Difference between revisions of "Speed Pocket"

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== Lens and shutter equipment ==
 
== Lens and shutter equipment ==
The Speed Pocket was featured in the new products column of the January 1937 issue of ''Asahi Camera''.<REF> {{Kokusan}}, p.&nbsp;340. </REF> The camera is called Speed Pocket and mentioned as a new model in an advertisement dated December 1936.<REF> Published in ''Asahi Camera'', reproduced in {{Kokusan}}, p.&nbsp;86. </REF> It was offered for {{yen|50|1936}} with a Toko f/4.5 lens by [[Topcon|Tōkyō Kōgaku]] and a selftimer-equipped [[Licht]] shutter by [[Hattori|Seikōsha]]. Versions equipped with a [[Magna]] shutter and an f/6.3 or f/4.5 lens were announced as available soon. No mention is made of the ability to take 3&times;4cm pictures.
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The Speed Pocket was featured in the new products column of the January 1937 issue of ''Asahi Camera''.<REF> {{Kokusan}}, p.&nbsp;340. </REF> The camera is called Speed Pocket and mentioned as a new model in an advertisement dated December 1936.<REF> Published in ''Asahi Camera'', reproduced in {{Kokusan}}, p.&nbsp;86. </REF> It was offered for {{yen|50|1936}} with a Toko f/4.5 lens by [[Tōkyō Kōgaku]] and a selftimer-equipped [[Licht]] shutter by [[Hattori|Seikōsha]]. Versions equipped with a [[Magna]] shutter and an f/6.3 or f/4.5 lens were announced as available soon. No mention is made of the ability to take 3&times;4cm pictures.
  
 
An advertisement dated April 1937<REF> Published in ''Camera Club'', reproduced in {{Kokusan}}, p.&nbsp;88. </REF> mentions the dual-format feature and lists the same lens and shutter equipment for the slightly lower price of {{yen|48|1937}}, but it does not mention the Magna shutter any more.
 
An advertisement dated April 1937<REF> Published in ''Camera Club'', reproduced in {{Kokusan}}, p.&nbsp;88. </REF> mentions the dual-format feature and lists the same lens and shutter equipment for the slightly lower price of {{yen|48|1937}}, but it does not mention the Magna shutter any more.

Revision as of 13:00, 20 January 2007

Japanese Vest (4×5 and 4×6.5) (edit)
folding
4×4.5 Orient
4×5 Minion
4×6.5 Clover Vest | Dianette | Eagle | Friend | Kooa | National | New Vest | Nifcarette | Pearlette | B Pearlette | Special Pearlette | Pionette | Pocket Prince | Sirius Bebe | Speed Pocket | Tsubasa Spring | Victory
rigid or collapsible
4×5 Alfax | Olympus Standard | Sakura (bakelite) | Well Standard
4×6.5 Vest Adler | Vest Alex | Kowa Kid | Light | Light Super | Baby Minolta | Minolta Vest | Regal Olympic | Vest Olympic | Tsubasa Chrome | Zen-99
box
4×6.5 Baby Clover | Sakura (box) | Spirit
unknown
4×5 Vesten
4×6.5 Victor Vest
unknown Meiro
Japanese 3×4 and 4×4, 4.5×6, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Speed Pocket (スピード・ポケット) is a Japanese folding camera taking 4×6.5 pictures on 127 film, sold in 1936 and 1937 by First Camera Works.[1] Baird says that it was first called "Speed Pocket" in 1934 then "First Speed Pocket" in 1936 but this is unconfirmed.[2]

Description of the body

The Speed Pocket is a vertical folder copied from the Agfa Billy 0. The metal struts have an incurved slot guiding the front standard when folding the bed. There is a folding frame finder in the middle of the top plate. The key to wind the film is and the folding bed release are at the bottom right. The back is hinged to the left.

The top and bottom plates and the standing leg have "art-deco" patterns directly copied from the Billy 0. The front leather is embossed SPEED with a higher "S".

The same body was later used for the Pocket Prince distributed by Fukada Shōkai and said to be made either by Prince Camera Works or by Fujimoto.

Lens and shutter equipment

The Speed Pocket was featured in the new products column of the January 1937 issue of Asahi Camera.[3] The camera is called Speed Pocket and mentioned as a new model in an advertisement dated December 1936.[4] It was offered for ¥50 with a Toko f/4.5 lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku and a selftimer-equipped Licht shutter by Seikōsha. Versions equipped with a Magna shutter and an f/6.3 or f/4.5 lens were announced as available soon. No mention is made of the ability to take 3×4cm pictures.

An advertisement dated April 1937[5] mentions the dual-format feature and lists the same lens and shutter equipment for the slightly lower price of ¥48, but it does not mention the Magna shutter any more.

Both advertisements cited give the company name First Camera Works and the authorized dealers Hattori Tokei-ten, Ōmiya Shashin-yōhin, Mizuno Shashinki-ten, Asanuma Shōkai Honten, Misuzu Shōkai and Shimoda Shashinki-ten.

An example of the Speed Pocket is presented in this page of the JCII collection, but it is unsure if this is a picture of a surviving example or a reproduction of an advertising picture.

A camera presented as a Speed Pocket is pictured in Sugiyama, Baird, McKeown and Lewis.[6] However it has a Baron Anastigmat 7.5cm f/4.5 lens in a Kerio shutter, no art-deco patterns and no SPEED embossing, and it is strongly suspected that this camera is a Pocket Prince.

Notes

  1. Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 340.
  2. Baird, pp. 99–101. Lewis, p. 54, also gives 1934 as the release date. Sugiyama, item 1052, McKeown, p. 577, and this page of the JCII collection all say 1936.
  3. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 340.
  4. Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 86.
  5. Published in Camera Club, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 88.
  6. Sugiyama, item 1052, Baird, pp. 99–101, McKeown, p. 577 and Lewis, p. 51.

Bibliography

Links

In Japanese: