Shōwa Kōgaku
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Shōwa Kōgaku, later renamed Leotax Camera, 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.[1] Nakagawa, a former engineer of Konishiroku, obtained financial support from Minagawa Shōten.[1] The company was renamed G.K. Shōwa Kōgaku (㈾昭和光学) at the end of 1938.[1] It became Shōwa Kōgaku Seiki K.K. (昭和光学精機㈱) at some time, certainly after the war, and was known under that name until 1956 or 1957,[2] when it was renamed Leotax Camera K.K. (レオタックスカメラ㈱).[3]
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.
Contents
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
14×14mm TLR
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sugiyama, p.47.
- ↑ The name appears in advertisements dated August 1949 to March 1956, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.210–2 and 324.
- ↑ The name appears in advertisements dated October 1957 to February 1960, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.324 and 326.
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
