Semi Chrome

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Japanese Semi (4.5×6)
Prewar and wartime models (edit)
folding
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collapsible
Semi Kinsi | Lord | Lyrax | Nippon | New Olympic | Semi Olympic | Semi Renky | Auto Victor | Well Super
stereo
Sun Stereo
unknown
Semi Elka | Semi Keef | Napoleon
Postwar models ->
Japanese SLR, TLR, pseudo TLR and stereo ->
Japanese 3×4, 4×4, 4×5, 4×6.5, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Semi Chrome (セミクローム) are Japanese 4.5×6 folders made in 1937 and 1938 by Optochrom. Two very different versions were announced, but the first one was perhaps never sold.

The Semi Chrome A

Description

The Semi Chrome A is a vertical folder. It has a folding optical finder on one side. The advance key is at the bottom right, as seen by the photographer holding the camera horizontally. The back is hinged to the left and the back latch is covered by a leather handle.

Documents

The only known advertisement is in the February 1937 issue of Camera Art.[1] The shutter has T, B, 5–150 speeds, and it is probably a Rulex: on the picture, the shutter plate is marked Semi Chrome at the top and perhaps RULEX at the bottom, with a logo on the right which is probably the NH logo of Neumann & Heilemann. The lens aperture is f/4.5 but the lens name is a bit confusing: it could be New Gold Lausar, or more probably New Gold and Lausar would be a choice of two different lenses.[2] No price is indicated, and the Semi Chrome A was probably never sold. It was perhaps succeeded by the Semi Sixteenth.

The Semi Chrome B

Description

The Semi Chrome B[3] is a strut folding camera. It has a folding optical finder, apparently similar to the finder of the Semi Chrome A. There is a button on the left of the viewfinder (as seen by the photographer); it looks like a body release but it is actually the release of the front standard. There is an advance knob, whose location varies (see below). The back is hinged to the left and the back latch is covered by a leather handle, the same as on the Semi Chrome A.

Documents and variations

The Semi Chrome B was announced in the advertisement cited above, dated February 1937.[1] It was priced at ¥38 with a New Gold f/4.5 lens. In the picture, the advance knob seems to be at the top left, next to the folding bed release, and the name SEMI-CHROME is inscribed in the front leather. The shutter is everset and gives T, B, 100, 50, 25 speeds; on the picture, the shutter plate has an illegible inscription at the top and is perhaps marked New Gold in cursive style at the bottom.

In an advertisement dated August 1937,[4] the Semi Chrome B was offered with the New Gold lens for the same price, or with a Lausar f/4.5 lens for ¥45 (case ¥5 extra). The pictured camera has the advance knob at the bottom right, near the back latch, and the front leather is simply embossed CHROME. The shutter has the same speeds; the shutter plate has a thin silver strip on each side and its markings are illegible but look similar to the markings on the surviving example described below.

The only surviving example known so far is pictured in Sugiyama.[5] It is similar to the camera pictured in the August advertisement. The lens is reported as a Lucomar Anastigmat 75mm f/4.5. The shutter plate has three silver strips on each side and is inscribed TSUBASA SHUTTER at the top with an NE logo between both words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom.

The Semi Chrome B was advertised until January 1938.[6]

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi in two parts, pp.61 (items 34 and 91) and 70 (items 89–90).
  2. The advertisement has ニユーゴールド on one line and ローザー付F4.5 on the following line.
  3. This model is called "Semi Tsubasa Chrome" in Sugiyama, item 1255, and in McKeown, p.464.
  4. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.78.
  5. Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 1255, called "Semi Tsubasa Chrome".
  6. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.336.

Bibliography