Stereo Hit

The Stereo Hit (ステレオヒット) is a Japanese camera taking pairs of 3×4cm exposures on 127 film, made by Tougodo in 1955.

Description

The Stereo Hit has a body made of plastic, looking very similar to contemporary models using 35mm film. The top housing covers the whole length of the body. It shows no engraving, contains the viewfinder in the middle and has an accessory shoe on the right.

Stereo Hit, front view. Picture courtesy of eBayer xxcelent_buy. (Image rights)

A black rectangular casing protrudes on the front of the camera, containing the shutter mechanism. On top of this casing we find the release button on the right, a PC synch socket on the left and a sliding lever in the middle, used to wind the shutter, which is certainly of the guillotine type. The front part of the casing has a silver-coloured rectangular plate with rounded angles, encompassing the two lenses and inscribed STEREO HIT in large uppercase letters in the middle. Above and below this marking are two small knobs: the upper one has a red dot and selects the lens aperture, it has 9 and 16 positions and the word STOP is inscribed above; the lower one has a green dot and B and I indications, for Bulb and Instant (1/25) settings, and the word SHUTTER is inscribed below.

The lenses are fixed-focus and the rims are inscribed COATED S–OWLA F=4.5cm. There is no diaphragm iris but a Waterhouse sliding plate. Next to the right-hand lens is a small lever switching the shutter operation from STEREO to SINGLE. The S-Owla is a meniscus lens; its name is perhaps related to the Owla company which later made the Owla Stereo, announced in 1956.

Stereo Hit, rear view. Picture courtesy of eBayer xxcelent_buy. (Image rights)

The camera has manual advance and the film runs from right to left. The advance knob is at the top left and has an arrow engraved to indicate the winding direction. The back is hinged to the right and contains one or two red windows in the middle, protected by horizontally sliding individual covers; instructions for use are displayed on various plates screwed above the back leather.

Versions

Two versions of the Stereo Hit are known, distinguished by the number of red windows; it is not known which came first.

Two red windows

The version with two red windows in the middle has three plates on the back, displaying user instructions in an approximate English. Above the red windows we read:

FOR STEREO PICTURES, ROLL FILM

TO HAVE UNDERMENTIONED NUMBERS

APPEAR ON RIGHT OR LEFT

WINDOWS

USE NO. 127 ROLL FILM

The table placed under the red windows explains how to position the numbers of the paper backing to have proper alignment of the stereo pairs:

LEFT WINDOW	RIGHT WINDOW
2nd Pair 1	1st Pair 1
4th Pair 3	3rd Pair 3
6th Pair 5	5th Pair 5
8th Pair 7	7th Pair 7

This means that you have to display the no.1 in the right window for the first pair, then in the left window for the second pair, then the no.3 in the right window again for the third pair, and so on. On the right of the red windows are instructions to use the camera in single picture mode, using only the right-hand lens:

TO TAKE 16 SINGLE PICTURES,

ROLL FILM TO HAVE 1 APPEAR

ON RIGHT WINDOW FOR FIRST

PICTURE. THEN ROLL FURTHER

TO HAVE 1 APPEAR ON LEFT

WINDOW FOR SECOND PICTURE.

REPEAT SAME OPERATION FOR

CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS.

Single red window

The other version only has the left-hand red window and two plates on the back. The plate on the left, above the red window, reads as follows:

FOR STEREO

ROLL FILM TO HAVE

FOLLOWING NUMBER TO

APPEAR IN WINDOW

1 - 1½ - 3 - 3½ - 5 - 5½ - 7 - 7½

The plate on the right reads as follows:

FOR INDIVIDUAL PICTURE

ROLL FILM TO HAVE

CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS

TO APPEAR IN WINDOW

It seems that this version is made to use 127 film with half numbers added to the full frame (1 to 8) sequence on the paper backing; it is not known when and where this type of rollfilm was sold.

Commercial life

The Stereo Hit was only briefly advertised and covered in Japanese magazines, in the period from August to October 1955. The September and October advertisements in Asahi Camera say that the camera was "recommended by Pr. Yoshikawa Hayao (吉川速男先生御推奨)". The camera was offered for ¥2,000, a very low price, as a set in an orange box marked STEREO-HIT WITH VIEWER, together with the following accessories:

• a fold-out viewer made of metal;
• cardboard inserts for contact prints;
• a tan case embossed STEREO-HIT at the front;
• perhaps a bulb flash unit.

The cardboard inserts' front size is accordingly marked, to help their correct placing in the viewer. The images produced by the right-hand lens have a crescent-shaped mark on the edge to distinguish them, and must be placed on the left in the inserts.

The September advertisement also mentions an unnamed "Stereo Camera" (ステレオカメラ) using 35mm film. It corresponds to the Stereo Leader, and it is presented as such in the October advertisement.

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 723. (See also the advertisements for item 993.)
• 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). Pp.92–3.
• 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.931.
• Shima Kazuya (島和也). "Sutereo kamera onparēdo" (ステレオカメラオンパレード, Stereo cameras on parade). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.27, December 1993. No ISBN number. Stereo World (ステレオワールド). Pp.21–5.
• 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 6033.

Links

In English:

• Stereo Hit at Caméra Collection (in both English and French)
• Stereo Hit in the Westlicht Photographica Auction no.11, 26 May 2007, lot no.754

In German:

• Stereo Hit and instruction manual at Stereoskopie.com

In Dutch:

• Stereo Hit in Retro Camera's Verzamelaar

In Swedish:

• Stereo Hit in a page about stereo cameras at Ove Karlsson's camera collection

In Japanese:

• Stereo Hit in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology