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. There are two red windows in the back, protected by a horizontally sliding cover. The camera is simply embossed LYRA in the front leather, and the Fuji Kōgaku logo is embossed in the back 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.
The original model is still mentioned in 1938 advertisements[3] as a cheaper alternative to the newer model, with f:4.5 lens (¥52) or f:3.5 lens (¥62). It is unknown if it is equipped with the newer Fujikō shutters.
The New Semi Lyra (新型セミライラ)[4] is the same model with a body release. Two new shutters are introduced, the Fujikō B (T, B, 5–250) and the Fujikō A (T, B, 1–300). Various lens/shutter combinations exist[5]:
- Pionar f:6.3 lens and Picco shutter;
- Terionar f:4.5 lens and Picco shutter;
- Terionar f:4.5 lens and Fujikō B shutter (¥60 in 1937 and 1938);
- Terionar f:3.5 lens and Fujikō B shutter (¥70 in 1937 and 1938);
- Goldar f:4.5 lens and Fujikō B shutter;
- Terionar f:4.5 lens and Fujikō A shutter (¥70 in 1938);
- Terionar f:3.5 lens and Fujikō A shutter (¥80 in 1938).
The Semi Lyra F (セミライラＦ型) is equipped with a new 1–200 shutter. It probably corresponds to the switch from a black shutter plate to a yellowish one.
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.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Lyra range, published in the September 1938 issue of Asahi Camera.
- ↑ This model is called "Semi Lyra II" by Kokusan kamera no rekishi, but the advertisement reproduced is only written 新型セミライラ.
- ↑ The 1937 prices come from an advertisement for the Semi Lyra, originally published in the December 1937 issue of Ars Camera, reproduced in Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi, items 293. — The 1938 prices come from an advertisement for the Lyra range, published in the September 1938 issue of Asahi Camera. — The variants with no price indicated are simply mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 342.
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.
