Ohca
The Ohca is a Japanese 6.5×9cm plate folder made from 1935 by Rokuoh-sha, the manufacturing department of Konishiroku. The name is often spelled "Ohka" by mistake, but the markings on the camera read Ohca.
Description
The Ohca has a metal body, similar to that of the Idea. It is easily distinguished by its focusing worm screw on the photographer's right. The bellows has true double extension. The distance scale is on the left of the focus rails, and there is sometimes a depth-of-field table on the camera's left side. There is brilliant finder atop the front standard, and a wireframe finder on the left. The camera has limited vertical movement ability. The name Ohca is inscribed on an oval plate riveted inside the folding bed between the focus rails.
Lens and shutter
The Ohca was normally offered with either an Apus (T, B, 25–100) or a Durax (T, B, 1–125) dial-set shutter, and a Rokuoh-sha Optor Anastigmat lens in either f/6.3 or f/4.5 aperture.[1] Surviving examples are confirmed with the Optor f/6.3 and the Apus or Durax.[2] The depth-of-field table on the side has the lens name Optor Anas't 10.5c.m and the word 焦点震度表 (meaning "depth-of-field table"). Another example is known with a Durax shutter and a Rodenstock Trinar-Anastigmat f/4.5 lens; it has no depth-of-field table.[3]
Commercial life
The Ohca was featured in the December 1935 issue of Asahi Camera and was advertised from November of the same year.[4] The September 1936 advertisement in Ars Camera gives the price of ¥32 with an f/6.3 lens and ¥37 with an f/4.5.[5] The last reported advertisement is dated May 1939.[6] The official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941 still has an Ohca I (¥43), Ohca II (¥52) and Ohca III (¥54), with no further detail.[7]
Notes
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.334.
- ↑ Apus, Optor f/6.3: example pictured in Sugiyama, item 1149, and example observed in an online auction. Durax, Optor f/6.3: example pictured in Tanaka, p.41 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.
- ↑ Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 1150.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.334.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.60.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.334.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku", type 8, sections 1, 2 and 4A.
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. Item 31.
- "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 8, sections 1, 2 and 4A.
- 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). P.543.
- Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 1149–50.
