Tsubasa Chrome

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The Tsubasa Chrome is a Japanese camera taking 4×6.5cm and 3×4cm exposures on 127 film. It was made by the Japanese company Optochrom from 1937 to 1939.[1]

General description

All the models have a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. They have a tubular optical finder in the middle of the top plate, with two bars indicating the field of view for 3×4 format. The advance knob is at the left end and the release lever is on the shutter housing itself. The back is hinged to the right and film advance is controlled by red window. The front leather is embossed TSUBASA.

Original model

The original Tsubasa Chrome (ツバサ・クローム) has T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds. The advance knob has a cylindrical shape and their is a smaller cylindrical knob at the opposite end of the top plate.

There is a button on the right of the top plate, looking like a body release. Actually it is probably the release of the spring loaded telescopic tube. The back contains two uncovered red windows.

The shutter plate is marked TSUBASA SHUTTER at the top, with a NE logo between both words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom. The speeds are written on the shutter plate itself and they are selected by turning a very thin rim. The aperture scale is at the bottom.

Kokusan kamera no rekishi says that the camera was featured in the new products column of the August 1937 issue of Asahi Camera.[2] An advertisement dated August 1937[3] offers the model with a Lucomar f/6.3 lens (¥19.50) or a Lucomar f/4.5 lens (¥28.50) — case cost extra ¥4. In an advertisement dated June 1938[4], the prices are respectively ¥23 and ¥34 (case for ¥4.50).

Two examples have been observed. Their advance knob is higher than on the advertising pictures and it has three rows of knurls. One of them has a Lucomar Anastigmat f/6.3 fixed-focus lens and speeds marked T, B, 25, 50, 100 in that order. The other has a Lucomar Anastigmat f/4.5 front-cell focusing lens and speeds marked T, B, 100, 50, 25.

Tsubasa Chrome New

The Tsubasa Chrome New (ツバサ・クローム・新型) adds 1/150 top speed. The advance knob has a more rounded shape and a hollow top, and the samll knob at the right end of the top plate has a conical shape.

The shutter plate is marked WING ANCHOR at the top, MADE IN JAPAN at the bottom, and the NE logo is on the right. The speeds are engraved T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 in that order in the shutter rim. There is a distant release connector added next to the release lever.

An advertisement dated September 1938[5] offers the camera with the Lucomar f/6.3 lens (¥25) or the Lucomar f/4.5 lens (¥34, case ¥5 extra). The advertising picture shows the new shutter plate and there is still a button on the right of the top plate.

This button has disappeared in an advertisement dated February 1939, but the prices are unchanged.[6] The disparition of the button probably means that the telescopic tube was no longer spring-loaded.

The camera was simply called Tsubasa Chrome again in an advertisement dated April 1939[7], where the price of the f/6.3 variant was lifted to ¥28. Kokusan kamera no rekishi does not mention any advertisement posterior to 1939, but a Japanese catalogue reportedly dated 1942 lists the Tsubasa Chrome with Lucomar f/6.3 only, for ¥40 — case ¥6.70 extra.[8]

The Tsubasa Chrome New has been observed on various occasions, with or without the telescopic tube release. None of them has a focusing lens, and it seems that all of them have a Lucomar Anastigmat f/6.3.

Later version

A single example of a probably later version has been observed.[9] It has a big key in place of the advance knob. The back latch has changed and consists of a long sliding bar. The back has a round metal plate in the middle and a single red window on the right. An accessory shoe is added to the right of the viewfinder, in place of the telescopic tube release of the early version.

Notes

  1. Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
  2. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 337.
  3. Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 78.
  4. Published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 78. 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.
  5. Advertisement for the Tsubasa range published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in the Gochamaze website.
  6. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 78. It is looking the same as the September 1938 advertisement cited above, but there are detail differences.
  7. Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 79.
  8. Scans observed in a Yahoo Japan auction.
  9. In a Yahoo Japan auction.

Bibliography

Links

In Japanese:

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.