Semi Lyra
The Semi Lyra is a Japanese 4.5×6 folder, that was made by Fuji Kōgaku. It is a copy of the Ikonta, with a folding optical finder. It is simply embossed LYRA in the front leather.
The original model, released in 1936, has no body release, and exists in four variants[1]:
- Pionar f:6.3 lens and Picco shutter (¥35 in 1937);
- Terionar f:4.5 lens and Noblo shutter (¥43);
- Terionar f:3.5 lens and Noblo shutter (¥58);
- Goldar[2] f:3.5 lens and Noblo shutter (¥70).
The Picco shutter has T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds and also equips the Baby Lyra, while the Noblo shutter has T, B, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 speeds.
An ad in the Sep 1938 issue of Asahi Camera showed all the Lyra range, with the Lyra Six, the Lyra Flex, the Semi Lyra and the Baby Lyra. The Semi Lyra was offered in three versions, each with a choice of two lenses:
- f:4.5 lens for ¥52 (bad scan, prices hard to read)
- f:3.5 lens for ¥52
- possibly model B (B型), f:4.5 lens for ¥60
- possibly model B (B型), f:3.5 lens for ¥70
- possibly model A (A型), f:4.5 lens for ¥70
- possibly model A (A型), f:3.5 lens for ¥80
The case was not included in the price.
The Semi Lyra also appeared in a 1938 price list of a dealer called Shinbi-Dō (眞美堂), offered in two versions, each with a choice of two lenses:
- f:3.5 lens, for ¥56
- f:4.5 lens, for ¥50
- model I, f:3.5 lens, for ¥52.05
- model I, f:4.5 lens, for ¥40
Apparently all four had a body release.
Yet another ad has been observed, from the 29 July 1942 issue of Asahi Graph (shown here), for a Lyra (not called "Semi") with a body release, a folding optical finder and LYRA embossed in the front leather. It was offered with a f:3.5 lens for ¥112 and with a f:4.5 lens for ¥101, the case costing an additional ¥7.70. The distributor's name was Fujikō Shōji K.K. (富士光商事株式会社), certainly a trading company associated with Fuji Kōgaku.
Notes
- ↑ Advertisement for the Semi Lyra, Baby Lyra and Lyra Six, originally published in the September 1937 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi in two parts, items 291–2 and 295.
- ↑ Inferred from the katakana ゴールダー.
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. Items 292–4.