Prince Peerless

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The Prince Peerless is a Japanese 6.5×9 folding plate camera sold from 1934, certainly by the distributor Fukada Shōkai, owner of the Prince brand name and of the P.C.W. logo found on an advertisement.[1] Some modern sources attribute the camera to Fujimoto, which later manufactured the Semi Prince for Fukada, but this is unconfirmed.[2]

(See the Prince page for a discussion of the various cameras with that name.)

Description of the body

The Prince Peerless is a copy of the Plan Primar, a German camera made by Bentzin. The metal body is very thin when folded, with a bulging folding bed. A nameplate is riveted inside, marked PRINCE PEERLESS and MADE IN JAPAN.

There is a swivelling brilliant finder attached to the front standard. This brilliant finder must be folded flat to fit in the very thin body, as appears in this page by Minosan. There is also a folding frame finder made of two parts: a wireframe attached to the lens standard and a simple pin articulated to the body. There is a handle on top of the body and the folding bed release is placed on the same side as the frame finder. There is a tripod screw on the opposite side and another one under the body.

Focusing is done by a small wheel on the right of the folding bed, with a focusing scale on the left. It seems that some limited vertical movement is available, and a spirit level is attached to the brilliant finder support.

Lens and shutter equipment

The lens and shutter combinations include:

The advertisement in the July 1935 issue of Asahi Camera says that the Prince Peerless was available from ¥78 in several versions, but it does not give a list.[6] The last reported advertisement for the Prince Peerless is dated October 1936.[7]

Notes

  1. Release date: Lewis, p.48, where the camera is attributed to Fukada Shōkai and mistakenly called "Price Peerless". P.C.W. logo visible in the advertisement dated July 1935 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.90.
  2. Attribution to Fujimoto: Sugiyama, item 1227, McKeown, p.331.
  3. Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 1227. Combination also reported in Lewis, p.48, and in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.340.
  4. Example pictured in this page by Minosan, example pictured in this page of the Nagoya Club website, example pictured in Lewis, p.48, and example observed in an online auction.
  5. Combination reported in Lewis, p.48. one example with a Tessar 12cm f/4.5 and a Compur has been observed in an online auction, but the Compur has a Zeiss–Ikon plate screwed at the top and is perhaps not original.
  6. Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.90.
  7. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.340.

Bibliography

Links

In Japanese: