Super Flex Baby

From Camera-wiki.org
Revision as of 07:11, 21 March 2007 by Hoary (talk | contribs) (linking mags)
Jump to: navigation, search
Japanese Baby (3×4) and Four (4×4) (edit)
folding
3×4 Baby Balnet | Doris | Baby Doris | Baby Germa | Kinsi | Baby Leotax | Loren | Baby Lyra | Baby Pearl | Baby Pilot | Baby Rosen | Baby Suzuka | Walz
4×4 Adler Four | Rosen Four
rigid or collapsible
3×4 Baika | Baby Chrome | Comet | Cyclon | Gelto | Baby Germa | Gokoku | Hamond | Baby Hawk | Kinka Lucky | Lausar | Light | Baby Light | Molby | Mulber | Olympic | Baby Ōso | Peacock | Picny | Ricohl | Rorox | Shinko Baby | Slick | Baby Sport | Tsubasa Arawashi | Baby Uirus | Zessan
3.5×4 Kenko 35
4×4 Alma Four | Andes Four | Anny 44 | Arsen | Balnet Four | Bonny Four | Freude | Kalimar 44 | Auto Keef | Kraft | Letix | Mykey-4 | Olympic Four | Roico | Royal Senior | Seica | Terra Junior | Vero Four | Welmy 44 | Yashica Future 127
unknown
Baby First | Baby Lyra Flex
Japanese SLR, TLR, pseudo TLR and stereo models ->
Japanese 4×5 and 4×6.5, 4.5×6, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Super Flex Baby (スーパー・フレックス・ベビー) is a Japanese 4×4 SLR made from 1938 to 1942 or later.[1] It was sold and advertised by the retailer Kikōdō, but manufactured by Umemoto Seisakusho.[2]

The Super Flex Baby was the first Japanese rollfilm SLR and the first Japanese SLR with a leaf shutter. (The first Japanese SLR was the Sakura Reflex Plano by Konishi, later Konica, for plates.)

Description

The Super Flex Baby is inspired by the Karma Flex 4×4 SLR, with a near cubic shape modified by the film spool compartments on both sides. The body is made of die-cast alloy and the casting process itself was subcontracted to the company Tanaka Daikasuto (田中ダイカスト, meaning Tanaka Diecast).[3]

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 sliding vertically under a metal plate, inscribed 1 3 5 7 on both sides and 2 4 6 8 in the middle. The two red windows on the sides were used for the odd numbers and the central red window was used for the even numbers. The succession of numbers was thus as follows: 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, etc. This complicated system was required by the 4×4cm format, for which there was no indication on the rollfilm paper backing at the time.

The lens is removable and the shutter is placed behind the lens mount. The shutter has two blades and is of the Vario type; it was manufactured by the Umemoto company itself.[4] The speeds are set by a wheel attached to the front plate, placed at the top right as seen from the front. This wheel has B, 25, 50, 100 settings on all the models. The shutter release is situated on the right hand side of the body, as seen by the photographer. On all the models except for one early advertisement, the lens is called Super Anastigmat; it was certainly supplied by Nishida.[5] It is focused by turning the front element.

Evolution

The Super Flex Baby appeared in mid 1938: it was mentioned as coming soon in advertisements dated April and May 1938, and it was featured in the new products column of the August 1938 issue of Asahi Camera.[6]

Original model and model II

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.[7] The shutter speeds are B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100.

The April and May 1938 advertisements showed no picture and did not indicate the focal length or the origin of the lens.[8] The price was announced as "less than ¥50" in April and set to ¥49 in May. The June 1938 advertisement offered the camera for the same price with a U.L.L. Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens by Miyoshi.[9] It was the only advertisement to mention this lens name[10] and the camera was later sold with a Super Anastigmat 7.0cm f/4.5, as listed in an advertisement dated February 1939 where the camera was priced ¥58.[11] The Super Anastigmat lenses of the camera were certainly made by Nishida.[12]

In mid 1939, the camera was modified with an all-chrome speed wheel and lens barrel.[13] It was offered for ¥65 in an advertisement dated June 1939 where it is simply called "Super Flex".[14] It seems that this model was called Super Flex Baby II (スーパー・フレックス・ベビーⅡ型) only in retrospect after the release of the model III.

Super Flex Baby III and IIIA

The Super Flex Baby III (スーパー・フレックス・ベビーⅢ型) was released at the beginning of 1940.[15] This model has a new type of release lever, consisting of a folded metal plate, vertically sliding on the right hand side of the camera. A button at the bottom of the release mechanism is used as a release lock allowing for time exposures.[16] It also seems that the engraving on the viewing hood was all chrome from the model III onwards.

An advertisement dated April 1940[17] still offered the model II for ¥65 along with the new model III costing ¥78. It explicitly stated that the difference was the ability to take time exposures.

The Super Flex Baby IIIA (スーパー・フレックス・ベビーⅢA型) was a more expensive alternative with a Super Anastigmat 65mm f/3.2 lens. It seems that the body is unchanged, so a III can be turned into a IIIA and vice versa by swapping the lens.[18] Both models were mentioned in the Template:Kakaku1940 short listing the official prices as of October 25, 1940, under the names "Baby Super Flex III" (¥77) and "Baby Super Flex IIIA (¥88), but the advertisements mentioning the IIIA did not appear until the beginning of 1941.[19]

An advertisement dated March 1941 offered the model III for ¥77 and the model IIIA for ¥88.[20] In an advertisement dated March 1942, the prices were respectively ¥90 and ¥102, and calling the f/4.5 model "model II" was probably a mistake.[21] This March 1942 advertisement is the last one listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi[22] and camera production was soon interrupted by the war.

The "Inquiry into Japanese cameras" (国産写真機ノ現状調査) listing all Japanese cameras as of April 1943 mentions a "Super Ref" (スーパーレフ) that certainly corresponds to the Super Flex Baby.[23] Two versions are listed: the "Super Ref II" (スーパーレフⅡ型) with a Super 65/3.2 lens and the "Super Ref" with a Super 65/3.5 lens. The source says that both lenses have three elements and were made by Nishida. It is probable that the 65/3.5 lens option is a mistake for the 70/4.5, and that the names Super Ref and Super Ref II were never officially used by Umemoto or Kikōdō and resulted from a misinterpretation by the inquiry authors.

About the name

The name "Super Flex Baby" has been used throughout this article because this is the name inscribed on the camera itself. The original documentation is not consistent: in the advertisements, the camera was often called "Baby Super Flex" or simply "Super Flex", more rarely "Super Flex Baby". (In at least one advertisement, the case was mentioned as "for the Baby Super Ref" (ベビースーパーレフ用) while the camera was called "Super Flex Baby" in the header; in another early advertisement, probably as the result of a simple misprint, it was even called the ベビースーパーレックス, i.e. "Baby Super Rex".[24]) The official documents cited above either have "Baby Super Flex" or "Super Ref".

The brand name "Super" — perhaps designed to remind people of the Zeiss Super Six and Voigtländer Super Bessa, both highly reputed and lavishly advertised in Japan at the time — was also used by the distributor Kikōdō for the Super plate folders and the Super Makinet Six.

Notes

  1. ↑ Dates: the advertisements listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337, run from 1938 to 1942. The camera is also mentioned in the "Inquiry into Japanese cameras" (国産写真機ノ現状調査) listing all Japanese cameras as of April 1943.
  2. ↑ The attribution to Umemoto has not been found in any original document but is confirmed by the Umemoto company history that is compiled by Umemoto Akio, grandson of Umemoto Kinzaburō, the founder of the company.
  3. ↑ Private communication to User:Rebollo_fr by Umemoto Akio, grandson of Umemoto Kinzaburō, the founder of the Umemoto company.
  4. ↑ Umemoto company history.
  5. ↑ Attribution to Nishida in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), items 125–6.
  6. ↑ Advertisements published in Asahi Camera April 1938, p. A70, and May 1938, p. A68. The August 1938 article is listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
  7. ↑ An example of this model is pictured in this page of the JCII collection and another in Sugiyama, item 2001.
  8. ↑ Advertisements published in Asahi Camera April 1938, p. A70, and May 1938, p. A68.
  9. ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, p. A70, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
  10. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
  11. ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 74.
  12. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), items 125–6.
  13. ↑ Date: advertisements listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337. An example is pictured in Sugiyama, item 2002, and in Lewis, p. 75.
  14. ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
  15. ↑ Date: advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
  16. ↑ An example is pictured in Sugiyama, item 2003, and another in Watanabe, p. 8 of Camera Collectors' News no. 40. The time exposure feature is confirmed in the Umemoto history page.
  17. ↑ Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75.
  18. ↑ An example is pictured in Sugiyama, item 2004, and another in the Umemoto history page.
  19. ↑ Date: advertisements listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
  20. ↑ Advertisement published in Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 75. The focal length is said to be 65mm for both models but this is surely a mistake.
  21. ↑ Advertisement published in Hōdō Shashin, reproduced in the Gochamaze website. Another advertisement reproduced in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura gives the same prices.
  22. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337
  23. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), items 125–6.
  24. ↑ "Ref" is an abbreviation often used for "Reflex" in Japan at the time. The katakana equivalent of "Baby Super Rex" appears in the Kikōdō advertisement in Asahi Camera, May 1938, p. A68.

Bibliography

  • Advertisements in Asahi Camera for Kikōdō: April 1938, p. A70; May 1938, p. A68; June 1938, p. A70 (the April and May advertisements mention the Super Flex Baby as coming soon).
  • 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.
  • Christies auction catalogue: "Fine and Rare Cameras", 5 November 1992, lot 334.
  • "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.
  • Template:Kakaku1940
  • 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.
  • 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. Items 2001–4.
  • Watanabe Katsumi (渡辺勝美). "Baby Super Flex" (ベビースーパーフレックス). In Camera Collectors' News no. 40 (October 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp. 8–9.

Links

In Japanese:


Umemoto cameras
6×6 strut folders 4×4 SLR 4.5×6 folder
Super Makinet Six | Neure Six Super Flex Baby Semi Makinet | Rocky Semi
Retrieved from "http://camera-wiki.org/index.php?title=Super_Flex_Baby&oldid=71133"