Difference between revisions of "Super Flex Baby"
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The '''Super Flex Baby''' (スーパー・フレックス・ベビー) is a Japanese 4×4 [[SLR]] made between 1938 and 1942 or 1943.<REF> Dates: the advertisements mentioned in {{Kokusan}}, p. 337, run from 1938 to 1942, and the [http://umemoto.ecnet.jp/corp2/corp2.htm Umemoto company history] says that it was perhaps made until the beginning of 1943. </REF> It was sold and advertised by the retailer [[Kikō-dō]], but it was manufactured by [[Umemoto|Umemoto Seisakusho]].<REF> No original document has been found to confirm this but it is stated in the [http://umemoto.ecnet.jp/corp2/corp2.htm Umemoto company history] that is redacted by the grandson of the Umemoto founder. </REF> | The '''Super Flex Baby''' (スーパー・フレックス・ベビー) is a Japanese 4×4 [[SLR]] made between 1938 and 1942 or 1943.<REF> Dates: the advertisements mentioned in {{Kokusan}}, p. 337, run from 1938 to 1942, and the [http://umemoto.ecnet.jp/corp2/corp2.htm Umemoto company history] says that it was perhaps made until the beginning of 1943. </REF> It was sold and advertised by the retailer [[Kikō-dō]], but it was manufactured by [[Umemoto|Umemoto Seisakusho]].<REF> No original document has been found to confirm this but it is stated in the [http://umemoto.ecnet.jp/corp2/corp2.htm Umemoto company history] that is redacted by the grandson of the Umemoto founder. </REF> | ||
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| + | The Super Flex Baby was the first Japanese 4×4 SLR and perhaps the first Japanese SLR using roll-film. (The first Japanese SLR was the [[Sakura Reflex Plano]] by [[Konica|Konishi]], later Konica, taking film plates.) | ||
== Description == | == Description == | ||
Revision as of 11:07, 8 December 2006
The Super Flex Baby (スーパー・フレックス・ベビー) is a Japanese 4×4 SLR made between 1938 and 1942 or 1943.[1] It was sold and advertised by the retailer Kikō-dō, but it was manufactured by Umemoto Seisakusho.[2]
The Super Flex Baby was the first Japanese 4×4 SLR and perhaps the first Japanese SLR using roll-film. (The first Japanese SLR was the Sakura Reflex Plano by Konishi, later Konica, taking film plates.)
Description
The Super Flex Baby is inspired from the Karma Flex 4×4 SLR, with a near cubic shape altered by the film spool compartments on both sides. The lens is removable and the shutter is placed behind the lens mount. The speeds are set by a wheel attached to the front plate, placed at the top right as seen from the front. The shutter release is situated on the right hand side of the body, as seen by the photographer.
Most of the top plate is occupied by the viewfinder. The viewing hood contains a sports finder that is marked SUPER FLEX BABY inside a coat of arms. The advance knob is at the left end of the body and there are strap lugs on both sides. The back is hinged to the left and contains three red windows, protected by a common cover vertically sliding under a metal plate having 1 3 5 7, 2 4 6 8, 1 3 5 7 markings. This complicated system was required by the 4×4cm format, for which there was no indication in the rollfilm back paper.
Evolution
The Super Flex Baby appeared in mid 1938. Kokusan kamera no rekishi says that it was featured in the new products column of the August 1938 issue of Asahi Camera.[3]
The original model has a black and chrome speed wheel and lens barrel. The engraving on the viewing hood is black filled. The shutter release is a simple pivoting lever and is painted black.[4] The shutter speeds are B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100.
An advertisement dated June 1938[5] offers the camera for ¥49 with a U.L.L. Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens. Kokusan kamera no rekishi says that it was the only advertisement to offer this lens option and that the camera was normally sold with a Super Anastigmat 70/4.5, as appears in an advertisement dated February 1939[6] where the camera is priced ¥58.
The Super Flex Baby II appeared in mid 1939.[7] has an all chrome speed wheel and lens barrel. It was offered for ¥65 in an advertisement dated June 1939.[8]
It was replaced by the Super Flex Baby III at the beginning of 1940.[9] This model adds the possibility of Time exposures. It seems that there is no T setting added to the speed wheel but that the release lever was modified and a lock was added. The new type of release lever consists of a bent metal plate vertically sliding on the right hand side of the camera. A button is visible near the bottom of the release mechanism, that is believed to be the release lock for Time exposures.
An advertisement dated April 1940[10] still offers the model II for ¥65 along with the new model III for ¥78, explicitly stating that the difference resides in the Time exposure feature.
The Super Flex Baby IIIA was added at the beginning of 1941[11] with a Super Anastigmat 65mm f/3.2 lens. It seems that the body presents no difference, so that a III can become a IIIA and vice versa by swapping the lens.
An advertisement dated March 1941[12] offers the model III for ¥77 and the model IIIA for ¥88. In an advertisement dated March 1942, the prices are respectively ¥90 and ¥102, and the f/4.5 model is called model II probably by mistake.[13] This March 1942 advertisement is the last one listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi[14] and the camera production was soon interrupted by the war.
About the name
The name "Super Flex Baby" has been used throughout this article. The original documentation is not consistent and the camera is called "Super Flex Baby" or "Baby Super Flex" or simply "Super Flex", depending on the advertisement. (There is even one advertisement where the case is mentioned as "for the Baby Super Ref"[15] (ベビースーパーレフ用) while the camera is called "Super Flex Baby" in the header.) The camera itself is always marked "Super Flex Baby".
Notes
- ↑ Dates: the advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337, run from 1938 to 1942, and the Umemoto company history says that it was perhaps made until the beginning of 1943.
- ↑ No original document has been found to confirm this but it is stated in the Umemoto company history that is redacted by the grandson of the Umemoto founder.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337
- ↑ An example of this model is pictured in this page of the JCII collection.
- ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
- ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 74.
- ↑ Date: advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
- ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
- ↑ Date: advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
- ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
- ↑ Date: advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
- ↑ Published in Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Hōdō Shashin, reproduced in the Gochamaze website. Another advertisement is reproduced in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura and gives the same prices.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337
- ↑ "Ref" is an abbreviation often used for "Reflex" in Japan at the time.
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. Items 126–8.
- 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). P. 55.
Links
In Japanese:
- Super Flex Baby (original model) in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
- Company history (with pictures of a Super Flex Baby IIIA) at the Umemoto official website
- Advertisement published in the March 1942 issue of Hōdō Shashin, reproduced in the Japanese camera page of the Gochamaze website
- Advertisement dated between 1942 and 1945, reproduced in Nostalgic Camera, a page of old Japanese advertisements by Toshio Inamura
