Difference between revisions of "Semi Minolta III"

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== Links ==
 
== Links ==
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In Enhlish:
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* Semi Minolta III (A) in the [http://www.photoclubalpha.com/useful-and-vital-links/minolta-history-seven-decades/2/ 70th anniversary Minolta poster], reproduced at [http://www.photoclubalpha.com/ Photoclub Alpha]
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In German:
 
In German:
 
* [http://www.kefk.net/Fotografie/Kameras/Mittelformat/Anbieter/Minolta/Semi-III/index.asp Semi Minolta III] at [http://www.kefk.net/home.asp kefk.net]
 
* [http://www.kefk.net/Fotografie/Kameras/Mittelformat/Anbieter/Minolta/Semi-III/index.asp Semi Minolta III] at [http://www.kefk.net/home.asp kefk.net]

Revision as of 16:22, 18 December 2010

285057418_1312a226c5_m_d.jpg
Picture courtesy of eBayer virtualmerch. (Image rights)
Japanese Semi (4.5×6)
Postwar models (edit)
folding
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Prewar and wartime models ->
Japanese SLR, TLR, pseudo TLR and stereo models ->
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The Semi Minolta III is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera, made by Chiyoda Kōgaku (the predecessor of Minolta). It is a postwar evolution of the Semi Minolta II. Its body is similar to the late Semi Minolta II but it has a more modern finish, auto-stop film advance and double exposure prevention. It is said to be the first camera sold by Chiyoda Kōgaku after the war.[1]

The Semi Minolta III (A)

The original version is retrospectively called Semi Minolta IIIA because of the IIIB and IIIC versions, but at the beginning it was only called Semi Minolta III (セミ・ミノルタⅢ型). It appears in Japanese advertisements between 1946 and 1950[2].

The diagonal struts, folding bed and die cast body are identical to the late Semi Minolta II. The back is identical too, with the red window only needed to set the first exposure. The bottom side is different, with no advance key, a small knob at each end and a centred tripod screw (engraved MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN at least in some examples), but the main changes are concentrated on the top side.

There is a chrome finished top plate, separated in two by a small step in the middle. Its right half is slightly thicker because it contains the automatic film advance mechanism. It supports the advance knob, the folding bed opening button and contains a small hole showing the exposure counter disc. The advance knob is engraved to indicate the advance direction, with variations in the engraving: the two simple black arrows of the beginning were later replaced by a single one, more stylized. Examples also exist with a CPO logo, consisting of the katakana シーピーオー inside a diamond.[3] There is a small button protruding from the rear of the top plate, which is used to reset the exposure counter. The left half of the top plate supports the folding optical finder, the body release above the hinge of the folding bed, and an accessory shoe at the left end of the body. The body release is internally linked to the film advance to insure double exposure prevention. The button itself was modified at some time with a thread to attach a distant release.

The shutter of the Semi Minolta III is a Kōnan-Rapid, with B, 1–500 speeds, made by Chiyoda itself. The speed rim and the top of the shutter plate are both engraved KŌNAN-RAPID, while the bottom of the shutter plate is engraved CHIYOKŌ. The original IIIA version is not synchronized. The aperture is set by a small index on top of the shutter housing.

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Semi Minolta III (A) no.2169, Rokkor 75mm f:3.5 lens.
The advance knob and shutter release are of the early type.
Pictures courtesy of Frank Slade. (Image rights)

Three lens variants of the IIIA are reported[4]:

  • Rokkor 75/3.5 (engraved Chiyoko Osaka ROKKOR 1:3.5 f=75mm NrXXXX);
  • Promar 75/3.5;
  • Zuiko 75/3.5 (made by Takachiho, the predecessor of Olympus).

The Rokkor 75/3.5 is the first lens made by Chiyoda for civilian use[5], and it is also the first coated lens sold in Japan[6]. It seems to be the standard equipment, with which the camera is consistently advertised[7] (for example it is the only lens offered in an advertisement dated February 1948[8]). An early advertisement, dated January 1947[9], says that the camera is equipped with a new but unnamed coated lens, surely the Rokkor. It shows a four-element lens scheme, which seems to imply that the Rokkor has four elements. It is likely that the other lenses were only mounted at the beginning of the production, around 1946, when the new lens was not yet available in quantities.

The Semi Minolta IIIB

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Semi Minolta IIIB no.18157, Rokkor 75mm f:3.5 lens.
The shutter plate is black and the specific synch pin is visible in the lens close-up.
Pictures courtesy of eBayer virtualmerch. (Image rights)

The Semi Minolta IIIB adds synchronization for magnesic flash units. It appears in Japanese advertisements dated 1950.[10] Chiyoda Kōgaku sold a Minolta Flash Model U (ミノルタ同調発光器Ｕ型) to go with this model and with the Minolta 35 (it appears in a May 1950 advertisement[11]).

