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 and a back hinged to the left. The viewfinder is centered and contained in a top housing. The accessory shoe is immediately above the finder, the shutter release is on the left and the bed opening button is on the right. There is 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 film advance is controlled via a red window at the top right of the back.
The name Pioneer is stamped 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 lens is a Golder Anastigmat 7.5cm f/3.2, advertised as hard coated, and the shutter is a Pioneer U with B, 10–200 speeds, synchronized with a PC connector, engraved Pioneer-U in the speed rim. The aperture is set by an index, on top the shutter 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.
Notes
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 358.
- ↑ Reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 160.
- ↑ Reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 160.
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.
