Tsubasa Chrome

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Template:127 Japan The Tsubasa Chrome is a dual format camera, taking both 4×6.5cm and 3×4cm format pictures on 127 film, that was made by the Japanese company Optochrom. Its lens and shutter assembly is mounted on a telescopic tube. There is a tubular optical finder, with delimitations for both formats. The leatherette is embossed TSUBASA on the left of the body. No focusing device is visible; maybe it has fixed focusing. There are two red windows in the back, both uncovered, to control the film advance.

The original Tsubasa Chrome (ツバサ・クローム) has a Tsubasa shutter with T, B, 25–100 speeds. There is a buttom on the top plate that looks like a body release but it is actually a release for the spring loaded telescopic tube. It is advertised in 1937[1] and 1938[2] with a Lucomar f:6.3 lens (¥19.50 then ¥23) or a Lucomar f:4.5 lens (¥28.50 then ¥34, case for an extra ¥4 then ¥4.50). On the camera pictured, the shutter plate is marked TSUBASA SHUTTER at the top, with a logo between both words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom.

The Tsubasa Chrome New (ツバサ・クローム・新型) has a Tsubasa shutter with T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds. It is advertised in 1938[3] and 1939 [4] with a Lucomar f:6.3 lens (¥25) or a Lucomar f:4.5 lens (¥34, case for an extra ¥5). On the camera pictured, the shutter plate is marked WING ANCHOR at the top, MADE IN JAPAN at the bottom, with a logo at the right. Compared to the original model, the advance knob has a different higher shape. The button on the top plate is still there is the September 1938 advertisement, but has disappeared in the one dated February 1939. The same camera is advertised again in April 1939[5], simply called Tsubasa Chrome, without the "New". A Japanese catalogue, maybe dated 1942[6], shows the Tsubasa Chrome offered with a Lucomar f/6.3 lens only, for ¥40 — case for ¥6.70 extra.

An example of the Tsubasa Chrome New is displayed in this page of the Mediajoy's Guide to Classic Cameras, with a Lucomar Anastigmat 75/6.3 lens and no opening button. The logo on the shutter plate seems to be NE or NG in a circle. On the shutter, only a release lever and a soft release connector are visible, and the shutter is probably everset. McKeown pictures a Tsubasa Chrome New with an opening button and the same lens, the shutter plate is rotated 90° to the left, surely by mistake.

Notes

  1. Advertisement for the Tsubasa Chrome and Semi Chrome B, published in the August 1937 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 143.
  2. Advertisement for the Tsubasa Super Semi, Tsubasa Chrome and Tsubasa Spring, published in the June 1938 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 146. Eight authorized dealers are mentioned, among which Asanuma Shōkai, Misuzu Shōkai, Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, Mizuno Shashinki-ten, Eikō-Dō, Matsuzaki Shashinki-ten and Ueda Shashinki-ten.
  3. Template:Gochamaze
  4. Advertisement for the Tsubasa Super Semi, Tsubasa Chrome New, Tsubasa Spring Camera and Baby Chrome, published in the February 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 144. This advertisement is looking the same as the one dated September 1938 cited above, but there are some detail differences.
  5. Advertisement for the Tsubasa Super Semi, Tsubasa A Chrome and Tsubasa Chrome, published in the April 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 147. The price of the f:6.3 variant is now ¥28.
  6. Observed in a Yahoo Japan auction.

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