The IIIB is only reported with the Rokkor 75/3.5.[12] An early example, pictured in this page, is known with the same shutter markings as on the IIIA and a specific synch pin on the left of the shutter housing.

A later one has been observed with an ASA bayonet synch connector (on the top right of the shutter housing) and a white shutter plate, like the later IIIC, marked KONAN-RAPID and CHIYOKO with no macrons. The speed rim is engraved S-KONAN-RAPID at the bottom, the "S" presumably meaning Synchronized.[13]

The Semi Minolta IIIC

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Semi Minolta IIIC no.29994, Promar SII 75mm f/3.5 lens no.53201.
Pictures courtesy of John Berard. (Image rights)

The Semi Minolta IIIC appears in Japanese advertisements dated 1951.[14] Some sources say that the IIIC is distinguished from the IIIB by the switch from a black shutter plate to a white one[15], but this seems to be a mistake, the identification feature being the absence of double exposure prevention[16] and some examples of the IIIB already having a white shutter plate. The IIIC has a small lever protruding from the front of the top plate, under the bed opening button, used to unlock film advance between two exposures. This lever has become necessary because of the removal of the double exposure prevention linkage between the shutter release and the advance mechanism.[17] The purpose of this retrogression was probably to cut costs. Of course this kind of change is not mentioned in the advertisements.[18]

The IIIC is said to have the Rokkor 75/3.5[19], but it has been observed[20] with the Chiyoko Promar SII 75/3.5 supplied with the later Semi Minolta P. One example of the IIIC has been observed[21] with an aperture scale in white instead of black.

The shutter rim and white shutter plate have the same markings as described for the late IIIB but on all the examples observed the synch connector is of the same specific type as the early IIIB pictured in this page. It is said that the accessory flash unit offered with the IIIC was called Model Ub.[22]

A rumour reported by Tanimura says that some late Semi Minolta III were equipped with Prontor shutters. None seems to have surfaced since and no picture is known.[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Francesch, p.82.
  2. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.×368.
  3. ↑ McKeown, p.×672.
  4. ↑ Francesch, p.82, and Supuringu kamera de ikō, p.77.
  5. ↑ According to this page of the Manual Minolta website, it is the first lens made by the company, but there are military precedents.
  6. ↑ According to this page of the Konica Minolta official website.
  7. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.368.
  8. ↑ Published in Ars Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.193.
  9. ↑ Published in Ars Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.193.
  10. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.368. Francesch, p.83, and McKeown, p.672, both say 1947 but it is certainly a mistake.
  11. ↑ Published in Ars Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.194.
  12. ↑ Francesch, p.83.
  13. ↑ Observation of an example in an online auction.
  14. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.368. Francesch, p.83, and McKeown, p.672, both say 1948 but this is certainly a mistake.
  15. ↑ Francesch, p.83, and McKeown, p.672.
  16. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.368.
  17. ↑ Lewis, p.63, says that the IIIC is improved by the addition of an auto-stop advance lever, while it is the reverse: it is the loss of double exposure prevention that makes the lever necessary.
  18. ↑ For example the advertisement published in the January 1951 issue of Asahi Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.194.
  19. ↑ Francesch, p.83.
  20. ↑ In this page of the AJCC website and in an online auction.
  21. ↑ Example pictured in this page of the AJCC website.
  22. ↑ Francesch, p.83.
  23. ↑ Tanimura, p.2 of Camera Collectors' News no.131.

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 916–8.
  • Francesch, Dominique and Jean-Paul. Histoire de l'appareil photographique Minolta de 1929 à 1985. Paris: Dessain et Tolra, 1985. ISBN 2-249-27685-4.
  • The Japanese Historical Camera. 日本の歴史的カメラ (Nihon no rekishiteki kamera). 2nd ed. Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2004. P.21.
  • Kawamata Masataku (川又正卓). "Semi Minolta." In Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: The use of and actual examples from 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.76–7.
  • 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). Pp.60 and 63.
  • McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P.672.
  • Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten (思い出のスプリングカメラ展, Exhibition of beloved self-erecting cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.9.
  • Scheibel, Anni Rita and Joseph. 70 Jahre Minolta Kameratechnik — Von der Nifcalette bis zur Dynax 9. Stuttgart: Lindemanns Verlag, 3rd edition, 1999. ISBN 3-89506-191-3. Pp.30 and 32–3.
  • Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 1356.
  • Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Supuringu kamera <Semi Minoruta>" (スプリングカメラ<セミミノルタ>, "'Semi Minolta' self-erecting camera"). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.19–24.

Links

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