Okada and Daiichi
Daiichi Kōgaku K.K. (第一光学株式会社) is a Japanese camera maker that was active from at least 1952. It is probably unrelated to the wartime Daiichi Kikō.
It made the Zenobia series of 4.5×6 folders and the Zenobiaflex 6×6 TLR. The Zenobia folder is a continuation of the Waltax by Okada Kōgaku, with different lens and shutter names. There was surely some reason to change the brand names of the camera, lens and shutter all at once. It is possible either that Okada renamed itself into Daiichi, or that it was bought by this company. Both Kokusan kamera no rekishi and McKeown attribute the postwar Waltax models to Daiichi, but all the Waltax cameras have Okako markings.
Daiichi Kōgaku changed its name to Zenobia Kōgaku K.K. (ゼノビア光学株式会社) between 1956 and 1957, adopting the brand name of its cameras, and remained in existence at least until 1958.
It also offered the Zenobia 35 fixed lens rangefinder, and made a preseries of Leica copies, called Ichicon or Ichicon 35 depending on the source. According to a page by Nekosan, the Ichicon is related to the Honor and only a preseries was made. The same source indicates that the company went bankrupt soon after.
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.)
120 film
4.5×6 folders
- Zenobia P I, P II, C I, C II, H I, H II, M with no rangefinder
- Zenobia R, R I, R II with uncoupled rangefinder
- Super Zenobia SR I and Zenobia SR or Super Zenobia SR, with coupled rangefinder
6×6 TLR
- Zenobiaflex
35mm film
- Zenobia 35
- Ichicon or Ichicon 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 and the E. Hesper 50mm f:3.5 lens
