Stereo Hit

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Japanese stereo cameras (edit)
on 16mm film CM-16 | Ricoreo 16
23×24mm
or
24×24mm
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24×30mm Stecoon
3×4cm Stereo Hit
3.7×5cm Tokioscope
4.5×6cm Sun Stereo
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3×4 and 4×4, 4×5 and 4×6.5, 4.5×6, 6×6, 6×9 and plate ->

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 from 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.

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 are spaced by 63mm.[1] The rims are inscribed COATED S–OWLA F=4.5cm. There is no diaphragm iris but Waterhouse stops on a 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;[2] its name is perhaps related to the Owla company which later made the Owla Stereo, announced in 1956.

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.

The dimensions are 165×77×60mm, and the weight is 680g.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5] 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 first advertised in Asahi Camera in August 1955, and was announced in various magazines in September.[6] The September and October advertisements in Asahi Camera[7] say that the camera was "recommended by Mr. Yoshikawa Hayao (吉川速男先生御推奨)".[8] The camera is listed at ¥2,000 including the viewer, a very low price. 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.

The advertisements for the Stereo Hit disappeared very soon, and none is found after October 1955.[9] The camera is listed again in the Summer 1957 special issue of Shashin Kōgyō on Japanese cameras, at an unchanged price.[10] This is the last known mention of the Stereo Hit, whose production was perhaps already stopped by the time.

Accessories

The camera was sold as a set in an orange box marked STEREO-HIT 3-D CAMERA WITH VIEWER, together with the following accessories:[11]

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

The cardboard inserts' front side 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.

There was also a bulb flash unit, complete with synch cord, sold in a separate box marked STEREO-HIT 3D CAMERA Flash Unit.

Notes

  1. Spacing: column in Shashin Kōgyō no.63, p.117, reproduced in this page.
  2. Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.165.
  3. Column in Shashin Kōgyō no.63, p.117, reproduced in this page.
  4. Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 6033, example pictured in this page at Stereoskopie.com, example sold as lot no.754 of Westlicht Auction no.11 (see links below), and example pictured in this page.
  5. Example observed in an online auction.
  6. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.360.
  7. Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.165 and 205.
  8. Yoshikawa Hayao (1890-1959) wrote books about small format cameras from the 1920s to the 1950s. See this page about a book titled First steps in small format cameras (小形カメラの第一歩) published in 1932 by Genkōsha (玄光社). See also this page (archived) for a book titled "Small format movie technique" (小形活動写真術) published in 1929.
  9. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.360.
  10. Column in Shashin Kōgyō no.63, p.117, reproduced in this page. The document contains mistakes in the lens and shutter features. It is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.360.
  11. In addition to the set pictured in this article, another set is pictured in this page at Stereoskopie.

Bibliography

Links

In English:

In German:

In Dutch:

In Japanese: