Semi Frank
The Semi Frank (セミ・フランク) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera, made in 1951 and 1952 by Tōsei Kōki.[1]
Description of the body
The Semi Frank is a vertical folder, but the viewfinder is to the right when the camera is held vertically by the photographer, the reverse of the usual arrangement. The viewfinder is contained in a top housing, with the advance knob on the left end. The body and folding struts look very similar to the Semi Mihama.
Lens and shutter equipment
An advertisement in the May 1952 issue of the Japanese magazine Camera Fan[2] offers the camera with a Seriter 75/3.5 coated lens and a TKS synchronized shutter (B, 1–200 and self-timer), for ¥9,800. The advertisement does not mention the maker, only the retailer Million Shōkai (ミリオン商会). It seems that the Semi Frank was also sold by Endō Kamera-ten[3].
Other lens and shutter combinations have been reported or observed:
- Seriter Anastigmat 75/3.5 lens, NKS shutter (B, 1–unknown, self-timer);[4]
- Tosei Anastigmat 80/3.5 lens, TKO shutter (B, 10–200);[5]
- Chibanon[6] f/3.5 lens.[7]
Notes
- ↑ Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 362.
- ↑ Reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 174.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 362.
- ↑ Observed in a Yahoo Japan auction.
- ↑ Reported in this web archive link. TKO is perhaps a typo for TSK.
- ↑ Inferred from the katakana チバノン.
- ↑ According to Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 362, it appears in the book Kamera Zukan by Sugiyama and Naoi and it is an early version of the camera.
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 783.
- 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). Page 75 (brief mention only).
Links
- Semi Frank (web archive link, Shift-JIS encoding)
