Okada and Daiichi
Daiichi Kōgaku was a Japanese camera maker active in the 1950s. It made the Zenobia series of 4.5×6 folders and the Zenobiaflex 6×6 TLR. It also made a preseries of Leica copies, called Ichicon or Ichicon 35 depending on the source. According to a page by Nekosan, they were related to the Honor, were only made at preseries level and some were called Zenobia 35. The same source indicates that Daiichi went bankrupt soon after.
Both Kokusan kamera no rekishi and McKeown attribute the postwar Waltax models to Daiichi, and the company is probably related to Okada.
An ad for the Zenobia and Zenobiaflex, dating from 1954, shows the full name Daiichi Kōgaku K.K. (第一光学株式会社), side by side with the distributor's name Hattori Tokei-ten (服部時計店, Hattori Watch Shop). (The ad was posted in this page on Apr 15, 2005 and shows pictures of the production steps, but does not give any version or price.)
The company is probably unrelated to the wartime Daiichi Kikō.
120 film
4.5×6 folders
6×6 TLR
- Zenobiaflex
35mm film
- Ichicon or Ichicon 35
- Zenobia 35
Links
In English:
- A page about the Honor, somewhat explaining the Ichicon and Zenobia 35 story, at the Nekosan's website
- A page about the Honor at Pacific Rim Photographica Pages, says something about the Ichicon that differs slightly from Nekosan's version of the story
- Page about various Japanese TLRs at tlr-cameras.com, including the Zenobiaflex
- Daiichi page at Mario Groleau's site
In Japanese:
- Zenobiaflex I at Japan Family Camera
- Japanese postwar ads, mostly from 1954, including one for the Zenobia and Zenobiaflex
