TCW lenses

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The Testar, Complanar and Modelar lenses were made by a French company for Tokyo Camera Works, the manufacturing branch of the Japanese distributor Sone Shunsuidō.

Documents

One advertisement dated February 1927 says that the Testar was introduced seven years earlier, that is 1920.[1] Advertisements by Sone say that the Testar f/4.5 and f/6.3 and Complanar f/4.5 lenses were specially made for Tokyo Camera Works by a French company in Paris.[2] The Testar was advertised as a four-element lens,[3] but recent accounts say that the f/6.3 and f/6.8 versions are actually triplets.[4] Carl Zeiss complained about the Testar name, deemed too close from "Tessar". This is explained in an advertisement by Sone dated February 1927,[5] where the company defends itself against the accusation of usurping a famous name; it says that the name "Testar" comes from "Test lens", in the sense of "Standard lens",[6] and that "Modelar" was patterned the same, presumably after "Model lens". This explanation is plausible for "Modelar", but it is hard to believe that "Testar" was not inspired by "Tessar".

Cameras equipped

Testar f/4.5 and f/6.3 lenses were mounted on the Apollo 6.5×9cm plate folders, in 105mm and sometimes 90mm focal length. A Testar 50mm f/4.5 was also mounted on the Secrette Special detective camera. The following lens engravings are known:

  • TESTAR ANASTIGMAT – f4.5 F90 N°11517[7]
  • TESTAR ANASTIGMAT f6.8 F90 N°11690[8]
  • T C W PARIS – TESTAR f:6.3 F105 N°13025[9]
  • T C W PARIS TESTAR f:4.5 F50 N°13405[10]

Modelar f/4.5 and f/6.3 lenses were mounted on the Apollo and Lloyd.[11] One isolated Modelar 10.5cm f/6.3 lens is known on a Super plate folder, but this equipment is perhaps not original.[12] On this particular lens, the engraving reads Modelar Anastigmat 1:6,3 F=10,5cm T.C.Works N°35921, and the same markings are repeated on the back rim of the rear element.

The Complanar f/4.5 lens was mounted on the Convex Reflex 6.5×9cm SLR.[13]

Notes

  1. Advertisement in Ars Camera February 1927.
  2. Testar: advertisements in Ars Camera April and May 1924, reproduced in Yazawa, p.18 of Camera Collectors' News no.98, p.13 of Camera Collectors' News no.171 and pp.15–6 of Camera Collectors' News no.264: "東京カメラウオークス佛國巴里レンズ工場にて新製のテスターレンズF四、五又はF六、三を装せる". This also appears in the advertisement in Ars Camera February 1927. — Testar and Complanar: advertisement reproduced in Morishita, p.70 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.22.
  3. Lens scheme visible in the advertisement in Ars Camera February 1927, and in the advertisement reproduced in Morishita, p.70 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.22.
  4. Triplets: see this page and this page at ksmt.com.
  5. Advertisement in Ars Camera February 1927.
  6. The text reads 標準鏡玉, with the non-standard reading tesuto indicated in furigana next to the word 標準, normally read hyōjun and meaning "standard".
  7. Lens pictured in Yazawa, p.17 of Camera Collectors' News no.98, and p.14 of Camera Collectors' News no.264, mounted in a dial-set Compur shutter on an Apollo.
  8. Lens pictured in this page at ksmt.com, mounted in a Pronto shutter on a No.2 Pearl (equipment probably not original).
  9. Lens pictured in this page at ksmt.com, mounted in an Ibsor shutter on an Apollo.
  10. Lens pictured in Yazawa, p.14 of Camera Collectors' News no.264, on a Secrette Special.
  11. Lewis, p.44, Yazawa, p.13 of Camera Collectors' News no.171.
  12. Lens pictured in Yazawa, p.12 of Camera Collectors' News no.171.
  13. Advertisement reproduced in Morishita, p.70 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.22.

Bibliography

  • Ars Camera. Advertisement by Sone Shunsuidō in February 1927. No page number.
  • 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).
  • Morishita Hajime (森下肇). "Atomu-han kamera no subete" (アトム判カメラのすべて, All of Atom-size cameras). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.22, September 1992. No ISBN number. Airesu no subete (アイレスのすべて, special issue on Aires). Pp.55–70.
  • Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Renzu no hanashi (17) Chinpin renzu Tesutā" (レンズの話[17]珍品レンズ・テスター, Lens story [17] A rare lens: the Testar). In Camera Collectors' News no.98 (August 1985). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.17–9.
  • Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Renzu no hanashi (88) Modelā" (レンズの話[88]モデラー, Lens story [88] The Modelar). In Camera Collectors' News no.171 (September 1991). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.11–3.
  • Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Renzu no hanashi (174) Tesutā" (レンズの話[17]珍品レンズ・テスター, Lens story [174] The Testar). In Camera Collectors' News no.264 (June 1999). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.11–6.

Links

In Japanese: