Star plate folders

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Japanese plate cameras
Monocular cameras (edit)
No.0 (4×5cm) Secrette
atom (4.5×6cm) New Argus | Egorette | Secrette
Box cameras (edit)
No.0 (4×5cm) Adam | Hayatori Renshūyō
atom (4.5×6cm) Atom Hayatori Shashinki
meishi (5.5×8cm) Cherry
tefuda (8×10.5cm) Champion | Cherry | Sakura Army | Sakura Honor | Sakura Navy
nimaigake (8×12cm) Sakura Honor
kabine (12×16.5cm) Sakura Honor
Folding bed cameras (edit)
No.0 (4×5cm) Alpha | Sweet | Pony Sweet | Taishō-shiki
atom (4.5×6cm) Monarch | Need | Palma
meishi (5.5×8cm) Eagle | Idea A | Idea B | Idea Snap | Idea No.1 | Iris | Lily (horizontal) | Pearl No.3 | Special Camera | Venis | X
daimeishi (6.5×9cm) Apollo | Arcadia | Crite | Special East | Eaton | Elliotte | First | First Etui | Gold | Happy | Hope | Idea No.1 | Idea (metal) | Kinka | Kokka | Lily (horizontal) | Lily (metal) | Tropical Lily | Lloyd | Lomax | Masnette | Mikuni | Need | Nifca Klapp | Nifca Sport | Ohca | Palma | Peter | Prince | Prince Peerless | Proud | Romax | Rosen | Rubies | Sirius | Sun | Super | Tokiwa | Venus | Weha Idea | Weha Light
tefuda (8×10.5cm) Eagle | Idea A | Idea B | Idea No.1 | Idea (metal) | Iris | Lily (original) | Lily (horizontal) | Lily (metal) | Palma | Pearl No.3, No.4 | Minimum Pearl | Special Pearl | Sakura Palace | Sakura Pocket Prano | Star | Tokiwa | Weha
nimaigake (8×12cm) Eagle | Idea | Idea Binocular | Sakura Prano | Sakura Binocular Prano | Star Premo
hagaki (8×14cm) Eagle | Noble | Pearl No.3, No.4 | Star
kabine (12×16.5cm) Idea | Noble | Sakura Prano | Star Premo
Strut-folding cameras (edit)
No.0 (4×5cm) CH
atom (4.5×6cm) Idea Spring
meishi (5.5×8cm) Minimum Idea | Korok
daimeishi (6.5×9cm) Idea Spring | Minolta | Auto Minolta | Auto Press Minolta | Nifca-Dox | Vester Klapp
tefuda (8×10.5cm) Focal Happy | Idea Spring | Idea Telephoto
10×15cm Kongo Press
kabine (12×16.5cm) Idea Spring | Idea Telephoto
SLR cameras (edit)
atom (4.5×6cm) Simplex Reflex | Speed Reflex
meishi (5.5×8cm) Speed Reflex
daimeishi (6.5×9cm) Convex Reflex | Hogo Reflex | Idea Reflex (1932) | Neat Reflex | Simplex Reflex | Speed Reflex
tefuda (8×10.5cm) Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911) | Idea Reflex (1932) | Neat Reflex | Photo Deluxe Reflex | Speed Reflex
nimaigake (8×12cm) Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911) | Sakura Reflex Prano
kabine (12×16.5cm) Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911)
daikabine (13×18cm) Guaranteed Reflex
unknown Hardflex | Leinflex | Photoman Special Reflex
Stereo cameras
3.7×5cm Tokioscope
4×5in Idea Binocular | Sakura Binocular Prano
Japanese 3×4 and 4×4, 4×5 and 4×6.5, 4.5×6, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Star are Japanese plate folders made and sold by Ueda Shashinki-ten in the late 1900s and early 1910s.[1]

Original documents

An advertisement by Ueda Shashinki-ten presents the Star Premo and Star Poco cameras. The Star Premo is mentioned in nimaigake (4×5in) and kabine (12×16.5cm) formats. The format of the Star Poco is not given, but one source says that it is tefuda-size (8×10.5cm).[2] The following models are listed in the advertisement:

  • Star Poco, RR lens, Simple Auto shutter, ¥15;
  • Star Premo No.2, 4×5in, RR lens, Simple Auto shutter, ¥28;
  • Star Premo No.3, 4×5in, RR lens, Simple Auto shutter, ¥35;
  • Star Premo No.4, 4×5in, vertical and horizontal movements, RR lens, Double Auto shutter, ¥43;
  • Star Premo No.4, 12×16.5cm, vertical and horizontal movements, RR lens, Double Auto shutter, ¥65.

The names were obviously reminiscent of the Premo and Poco made by the Rochester company, and the Ueda cameras were perhaps made under license instead of merely copied on their Western equivalents. From the end of the XIXth century, a camera called "Star Premo" was made in the US by Rochester itself, and continued from 1907 by the Rochester division of Kodak.[3]

The illustration shows a Star Premo No.4, recognized by the movement ability. It has double extension bellows, probably driven by a small wheel on the photographer's right. The straight folding struts are maintained in position by a screw. The front standard consists of various parts assembled to form a rectangle, and allows vertical and horizontal movements. The brilliant finder is attached to the folding bed on the photographer's right, and has a small hood.

The camera looks very much like the Rochester Pony Premo, and the Sakura Prano sold by Konishi at the same period is very similar too.

Other mentions

Lewis also mentions a Star camera in tefuda-size (8×10.5cm) patterned after the Goerz Manufoc-Tenax, a postcard-size (8×14cm) camera and a 5×7in camera.[4] It however seems that 5×7in format was not used in Japan at the time, and the larger model is perhaps actually a kabine-size (4¾×6½″, approx. 12×16.5cm) camera, maybe corresponding to the Star Premo No.4.

The only surviving example of a Star plate folder observed so far is pictured in Sugiyama.[5] It reportedly takes tefuda-size (8×10.5cm) pictures. It shows some differences from the model pictured in the advertisement cited above, and was certainly made some years later. It seems to have single extension bellows only, driven by a small wheel on the photographer's right. The front standard allows vertical and horizontal movements, and is very similar to that of the original Lily Portable Camera or of the Pocket Idea A1. The brilliant finder is perched atop the left-hand branch of the front standard. There is a leather handle above the main body, and an oval nameplate is attached to the left side. The particular example reportedly has a Bausch & Lomb shutter (1–100, B, T) and an Aldis Anastigmat f/7.7 lens.[6]

Notes

  1. Ueda Shashinki-ten is mentioned as the manufacturer (製作所) in an advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha (around the middle). Date: Sugiyama, item 1245, and McKeown, p.943, say 1911 but the Star Premo appears in the price list by Ueda Shashinki-ten dated April 1908 reproduced at the bottom of the same page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
  2. Star Poco in tefuda-size: Lewis, p.27.
  3. McKeown, pp.516 and 842, and advertisement dated 1904 reproduced at the Ad Art Gallery. A Star Premo dated 1893–4 used by Edith Irvine is shown in Edith's Cameras.
  4. Lewis, p.27.
  5. Sugiyama, item 1245.
  6. Sugiyama, item 1245.

Bibliography

  • 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). P.27.
  • 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.943.
  • 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 1245.

Links

In Japanese: