Tōsei
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| T.K logo. Picture courtesy of Robert Smith. (Image rights) |
Tōsei Kōki Y.K. (東成光機有限会社, meaning Tosei Optical Instruments) was a Japanese camera maker in the first half of the 1950s. It was based in Koiwamachi, Tokyo.[1] It made the Frank Six and Semi Frank folders and the Copenflex TLR, and certainly also the TKS shutters. The Frank Six was first released in mid-1950 by Taiyōdō Kōki as the Beauty Six, but it is not known if the production was transferred to Tōsei Kōki or if the company produced the camera from the start as a subcontractor of Taiyōdō.
The T.K logo of the company depicts a vertical convex lens crossed by a horizontal concave lens. It is very similar to the first Mamiya logo.
Contents
Camera list
- Semi Frank (4.5×6 folder)
- Frank Six I, II, III, IV, V (6×6 folders)
- Sanon Six (I), II, III (name variant of the Frank Six sold by Takasago)
- Liner Six (name variant of the Frank Six IV)
- Copenflex (6×6 TLR)
One source attributes the Comex 35 to Tōsei Kōki.[2] This is probably a mistake, due to the fact that the Sanon Six and Comex 35 were sold by the same distributor Takasago.
Notes
- ↑ The exact address was Tōkyō-to Edogawa-ku Koiwamachi 7–321 (東京都江戸川区小岩町7–321). Source: advertisements dated December 1952, January and April 1954, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.137–8 and 174.
- ↑ See this page at Japan Family Camera.
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.
Links
In Japanese:
