Super Makinet Six and Neure Six

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Postwar models ->
Japanese 6×6 TLR, pseudo TLR and medium format SLR ->
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The Super Makinet Six is a Japanese 6×6 strut folder, made by Umemoto[1] and sold by Kikōdō from 1936 to 1939.[2] Some sources attribute the camera to Tomioka, certainly by mistake.[3] (One version of the camera has a Lausar lens made by this manufacturer.) The Neure Six is a derivative of the Super Makinet Six.

General description

The camera has a folding body, with scissor struts at the top and bottom of the front standard. There is a wheel on the right hand side of the front plate, driving the scissor struts and moving the whole lens standard back and forth for focusing. (This is the same system as on the Makina. It is certainly not coincidental that the camera was called "Makinet".) The distance is indicated by an index moving along a scale at the top of the front plate. The shutter release is directly mounted on the shutter housing. There is a retractable leg behind the front standard, allowing the camera to stand vertically on a table.

The camera is dual format and can take 6×6 or 4.5×6 exposures by way of an internal mask. The folding optical finder is in the middle of the top plate and has two bars indicating the field of view for 4.5×6 pictures.

The advance knob is at the top right. The back is hinged to the left and contains two uncovered red windows at the top. There is another device at the right of the back, visible in the pictures published in the Umemoto history page and described as an exposure counter graduated from 1 to 12.

The Super Makinet Six

The Super Makinet Six (スーパーマキネットシックス) was distributed by Kikōdō that used the "Super" brand name for various cameras. The front leather is embossed MAKINET on one side and SUPER on the other.

Kokusan kamera no rekishi says that the camera was featured in the new products column of the February 1936 issue of Asahi Camera.[4] In an advertisement dated April 1937, two versions were listed:[5]

  • Radionar f/4.5 lens, Rulex A shutter, 1–200 speeds (¥65);
  • Lausar f/4.5 lens, Rulex B shutter, 5–150/200 speeds[6] (¥58).

The advertising picture is heavily retouched, to the point that the focusing wheel and the distance scale are erased and that the two bars in the finder are only faintly visible.

In an advertisement dated August 1937[7] was presented an ordinary model (普及型) with a Super Anastigmat f/4.5 lens and a Rulex D shutter. It was available for ¥40.

Advertisements dated June 1938 and February 1939[8] both listed the three same versions at slightly higher prices: Radionar and Rulex A for ¥73, Lausar and Rulex B for ¥65, Super and Rulex D for ¥46. The version with Rulex D was still called "ordinary model" in June 1938 but not in February 1939. For some reason, the ever-ready case for the Rulex D version was listed separately from the case for the other versions and it was sometimes priced differently.

Two examples of the Super Makinet Six are pictured in Sugiyama. One has the Lausar and Rulex B combination.[9] It has a black viewfinder and the older style of Rulex shutter plate. The other has the Radionar and Rulex A combination.[10] It has a chrome viewfinder and the newer style of Rulex shutter plate. The Radionar lens is made by Neumann & Heilemann.

The Neure Six

The Neure Six (ノイレシックス) is similar to the Super Makinet Six. The only difference is that the focusing is done by turning the lens frontmost element instead of moving the front plate with the scissor struts. The front leather is embossed NEURE SIX on one side and SUPER on the other.

The camera was only briefly advertised at the end of 1937.[11] The only advertisement observed is dated November 1937 and contains some inconsistencies about the camera name. In the advertisement's title, the model is called ノイレシックス in katakana characters and "Nuire-Six" in Roman letters. This is conflicting with what is written on the camera itself: perhaps the designers of the advertisement were not aware of the exact name of the camera. In the text, the camera is called either ノイレシックス (Neure Six) or スーパー・ノイレシックス (Super Neure Six). The advertisement does not mention the ability to take 4.5×6cm exposures but the camera has the two bars in the viewfinder delimiting the field of view for this format.

The camera is pictured with a Rulex shutter by Neumann & Heilemann and a front-cell focusing lens. The following lens and shutter combinations are listed:

shutter Rulex A Rulex B Rulex D
lens
Neure Anastigmat f/4.5 ¥60 ¥52 ¥43
Neure Anastigmat f/3.5 ¥70 ¥62 _
Anastigmat Radionar f/3.5 ¥80 _ _

The only company name given by the advertisement was perhaps "Ein Camera Works" (this is inferred from the katakana アイン・カメラ・ウオークス) and was based in Osaka.[12] The Neure Six was obviously made by the same maker as the Super Makinet Six. It is not known for sure if it was distributed by Kikōdō, but the presence of the brand "Super" on the camera and at one place in the advertisement might indicate that it was the case.

Only one surviving example of the Neure Six is known, pictured in the Umemoto history page. It is reported to have a Fuji-ko Anastigmat Terionar 75mm f/4.5 lens (made by Fuji Kōgaku) and an Elka C shutter giving T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds.

Notes

  1. This is confirmed by the Umemoto company history that is redacted by the grandson of the Umemoto founder.
  2. Dates: advertisements mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341.
  3. Sugiyama, items 1170–1, McKeown, p. 928.
  4. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341.
  5. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 94.
  6. The advertisement mentions 1/200 top speed for the Rulex B but the 1/150 value is given by another advertisement dated February 1939 and by the following sources: Umemoto company history, Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341 and McKeown, p. 928.
  7. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 94.
  8. Advertisements published in Asahi Camera and reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 75–6.
  9. Sugiyama, item 1170.
  10. Sugiyama, item 1171.
  11. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341.
  12. The address indicated in the advertisement was Ōsaka-shi Minami-ku Andōjibashi-dōri 4–62 (大阪市南区安堂寺橋通四ノ六二).

Bibliography

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