Pearl (6×9 self-erecting)
The name Pearl was given by Konishi and Konishiroku (the later Konica) to many models of rollfilm folders.[1] 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.[2]
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.[3]
The Year-Eight Pearl[4] (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).[5]
The Pearl with rangefinder[6] (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.[7]
Notes
- ↑ "Pearl" is written in roman script on most or all of these models. In Japanese, the line was and is called Pāru (i.e. the English word "Pearl" fitted into Japanese phonology): the Japanese word for "pearl" is shinju (真珠), but this does not seem ever to have been applied to the camera.
- ↑ Lewis, ed., History of the Japanese Camera, p. 33; Konika-Minoruta-ten, p. 5.
- ↑ Konika-Minoruta-ten, pp. 5–6.
- ↑ This is Camerapedia's nonce translation of 8年型パール, hachinen-gata Pāru; named after year 8 of Shōwa, i.e. 1933.
- ↑ Konika-Minoruta-ten, p. 6; Tanaka, p. 58.
- ↑ In Japanese, the camera is referred to as kyorikei-tsuki Pāru (距離計つきパール).
- ↑ Tanaka, p. 58.
Sources and further reading
In Japanese:
- Inoue Yasuo (井上康夫). 古典名玉を探そう: 8年型パール・オプター10.5cmF4.5. (Article on the Year-Eight Pearl.) 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.
- 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)
- 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:
- Improved Pearl 2 and Year-Eight Pearl in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
