Union Ref and Hansa Rollette Ref

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Japanese pseudo TLR (edit)
Prewar and wartime models
4.5×6 Hansa Rollette Ref | Roll Light Ref | Union Ref
4×4 Pilot Ref (4×4)
3×4 Alma Baby Ref | Baby Ref | Baby Roll Ref | Chukon Ref | Clover Baby Ref | Mario Ref | Pilot Ref | Prince Baby Ref | Truth
Postwar models
6×6 Cometflex | Dox New Six | Elliotte | Flex-O-Cord | Honestflex | Koniken | Mikono Flex C | Oplen Junior | Palma Brilliant | Rionflex | Rosko Brilliant | Topflex | Vesterflex
4.5×6 Binox | Maruso Refe
4×4 Herlight
Japanese true TLR ->
Japanese 6×6, 4.5×6, 3×4 and 4×4, 4×5 and 4×6.5 ->

The Union Ref and Hansa Rollette Ref[1] are Japanese 4.5×6 pseudo TLR cameras. They seem to be the first Japanese cameras with the TLR shape.[2]

Both models are nearly identical and are certainly name variants of each other. Their actual maker is unknown.

General description

Both cameras are shaped like a twin lens reflex but the viewing lens is not used for focusing. The cheaper versions are fixed-focus, but this is perhaps not the case for the better ones.[3]

The advance knob is on the top of the right hand sideplate. The viewing hood has an "X"-shaped decorative rib.

The Union Ref

The Union Ref (ユニオンレフ) is only known from a leaflet dating around 1937[4] where it is presented together with the Baby Ref as an affordable reflex camera. No company name is indicated.

Three variants were offered:

  • f/8 lens, B, 25, 50 speeds (¥20 — case ¥6 extra);
  • Lucomar Anastigmat f/6.3 lens, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds (¥28);
  • Milittle[5] f/4.5 lens, T, B, 25, 50, 100, 200 speeds (¥48).

The advertising picture shows the Lucomar f/6.3 variant. The lens appears to be fixed-focus but it is probable that the f/4.5 variant has front-cell focusing. The shutter plate is marked Optochrom at the top and something beginning with DUPL at the bottom (perhaps "Duplex"), with a logo in a circle on the right perhaps reading DK.

These markings and brand names indicate that the lens and shutter were made by Kigawa, and are similar to the markings found on the shutter plate of the original version of the Baby Chrome illustrated in the same leaflet.

The nameplate reads Union Ref and there is a YS logo in a circle in the middle of the viewing hood. This logo might stand for Yamashita Shōten but this is merely a guess.


The Hansa Rollette Ref

The Hansa Rollette Ref (ハンザ・ローレット・レフ) was surely distributed by Ōmiya Shashin-yōhin, the owner of the "Hansa" brand. The nameplate is only written Rollette Ref. The camera is said to have T, B, 25–100 shutter speeds and a Triver 75/8 lens.[6]

The Hansa Rollette Ref was featured in the new products column of the February 1936 issue of Asahi Camera.[7] It also appears in the catalogue of Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten dated April 20, 1937, together with the Hansa Semi Rollette 4.5×6 folder.[8] In this document, the price is given as ¥16 (case ¥4 extra), nothing is said of the lens and shutter, and there is a picture showing three cameras, none of which has the YS logo.

Notes

  1. The name is spelled "Hanza Rollette Ref" in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.339, but this is a typo.
  2. The Japanese Historical Camera, p.23 (in Japanese and English); Japanese-only version in this page of the JCII.
  3. Fixed-focus: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.339, about the Hansa Rollette Ref.
  4. Undated leaflet for the Victory, Semi Dymos, Reex, Baby Ref, Union Ref and Baby Chrome.
  5. Name inferred from the katakana ミリトル.
  6. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.339. The Triver spelling is inferred from the katakana トリバー and the Triver lens name found on a Ricohflex B.
  7. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.339.
  8. Extract of the catalogue reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.84.

Bibliography

These cameras are not listed in Sugiyama.

Links

In Japanese: