Seica and Andes Four

See also the Seica (4.5×6) rangefinder folding camera.

The Seica (セイカ or 精華) and Andes Four (アンデスフォアー) are Japanese cameras taking 4×4cm pictures on 127 film. They are nearly identical except for the name and they were probably name variants of each other. The Andes Four was distributed by Misuzu Shōkai and the Seica by Kuwata Shōkai. They were certainly made by the same company. Some sources attribute the two cameras to a company called Kondo Seikō, whereas others attribute the Seica to Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō. It is said that the Cordlef 4×4 TLR is based on the body of the Seica and Andes Four.

General description

The Seica and Andes Four have a metal body with round edges and a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. The tubular optical finder is offset to the left and there is an accessory shoe at the left end of the top plate. The right half of the top plate is covered by a long housing, supporting the advance knob at the right end and containing an exposure counter. It is said that there is no automatic stop device and that the film advance is controlled by the exposure counter alone (some control device was necessary because the rollfilm paper backing was not marked for 4×4cm pictures at the time). There is a lever behind the top housing, certainly used to reset the exposure counter. The back is fixed and the film is loaded through the removable bottom plate. There is a single red window on the left, protected by a horizontally sliding cover and used to set the position of the first exposure.

The Seica

On the Seica models, the name Seica is engraved on the exposure counter housing. The camera was featured in the new products column of the January 1939 issue of Asahi Camera. It seems that it was attributed to Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō, but it is not known if it was the maker or the distributor. The camera name was written 精華, meaning "bloom", "flower" or "elite". (During the war period, Riken used "patriotic" names, as well as names reminding Japan's alliance with Germany.) The lens was announced as a Seica 50/4.5 and the shutter as giving T, B, 5–250 speeds. It was advertised by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō in February 1939 for ¥70, the name being written 精華 again.

In October 1940 and February 1941, the Seica was advertised by the distributor Kuwata Shōkai, with no mention of Riken. The distribution of the camera was perhaps transfered by Riken to Kuwata, while it was produced by another company, perhaps Kondo Seikō. In these advertisements, the name was written セイカ in katakana and the camera was offered in two versions, both with an f/4.5 lens whose name was not given:

• Seica I: T, B, 25–250 speeds (¥60 in 1941);
• Seica II: T, B, 5–250 speeds (¥70 in 1941).

The Seica I and Seica II were also listed in the list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, for respectively ¥60 and ¥77.

The pictures of four surviving examples have been observed. Three of them have a Perfect shutter by Neumann & Heilemann, giving 25, 50, 100, 250, B, T speeds, and a front-cell focusing Helios Anastigmat f/4.5 lens. On these, the shutter plate has a Neumann & Heilemann nameplate screwed to the top, is marked PERFECT at the bottom and has a NH logo on the right. The aperture scale is written on another crescent-shape metal plate screwed to the bottom. The focal length is 5cm on at least one of these examples. The Helios lens is probably a three-element 50/4.5 made by Tōkyō Shashin Kōgaku.

The fourth example has a Magnon Anastigmat 50/4.5 lens and an unnamed everset shutter giving T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds. The shutter plate is marked Patents–Pending at the top and has a logo on the right, probably reading FB and exactly similar to the logo found on the shutter plate of the Mulber Six which was also distributed by Kuwata.

The Andes Four

The Andes Four is identical to the Seica except for the name and the lens and shutter equipment. The name ANDES is written on a nameplate attached above the exposure counter housing.

The Andes Four was listed in the January 1941 official price list cited above, under the names "Andes I" (¥60) and "Andes II" (¥77). It was also featured in the March 1941 issue of Asahi Camera, where it was attributed to Misuzu Shōkai, certainly the distributor, and called Andes Four II. It has an Andes Anastigmat 50/3.5 lens and a shutter giving T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds, reported as a Verio 2600. The shutter plate is marked VERIO at the top and perhaps 2600 at the bottom, and it has the aperture scale at the bottom. The only surviving example observed so far is pictured in Sugiyama.

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. Items 17 and 132–3.
• "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in 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. Pp.108—9. Type 1, sections 5 and 7.
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P.537.
• 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. Items 3003 and 3051.
• Senzen no rikō kamera – hoi (戦前のリコーカメラ・補遺, Prewar Ricoh cameras – appendix). 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.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp.21–2.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Rikō kamera no nagare" (リコーカメラの流れ, Evolution of the Ricoh cameras). 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.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 8–11.

Links

In English:

• Seica: lot 78 of the March 25, 2006 Photographica and Film auction by Auction Team Breker

In Japanese:

• Pages of the Ricoh official website:
  • Seica in the camera list (copied in this page of the Kitamura Camera Museum)
  • article about Riken wartime camera names
• Advertisement for the Riken camera range published in the 26 February 1939 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in Japanese camera page of the Gochamaze website