Pearl (6×9 self-erecting)

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The name Pearl was given by Konishi and Konishiroku (the later Konica) to many models of rollfilm folders. See also Pearl (4.5×6 folders).

The original Pearl, released in 1909, was a copy of the No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak, but for tefuda (3¼×4¼ in.) format plates as well as 118 film. Most versions were called the Portable Pearl and have only a brilliant finder perched on the front of the lens. Various lenses and shutters were available for it; for example, the no. 3 Pearl had a Rapid Rectilinear lens and Simplex shutter, and the no. 4 Pearl had a Zeiss Protar lens and an Automatic shutter, or a IIB Tessar lens and Compound shutter. Meanwhile, the Special Pearl added a folding viewfinder, and had a Deltas f/6.8 or Velostigmat Series IV f/6.3 lens in tefuda format or a Velostigmat Series IV f/6.3 or f/7.5 lens for 4×5 in. format.

The Pearl 2, released in 1923, is for 6×9cm pictures on 120 film, and was the first Japanese camera sold for roll film only. At first it was supplied with a lens and shutter from Wollensak; alternatives were available later. An improved model, sold from 1930, is made of metal rather than wood, provides for 4.5×6 as well as 6×9 exposures, and has a wire frame finder hinged on the lens assembly, with the eyepiece on the body itself.

The Year-Eight Pearl (1933) is a folder with a self-erecting lens: the bellows open and the lens board springs forward when the front is opened. It thus appears to be a copy of the Zeiss Ikonta of 1929; however, focusing moves the entire lens assembly, mounted on a helical, and not merely the frontmost element. There is a folding frame finder on the body and a brilliant finder on the shutter housing. The lens is an f/6.3 or f/4.5 Zion (later, Optor) by Asahi Kōgaku. There was the choice between two Konishiroku shutters, both with two blades and having a dial under the brilliant finder: an Apus shutter (copy of the German Vario; T, B, 25, 50, 100) or a ゼウス shutter (copy of the German Ibsor; T, B, 1–2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 125).

The Pearl with rangefinder (1936) moves the folding frame finder to the far left (as seen by the photographer), above the hinge, thereby making space for a separate, horizontal rangefinder, attached via an accessory shoe. The "Sakura" brand rangefinder that was supplied is a device of high quality, with a baselength of 60mm.

Sources and further reading

In English:

• Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: International Museum of Photography, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-16-3 (hard) ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper)

In Japanese:

• Inoue Yasuo (井上康夫). "Koten meigyoku o sagasō: Hachinen-gata Pāru, Oputā 10.5cm f/4.5" (古典名玉を探そう: 8年型パール・オプター10.5cmF4.5, Let's hunt out famous old lenses: The Year-Eight Pearl and Optor 10.5cm f/4.5). Shashin Kōgyō, March 2005.
• Konika-Minoruta-ten (コニカミノルタ展, Konica-Minolta Exhibition). Exhibition catalogue. Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2005.
• Tanaka (田中政雄). "Nihon no supuringu-kamera: Konishiroku" (日本のスプリングカメラ Konishiroku, The spring cameras of Japan: Konishiroku). Kamera Rebyū Bessatsu: Kurashikku Kamera Senka / All about Historical Cameras, Autumn 1986 (special issue on Supuringu Kamera [スプリングカメラ, spring cameras]), 58–61.

Links

• Pages of the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website:
  • Pearl cameras
  • Sakura rangefinder documentation and picture
  • www2f.biglobe.ne.jp/~ter-1212/sakura/hexar00.htm
  • www2f.biglobe.ne.jp/~ter-1212/sakura/hexar0.htm
• Improved Pearl 2 and Year-Eight Pearl in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology