Simlar

Simlar (シムラー) lenses were made by Tōkyō Kōgaku (predecessor of Topcon) from c.1935 to 1955. The name Simlar (written shimurā in Japanese) is derived from Shimura (志村), a place name in Tokyo where the company plant was located. The Simlar brand was originally used for a four-element lens design, copy of the Tessar. From the late 1930s or early 1940s, the name was applied to all the lenses made by Tōkyō Kōgaku with advanced specifications, as opposed to the Toko or State brands, used for three-element lenses. In 1955, the names Toko and Simlar were replaced by the single brand Topcor.

Simlar lenses in leaf shutters

Simlar 10.5cm f/4.5 lens no.25150 on a Luxury Pearl. Picture by eBayer imagemeister. (Image rights)

Simlar 6cm f/3.5

The Simlar 6cm f/3.5 was mounted on the Minion III, released during World War II but mainly sold in the postwar period.

Simlar 7.5cm f/3.5

At least one example of the Simlar 7.5cm f/3.5 was mounted on a Lord by Tōkyō Kōgaku, made c.1937–8, though the camera was normally advertised with a Toko 7.5cm f/3.5 three-element lens.

Simlar 10.5cm f/4.5

The Simlar 10.5cm f/4.5 was offered from c.1935 on the First, Special First, First Etui and First Roll, made by Kuribayashi and distributed by Minagawa. The lens was normally paired with a Seikosha shutter (T, B, 1–250). These cameras were certainly the first equipped with a Simlar.

The same lens was also mounted on the Luxury Pearl and New Lily released in 1937 by Konishiroku, in combination with a Leo shutter, name variant of the Seikōsha.

Simlar interchangeable lenses, for rangefinder cameras

See the main article on Tōkyō Kōgaku lenses in Leica screw mount.

Bibliography

• Shirasawa Akishige (白澤章茂). Topukon kamera no rekishi. (トプコンカメラの歴史, History of Topcon cameras.) Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 2007. ISBN 978-4-257-12051-3.

Links

In Japanese:

• Simlar 5cm f/0.7, 21cm f/4.5, and Tele-Simlar 40cm f/5 at the Topcon Club website