Pioneer folder
The Pioneer (パイオニア) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera, sold in 1955 and 1956 by Pioneer Camera. It is a vertical folder with straight folding struts. The viewfinder is centered and contained in a top housing. The latter supports the accessory shoe just above the finder, the shutter release on the left and the bed opening button on the right. There is also a film reminder knob on the left end and a decorative round part on the right end. The film is advanced by a lever that protrudes on the left, behind the top housing. The camera is advertised as the first Japanese folder to have lever advance, and the Olympus Chrome Six V and R II would use the same system. The name Pioneer is embossed in the front leather and engraved in front of the accessory shoe. The serial number is engraved on the right of the top housing.
The Pioneer appears in the news column of the November 1955 issue of the magazine Sankei Camera.[1] Advertisements in the December 1955 issue of Sankei Camera[2] and in the March 1956 issue of Camera Mainichi[3] offer the Pioneer for ¥4,800 — case included. The lens is a hard coated Goldar[4] 75/3.2 and the shutter is a Pioneer U with B, 10–200 speeds, synchronized with a PC connector.
The company name that appears in the advertisements is Pioneer Camera K.K. (パイオニアカメラ株式会社), but it is said that the camera was manufactured by Katsuma Kōgaku.
Notes
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 358.
- ↑ Reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 160.
- ↑ Reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 160.
- ↑ Inferred from the katakana ゴルダー.
Printed bibliography
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Item 682.