Record (Konishiroku)
The Record (レコード) is a Japanese camera taking unperforated 35mm film, made from about 1926 by Rokuoh-sha, manufacturing branch of Konishiroku (predecessor of Konica). It was the first Japanese camera to use 35mm-wide film.
Description
The Record is inspired from the Unette by Ernemann, and uses the same type of unperforated 35mm film, spooled with paper backing. The film runs vertically inside the brick-shaped wooden body. The exposure format is 22×32mm, with the largest dimension transversal to the film advance. The camera thus takes horizontal pictures when held in its natural position.
The body is hinged along the right-hand rear edge, and it opens in two for film loading, unveiling the spool holders, film rollers and exposure chamber. The film is advanced by a key on the photographer's right, and there is a single unprotected red window in the back. There is a folding frame finder and a holding shackle at the top. Two levers are visible on the right, near the front side; the upper one is used for Instant pictures, and the other is for Time exposures.[1] The lens is a meniscus and has two aperture settings, certainly switched by the sliding button visible above on the front side.[2] The name RECORD CAMERA is embossed in relief in the leather covering, below the lens.
Commercial life
The Record reportedly appeared in October 1926.[3] In the May 1927 advertisement in Shashin Geppō,[4] the camera is presented as "for beginners" and the picture shows a young boy using the Record. The camera is listed for ¥6, and the film roll allow for twelve exposures is listed for ¥0.30. The advertisement says that the Record costs one third of the price of a camera using 127 film, presumably an allusion to the Pearlette. It seems that the film can be processed for projection slides, and a film processing device is announced as available soon and listed for ¥2; a dedicated enlarger is also mentioned.
The December 1929 advertisement in Shashin Geppō[5] shows the Pearlette and the Record side by side; the Record is presented as "enjoyable by young boys and young girls" (少年少女に喜ばれる). The prices of the Record camera and film roll are unchanged. The film processing device is not mentioned, but a Record slide projector, also functioning as an enlarger, is shown and listed for ¥9.50.
The Record was replaced by the Sakura box as an inexpensive camera for beginners.
Notes
- ↑ Function of the two levers: Awano, p.4 of Camera Collectors' News no.256.
- ↑ Two aperture settings: Awano, p.4 of Camera Collectors' News no.256. This source gives the aperture values as 9 and 15, but this is unconfirmed.
- ↑ Sakai, p.23 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, and chronology from the official company history Shashin to tomo ni hyaku-nen, reproduced in Tanaka, p.94 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Awano, p.5 of Camera Collectors' News no.256. An exactly similar advertisement is reproduced here in the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Awano, p.6 of Camera Collectors' News no.256.
Bibliography
- Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Unette to rekōdo" (ウネッテとレコード, Unette and Record). In Camera Collectors' News no.256 (October 1998). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
- Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6. P.28 (picture only).
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P.35.
- Sakai Shūichi (酒井修一). "Rekōdo kamera" (レコードカメラ, Record camera). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). P.23.
- Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 4005.
- Tanaka Yoshirō (田中芳郎). "Meiji–Taishō jidai no Konishi Honten no kamera wo shiru tame no hon" (明治・大正時代の小西本店のカメラを知るための本, Books about the Konishi Honten cameras of the Meiji and Taishō eras). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.92–4.
Links
In Japanese:
- Record in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
- Pages of the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website:
| Konishiroku prewar and wartime cameras () | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plate | hand cameras | stereo hand cameras | strut folders | box | telephoto | SLR |
| Idea (original) | Idea A | Idea B | Idea Snap | Idea No.1 | Idea (metal) | Lily (original) | Lily (horizontal) | Lily (metal) | Tropical Lily | Noble | Ohca | Sakura Palace | Sakura Pocket Prano | Sakura Prano | Idea Binocular | Sakura Binocular Prano | Minimum Idea | Idea Spring | Korok | Champion | Cherry | Sakura Army | Sakura Honor | Sakura Navy | Idea Telephoto | Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911) | Idea Reflex (1932) | Neat Reflex | Sakura Reflex Prano | |
| rollfilm | folders | box or collapsible | TLR | |||
| Pearlette | Special Pearlette | B Pearlette | Pearl (for plates and rollfilm) | Pearl No.2 | Pearl (Year 8) | Baby Pearl | Semi Pearl | Sakura Palace | Record | Sakura (box) | Sakura (bakelite) | Sakura-flex | ||||
