Starflex (wartime)
Two different Japanese 6×6 TLR cameras were called Starflex. The wartime Starflex was advertised by Ueda Shashinki-ten from 1940 to 1943.[1] The postwar Starflex is only known from a couple of surviving examples and its maker and distributor are unknown. These two are probably unrelated, and very little information is available about them.
Contents
Wartime Starflex
Description
The wartime Starflex is a 6×6 TLR with automatic stop film advance. The focusing is done by moving the front plate back and forth. The focusing and advance knobs are on the photographer's right, and there is a round exposure counter window at the top of the right-hand side plate. The focusing knob is surrounded by a depth-of-field plate. The nameplate has a stepped frame and is inscribed STARFLEX and something else in smaller letters.
Advertisements and other documents
The camera was listed for ¥252 in the Template:Kakaku1940 short, compiled on October 25, 1940 and published in January 1941.[2] It was offered in advertisements by Ueda Shashinki-ten dated December 1940, January 1941, with an f/3.5 lens and a Star-Rapid shutter from 1s. The camera was not pictured and the price was given as ¥230 in December 1940 only. The camera was pictured in an advertisement dated November 1941 (only the latter has a picture), where the lens was mentioned as a Star Anastigmat f/3.5 and the shutter as a Star-Rapid giving B, 1–500 speeds.[3] The price was ¥230 again, and rose to ¥269 in a later advertisement.[4]
The "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943, still mentioned the camera with a Star 75/3.5 three-element lens, made by Takahashi and a Patent Mars shutter giving T, B, 1–250 speeds, made by Mars.[5] The name of the camera manufacturer itself is unfortunately missing from the document, it was perhaps Takahashi which also made the Star Semi.
No surviving example has been observed so far.
Postwar Starflex
The postwar Starflex
Bibliography
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Item 130 (wartime camera, see also the advertisements for items 108 and 136).
- "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7. Item 121.
- Template:Kakaku1940
- 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. 902 (about the postwar camera).
None of these cameras is listed in Sugiyama.
Links
In Japanese:
- Advertisement for the Starflex dated between 1942 and 1945, reproduced in Nostalgic Camera, a page of old Japanese advertisements by Toshio Inamura