Pearl (6×9 self-erecting)

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The name Pearl was given by Konishi Honten and Konishiroku Honten (the later Konica) to many models of rollfilm folders.[1] This article deals with 6×9 and larger folders; see also Pearl (4.5×6 folders).

The original Pearl, released by Konishi Honten 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 Pearl Portable[2] 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.[3]

The Pearl 2, released by Konishiroku Honten 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.[4]

An improved model, sold from 1930 (some sources say 1931), is made of metal rather than wood, provides for 4.5×6 as well as 6×9 exposures (and is the earliest Japanese camera to combine these two formats), and has a wire frame finder hinged on the lens assembly, with the eyepiece on the body itself. It has a Deltas or Trinar lens and a Gammax, Prontor or Ibsor shutter.[5]

The Year-Eight Pearl[6] (April 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 10.5 cm Zion triplet (swiftly replaced by or renamed as 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).[7]

In November 1936 was announced an additional option: a Pearl with an f/4.5 11.5 cm Hexar lens, the Pearl with rangefinder or Year-Eleven Pearl[8] (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. There was the same choice of Optor lenses, and the choice of an Apus or a Durax shutter. Later there would be a combination of Hexar f/4.5 lens and Durax shutter.[9]

The Deluxe Pearl came out in November of the following year. It substituted for the centre, glassless finder of the Year Eight Pearl a folding albada finder. (It is unclear if there was also a version with an offset finder and accessory shoe.) There was a choice among Hexar lens with either Compur Rapid (B, 1–400) or Durax shutter, and f/4.5 Simlar lens (from Tōkyō Kōgaku) and Seiko Leo shutter (B, 1–250).[10]

The Pearl does not seem to have been developed further. Stocks of parts were still assembled into whole cameras after the war, when its lack of a body shutter would have made it seem old-fashioned. Its 1946 retail price was fixed at ¥2320, less than a Semi Pearl B (¥3050) but as much as an Olympus Six.[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ "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" within Japanese phonology): the Japanese word for "pearl" is shinju (真珠), but this does not seem ever to have been applied to the camera.
  2. ↑ This is an arbitrary translation of Pāru tesage anbako (パール手提暗函), which could also be rendered as Portable Pearl or Pearl Hand Camera.
  3. ↑ Japanese Historical Camera, p. 6; Lewis, ed., History of the Japanese Camera, p. 33; Konika-Minoruta-ten, p. 5.
  4. ↑ Japanese Historical Camera, p. 11; Konika-Minoruta-ten, pp. 5–6.
  5. ↑ Japanese Historical Camera, p. 15; Konika-Minoruta-ten, pp. 5–6; Lewis, ed., History of the Japanese Camera, p. 50.
  6. ↑ This is an arbitrary translation of hachinen-gata Pāru (8年型パール) named after year 8 of Shōwa, i.e. 1933.
  7. ↑ Hagiya, "Kokusan-hatsu no supuringu kamera," p. 40; Japanese Historical Camera, p. 18; Konika-Minoruta-ten, p. 6; Tanaka, p. 58.
  8. ↑ In Japanese, the camera is referred to as kyorikei-tsuki Pāru (距離計つきパール); or jūichi-nen-gata Pāru (11年型パール).
  9. ↑ Hagiya, pp. 42–3; Tanaka, p. 58.
  10. ↑ Tanaka, pp. 58–9.
  11. ↑ Japanese Historical Camera, p. 60.

Sources and further reading

With English text:

  • The Japanese Historical Camera. 2nd ed. Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2004. (In both English and Japanese.)
  • 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 only:

  • Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). "Kokusan-hatsu no supuringu kamera de Hekisā renzu ga tōchaku sareta '11nen Pāru'" (国産初のスプリングカメラでヘキサーレンズが装着された「11年型パール」, The Hexar-lens-equipped first Japanese spring camera: the Year-Eleven Pearl). Kamera rebyū: Kurashikku kamera senka (カメラレビュー・クラシックカメラ専科), no. 76 (summer 2005), pp. 40–43.
  • 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.
  • Konishiroku Kamera no Rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, History of Konishiroku cameras), vol. 10 (Autumn 1985 issue) of Kamera Rebyū Bessatsu: Kurashikku Kamera Senka / All about Historical Cameras.
  • Tanaka Masao (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

In Japanese:

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