Shōwa Kōgaku

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Shōwa Kōgaku, later renamed Leotax, was a Japanese camera maker.

It was founded in January 1938 by Nakagawa Kenzō (中川幹三) as Kyōei-sha (共栄社), based in Nippori (日暮里), Tokyo. Nakagawa, a former engineer of Konishiroku, obtained financial support from Minagawa Shōten. The company was renamed Gōshi-gaisha Shōwa Kōgaku (㈾昭和光学) at the end of 1938. It made the Leotax rangefinder cameras until 1961, and it also made the Semi Leotax and Baby Leotax folders as well as the Gemflex subminiature TLR.

35mm rangefinder

Leotax Leica copies

4.5×6 folding

• Semi Leotax (original)
• Semi Leotax (auto-stop)
• Semi Leotax (postwar)
• Semi Leotax New / DL
• Semi Leotax DL II / R

3×4 folding

• Baby Leotax

14×14mm TLR

• Gemflex

Bibliography

• 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.

Links

In Japanese:

• Leotax page at Nekosan's website
• Leonon-S 5cm f/2 lens at Koujiya's blog
• Some Leotax on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand