Semi Gelto

The Semi Gelto is a series of Japanese 4.5×6 folders that was made by Takahashi (that would later become Toakoki). It is a vertically folding camera with a body release and one red window in the back, at the top right, protected by a vertically sliding cover. It is embossed GELTO in the front leather. Unlike many other vertical folders, the finder is to the right when you are holding the camera vertically.

The Semi Gelto is advertised as a new product in 1942 by the distributor Hattori Tokei-ten, in three versions:

• the Semi Gelto I with a Grimmel 75/4.5 lens and a Gelto shutter with speeds from 1/5 to 1/250 (¥87);
• the Semi Gelto II with the same lens and a Gelto shutter with speeds from 1s to 1/200 (¥104);
• the Semi Gelto S with automatic film advacne, a Grimmel 75/3.5 lens and a Gelto shutter with speeds from 1s to 1/200 (¥170).

The camera pictured in the advertisement has a folding optical finder and an advance knob at the top left. There is no sign of automatic film advance, so it is probably a model I or II. A Semi Gelto with folding optical finder has also been observed at an eBay auction with a winding key in place of the advance knob.

The Semi Gelto S has a top housing integrating the viewfinder, an accessory shoe and the automatic film advance device. The lens is a Grimmel Anastigmat 7.5cm f/3.5 with front cell focusing. It is pictured in this page at Japan Family Camera with a Gelto II shutter providing T, B, 1–300 speeds. Another example has been observed at a Yahoo Japan auction with a NKS shutter engraved NKS-TOKYO having probably B, 1–200 speeds (top speed barely legible).

Kokusan kamera no rekishi mentions advertisements for the Semi Gelto until 1944.

Printed 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 99.

Links

In Japanese

• Semi Gelto S at Japan Family Camera