Tsubasa Super Semi
The Tsubasa Super Semi (ツバサスーパーセミ) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera that was made by the company Optochrom. It has a horizontal folding body with incurved struts and a film advance key at the bottom right. The back is embossed TSUBASA SUPER SEMI and has two uncovered red windows to control the film advance. There is a button on the top plate that looks like a shutter release, but it only opens the folding bed[1], under which the shutter release is hidden.
Contents
The original model
The original model has a folding optical finder. It is advertised from 1938 to 1941. In 1938[2] the folding bed opening button is to the left of the top plate, the two decorative knobs on each end are quite flat and there is a choice of two lenses: a Lucomar f:4.5 (¥45) or a Lausar[3] f:4.5 (¥50, case ¥5 or ¥6 extra). The shutter is a Tsubasa with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds. At the beginning of 1939[4] the body is similar but the Lausar lens choice has disappeared. Later the same year[5] the opening button has moved to the right, maybe to look more like a true body release, and the decorative knobs look higher, with a more conical shape. It is still advertised in 1940[6] and 1941[7] for ¥58, apparently unchanged.
The Tsubasa Super Semi observed thus far (see for example the links below) have the high conical knobs, a Lucomar Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens and an everset shutter with T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds. The shutter plate is marked TSUBASA SHUTTER at the top, with a NE logo between the two words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom, the same as the advertising pictures. Kokusan kamera no rekishi mentions that the shutter is called Kikō (キコー) instead of Tsubasa in some advertisements dated 1941. Kikō is an acronym of Kigawa Kōgaku, the later name of Optochrom.
The Rondex
The Rondex (ロンデックス) is certainly a name variant of the Tsubasa Super Semi. It is described in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, which also mentions that it is featured in the new products section of the May 1940 issue of Asahi Camera. The characteristics are the same as the Tsubasa Super Semi, only the names of the lens and shutter differ. In the picture provided, the only other difference is the presence of an accessory shoe on the left of the viewfinder. Kokusan kamera no rekishi attributes this camera to Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten (山下友治郎商店), but it was probably only the distributor.
The Tsubasa II Super Semi
The Tsubasa II Super Semi (ツバサⅡ型スーパーセミ) has both a direct vision eye level finder and a waist level brilliant finder, both under a short top housing. The rest of the camera is very similar except maybe the shutter plate markings. This model is advertised in 1940[8] with a Lucomar f:4.5 lens for ¥60.
Its successor was certainly the Tsubasa Kiko III.
Notes
- ↑ See this page of Aya's camera site.
- ↑ 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. — Template:Gochamaze
- ↑ Inferred from the katakana ローザー
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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. — 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.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Tsubasa Nettar and Tsubasa Super Semi, published in the October 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 151.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Tsubasa Kiko III and Tsubasa Super Semi, published in the March 1941 issue of Shashin Bunka, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 152.
- ↑ 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.
Printed 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 144, 146–52 and 344.
Links
In Japanese:
