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 unknown from a couple surviving examples and its maker and distributor are unknown. These two are probably unrelated, and very few information is available about them.
Wartime Starflex
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.
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 for ¥230 in an advertisement by Ueda Shashinki-ten dated November 1941, 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 "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.[4] 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
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 (about the wartime camera).
- "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.
- ↑ Dates: advertisements and articles listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
- ↑ Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 7, section 1.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 76.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), item 121, lens item Lb26, shutter item 18-U-12.