Tsubasa Arawashi

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Template:127 Japan The Tsubasa Arawashi[1] (ベビー・オーソ) is a 3×4 camera made by the Japanese company Optochrom in 1939–40.

The body is surely metallic. There is a tubular optical finder centered on the top plate, and the advance knob is at the bottom right of the camera.

The Tsubasa Arawashi is advertised in 1939 in two variants:

  • f:6.3 lens and Tsubasa B, 25–100 shutter (¥20);
  • f:4.5 lens and Tsubasa T, B, 25–150 shutter (¥30).

The lens name is New Gold in an advertisement dated June[2] and Lucomar in another dated September[3].

The camera is still advertised in 1940[4], in both f:6.3 and f:4.5 variants. They are offered at the same price as before but the shutter speeds are not precised.

The Tsubasa Arawashi also appears in a later Japanese catalogue[5], together with the Tsubasa Chrome, Olympic Four and Vest Olympic. The only variant offered has B, 25, 50, 100 speeds and a Lucomar f:6.3 lens, and the price is ¥25 — case ¥6.70 extra.

Notes

  1. Arawashi means "wild eagle" or "ace pilot"; it can be written as 荒鷲 but it appears in katakana (アラワシ) in advertisements seen so far.
  2. Advertisement for the Tsubasa Arawashi, published in the June 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 148.
  3. Advertisement for the Tsubasa Arawashi and Tsubasa Super Semi, published in the September 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 148 and item 149.
  4. Advertisement for the Tsubasa II Super Semi and Tsubasa Arawashi, published in the April 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 150.
  5. Observed at a Yahoo Japan auction

Printed bibliography

Timeline

Kigawa timeline (edit)
Type 1930s 1940s 1950s
6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
                                                                                                                                                                                   
3×4 rigid Baby Chrome
Baby Oso Tsubasa Oso
Tsubasa Arawashi ...
4×6.5 telescopic Tsubasa Chrome ...
folding Tsubasa Spring ...
4.5×6 strut folding Semi Chrome B
horizontal folding Tsubasa Super Semi ... _
Tsubasa II Super Semi
Tsubasa Nettar Tsubasa Kiko Three
vertical folding Semi Chrome A Semi Sixteenth
(dates unclear)
Semi Kulax Kiko Semi ... _ Tsubasa Semi
6×6 horizontal folding Gotex ... ... Poppy Six
(dates unknown)
... Carl Six
TLR Kiko Flex Tsubasaflex Graceflex
16mm subminiature ... Poppy
(dates unknown)
...
Manufacturer: ... Kigawa Seimitsu ... Kigawa Kōgaku Carl Kōgaku
Shin Nippon
Distributor: Optochrom-sha ... Nichiei Shōkai Kikō Shōji ...
Cameras whose actual existence is dubious are in a lighter shade.
Cameras in yellow are variants sold and maybe assembled by other companies.