Sumida
K.K. Sumida Kōki Seisakusho (株式会社隅田光機製作所) or Sumida Optical Works was a Japanese camera maker from 1950 to 1953.[1]
Name and history
"Sumida" is the name of a river in Tokyo, and also of one of the 23 boroughs (区, ku, conventionally if misleadingly translated as "wards") of the Japanese capital. The company was installed there, first in Arakawa-ku from 1950 to 1952, then in Setagaya-ku in 1953.[2]
The ancestor of Sumida was the company Proud-sha, founded by Miyazaki Shizuma (宮崎静馬) and apparently merged into Miyoshi Kōgaku around 1940. Sumida made a number of cameras called Proud, and the sales department briefly used the name "Proud-sha". From 1950 to 1952, the company's logo was formed by the letters KSK, with the "S" vertically elongated to draw some sort of cross. From late 1952 onwards, it used a logo formed by the words KSK Proud inside an oval, with a stylized "P". This logo is very close to the one used by Proud-sha before the war.
It seems that Sumida worked in cooperation with Nishida to produce the Apollo and Mikado folders.[3] It is likely that the body was made by Sumida while Nishida provided the lens and shutter, and maybe marketed the camera. These cameras are the continuation the Roavic by Miyoshi Kōgaku, itself descending from the Semi Prux by Proud.
Lewis says that Sumida was first called "Million Optical".[4] No further evidence has been found to sustain this. Sumida indeed marketed a camera called Million Proud, but Million is a part of the model name.
4.5×6 folding
6×6 folding
Notes
- ↑ The dates correspond to the earliest and latest Sumida advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 362.
- ↑ Source: advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 172–3. The main address from 1950 to 1952 was Tōkyō-to Arakawa-ku Minami-Senju 2, 13 (東京都荒川区南千住2の13), with the sales department (営業所) at the following address Tōkyō-to Minato-ku Shibasakurada Bizen-chō 12 (東京都港区芝桜田備前町12). In 1953 the only address is Tōkyō-to Setagaya-ku Daita 1, 748 (東京都世田谷区代田1の748).
- ↑ They are attributed to both companies in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 345 (for the Apollo II), and in McKeown, pp. 737–8 and 907.
- ↑ Lewis, p. 73.
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.
- 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. 907.
