuritsu to sono ato no karera wo otte" (Neumann & Heilemann 消えた足跡・ミノルタ設立とその後の彼等を追って, On the traces of Neumann & Heilemann at the founding of Minolta and afterwards.) 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.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.96–9.
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Semi Purinsu kara Rakku made — Takahashi Kenzō shi ni kiku." (セミプリンスからラックまで・高橋健三氏にきく, "From the Semi Prince to the Luck — Asking Takahashi Kenzō") 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.11, March 1988. No ISBN number. Shirarezaru kamera (知られざるカメラ, special issue on unknown cameras). Pp.50–1. Based on an interview of Takahashi Kenzō, former CEO of Fujimoto, who entered the company in 1934.
- Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.25.
