Difference between revisions of "Tokiwa Kōgaku"
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− | '''Tokiwa Kōgaku Kōgyō Y.K.''' (常盤光学工業<small>有限会社</small>) was a Japanese company based in Tokyo, Toshima, in the early 1940s.<REF> Its address was Tōkyō-shi Toshima-ku Ikebukuro 1–606 (東京市豊島区池袋1の606). Source: | + | '''Tokiwa Kōgaku Kōgyō Y.K.''' (常盤光学工業<small>有限会社</small>) was a Japanese company based in Tokyo, Toshima, in the early 1940s.<REF> Its address was Tōkyō-shi Toshima-ku Ikebukuro 1–606 (東京市豊島区池袋1の606). Source: Advertisement dated September 1942, formerly reproduced in the Gochamaze website, advertisement dated February 1943, reproduced in {{Kokusan}}, p.73, and {{Inquiry1943_short}}, dating April 1943. </REF> (''Tokiwa'' means "everlasting" or "evergreen", and it is also a fairly common family name in Japan.) |
== Camera maker == | == Camera maker == |
Revision as of 10:43, 11 July 2017
Tokiwa Kōgaku Kōgyō Y.K. (常盤光学工業有限会社) was a Japanese company based in Tokyo, Toshima, in the early 1940s.[1] (Tokiwa means "everlasting" or "evergreen", and it is also a fairly common family name in Japan.)
Camera maker
The company name Tokiwa Kōgaku Kōgyō appears in advertisements dated 1942 and 1943 for the Zeitax, a camera otherwise attributed to Motodori Kōgaku.[2] In the April 1943 government inquiry on Japanese cameras, Tokiwa Kōgaku Kōgyō and Motodori Kōgaku Kikai Kōgyō-sho are listed at the same address,[3] and there is obviously a relation between the two. (See also the Zeitax page.)
Lenses and shutters
Hit-Rapid shutter and Tokiwa Anastigmat 7.5cm f/3.5 lens on a First Reflex. Picture by Jan Wegrzyn. (Image rights) |
Tokiwa Kōgaku supplied lenses and shutters to Kuribayashi. The following items are confirmed:
- Hit-Rapid shutter, T, B, 1–500 speeds (on the Baby Semi First, First Reflex and Semi Rotte);[4]
- First 75/2.9 lens, four elements (on the Semi First and First Six);[5]
- First 75/3.5 lens, three elements (on the Semi First, BB Semi First, First Six and Semi Rotte);[6]
- First 75/4.5 lens, three elements (on the Semi First, BB Semi First, First Six, Baby Semi First, BB Baby Semi First and Semi Rotte);[7]
- Rotte 60/3.5 lens, three elements (on the Molby);[8]
- Rotte 75/3.5 lens, three elements (on the BB Semi First)[9]
- Rotte 75/4.5 lens, probably three elements (on the BB Semi First, Baby Semi First and Semi Rotte);
- Tokiwa 75/3.5 lens, four elements (on the First Reflex II).[10]
The Hit 7.5cm f/3.5 four-element lens (mounted on the Auto Semi First and First Reflex II) was likely made by Tokiwa too, but this is unconfirmed.[11]
Other Tokiwa
Some recent sources say that the Tokiwa plate folders of the mid-1930s were made by Kuribayashi for Tokiwa Kōgaku,[12] but the name similarity is perhaps a mere coincidence.
It is unknown if Tokiwa Kōgaku was related with Tokiwa Seiki which made the First Six and Firstflex cameras distributed after 1945 by Minagawa Shōten (owner of the "First" brand). A company called K.K. Tokiwa Kōgaku (㈱ときわ光学) exists today (2007) but it was founded in 1956.[13]
Notes
- ↑ Its address was Tōkyō-shi Toshima-ku Ikebukuro 1–606 (東京市豊島区池袋1の606). Source: Advertisement dated September 1942, formerly reproduced in the Gochamaze website, advertisement dated February 1943, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.73, and "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), dating April 1943.
- ↑ Advertisement dated September 1942, reproduced in the Gochamaze website; advertisement dated February 1943, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.73.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras").
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter item 18-R-1.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item La2.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item Lb18.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item Lc2.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item K5.
- ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item Lb21.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.88.
- ↑ See the discussion in the page on the First Reflex.
- ↑ Baird, pp.15 and 57; McKeown, p.576.
- ↑ See its official website.
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 117–9.
- Baird, John R. Collectors guide to Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. Grantsburg, WI (USA): Centennial Photo Service, 1991. ISBN 0-931838-16-9.
- "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.
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). Pp.576 and 701.