Toyoca Six

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rigid or collapsible
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Japanese 6×6 TLR, pseudo TLR and medium format SLR ->
Japanese Semi (4.5×6) and older 6×9 ->

The Toyoca Six[1] (トヨカシックス) is a Japanese 6×6 folder, made by Tougodo (Toyohashi) around 1957.

Description

The Toyoca Six has some similarities with the 1953 Beauty Six; the two cameras might share parts or even the body casting. It is a horizontal folder, and its three-part folding struts are inspired from the 6×6 Ikonta. The viewfinder is contained in the middle of the top housing. The accessory shoe is offset to the left, as seen by the photographer. The advance knob is at the left end of the top plate, and there is a decorative flange on the opposite end. The shutter release is at its usual location on the right. The button visible in front of the accessory shoe has a smooth wedge shape, and is certainly the folding bed release. The back is hinged to the right and certainly contains red windows to control the film advance. The camera reportedly takes 6×6cm and 4.5×6cm exposures.[2]

The name Toyoca is engraved at the front of the top housing, in front of the accessory shoe, and the TG logo of Tougodo is engraved in the folding struts.

The shutter has a self-timer and a PC synch socket. The lens is a front-cell focusing Tri-Lausar Anastigmat 8cm f/3.5, made by Tomioka. The shutter plate has depth-of-field indications on a black background.

Commercial life and surviving examples

The Toyoca Six appears in the Summer 1957 special issue of Shashin Kōgyō on Japanese cameras, where it is attributed to Tōgōdō Kōki and priced at ¥6,500.[3] This document mentions a CHY-FS shutter (B, 1–200) with X synchronization. It is the only Japanese original document known so far,[4] perhaps because the camera was primarily made for export, or because its commercial life was very brief.

Two surviving examples have been observed so far. One of them, owned by the Pentax Gallery and pictured in Sugiyama, has a round lens standard, B, 1–200 speeds and a shutter reported as a CHY-SB, certainly is engraved as such at the bottom of the speed rim.[5] The other has an angled lens standard, with a protrusion behind the synch socket, the same as on some advertising pictures of the 1953 Beauty Six.[6] It reportedly has B, 1–300 speeds.

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. Item 1392.
  • 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.185 (brief mention only).
  • Shashin Kōgyō no.63 (Summer 1957). "Nihon no kamera zenbō: Nigan-refu kamera – supuringu kamera" (日本のカメラ全貌・二眼レフカメラ・スプリングカメラ, Panorama of Japanese cameras: TLR and folding cameras). P.116.
  • 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. Item 1422.
  • "Toyoca" is certainly the contraction of Toyohashi — Tougodo's hometown — and Camera.
  • Dual format: Sugiyama, item 1422, Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.392.
  • Column in Shashin Kōgyō no.63, p.116, reproduced in this page.
  • It is the only document listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.392.
  • Sugiyama, item 1422.
  • Example observed in an online auction.