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Handheld Aerial Camera 25cm / Nedinsco type

The first aerial camera used by the Japanese air forces in some quantity was the Nedinsco FK I. (Nedinsco was a Dutch branch of Carl Zeiss, and "FK" perhaps means Fliegerkamera.) It was adopted by the Japanese Army as the 25cm Aerial Camera (二十五糎航空写真機), named after its 25cm focal length. It was also used by the Navy as the Handheld Aerial Camera 25cm (手持式航空写真機二五糎).

The Nedinsco camera was later produced in Japan by Rokuoh-sha, perhaps after an official license was bought or as an unauthorized copy. Cameras made in the 1930s have a Hexar Ser.1 25cm f/4.5 lens. They were mostly retired from use when the Pacific War broke out.

The camera takes 13×18cm film plates. The rigid body is made of wood, with a characteristic octagonal front section, covered by a cap. There is a built-in grip on the left and a separate wooden handle on the right.

The focal-plane shutter is a separate unit, which can be slid out of the body for maintenance or repair. It has vertically travelling curtains, and the range of speeds is 1/90, 1/180, 1/375 and 1/750.

The aperture is set by an index at the top of the camera, in front of the identification plate, with f/4.5, f/6.3 and f/9 positions. There is an articulated mechanism placed around the lens, holding two filters controlled by external knobs on either side of the body.

Navy Handheld Aerial Camera 25cm F-8 type

The Handheld Aerial Camera 25cm F-8 type (手持式航空写真機25cm F-8型) was made for the Japanese Navy by Rokuoh-sha, later Konishiroku. The camera was essentially a copy of the American Fairchild F-8. Additionally, original Fairchild F-8 cameras reputedly also found use by the Japanese Navy.

Recent Japanese sources claim that the camera was made from 1924 (or 1925) to 1938. This is a rsult of the confusion of the various types of 25cm cameras used by the Japanese armed forces. The early models, itroduced in 1924/5 were the However, a report from the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan, written in December 1945, gives detailed production figures for the Konishiroku F-8 in the 1941–1945 period, summarized in the following table:

Year	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	Total
Ordered	400	500	640	1044	1080	3664
Delivered	286	403	698	787	142	2316

It is plausible that the F-8 type replaced the Nedinsco type as the standard hand-held camera in 13×18cm format for the Navy, and it seems reasonable to assume that the first examples were made in the mid to late 1930s.

The F-8 type takes 13×18cm exposures. The 1945 American report says that the early examples were taking six glass plates within a magazine, but the camera was modified to use rollfilm "early in the war". All the surviving examples known so far take 18cm wide film rolls. The rolls were normally 3.7m long, allowing for 25 frames, but double-length 7.5m rolls were manufactured in 1943 and 1944.

The camera body is made of metal. The shutter is of the focal-plane type, with 1/60, 1/100, 1/160, 1/200, 1/300 and 1/400 speeds. When rotated, the right handle advances the film, winds the shutter and advances the exposure counter in a single movement. There is a folding frame finder at the top, of which variations are known.

If we accept the 1924 or 1925 release date given by some Japanese sources (see above), the early examples made until the early 1930s certainly had an imported German lens. The examples found today normally have a Hexar Ser.1 25cm f/4.5 (same as mounted on the Nedinsco type), sometimes with abbreviated markings Hexar.1 4.5 25.

Surviving examples

Surviving examples have been observed in two main variants.

Early Models

The first variant has a large black identification plate, with the camera's official name in Japanese characters (手持手持式航空寫眞機25cm F-8型), a serial number, the year and month of manufacture, and the words Tokyo (東京) and Rokuoh-sha (六櫻社). There is a small housing on the left side, behind the left handle. There is no control lever above the camera, and the aperture is perhaps directly controlled by turning a ring around the lens. Finally, there are four screw threads at the front of the main body, probably provided to attach the camera to a fixed aircraft mount. The December 1945 American report says that attempts were made to use the F-8 type as a vertical camera, and about 25 mounts were produced for the C6N Saiun (Myrt) reconnaissance plane, but the trials were not satisfactory and the camera was only used hand-held.

Late Models

The second variant is presumably later. It has a small white plate with Rokuoh-sha or Konishiroku's logo (the character roku 六 inside a stylized cherry blossom) and a serial number. Two levers are visible at the top, in front of the frame finder. The front lever controls the aperture and has three positions: 4.5, 6.3 and 9. The second lever was used to compensate for proper focus with infra-red film. The small housing on the left side and the four screw threads at the front are no longer present.

Navy Field Camera

The Navy Field Camera (21cm & 36cm) (¶¶¶) was produced for the Japanese Navy by Rokuoh-sha( (六桜社) ) / Konishiroku) (小西六)

f/4.5 21cm or 36cm , plate size 12 x 16.5 (nominally)

discuss relationship to Army camera

A report from the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan, written in December 1945, gives detailed production figures (Table 1), showing that the camera was introduced in 1942. The dramatic drop of actual deliveries compared or orders in 1945 shows the impact of the Allied bombing on specialised camera production.

Table 1 Production volume of Navy Field Cameras for the period 1941-1945

Year	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	Total
21cm model
Ordered	—	150	150	300	300	900
Delivered	—	127	28	293	20	468
36cm model
Ordered	—	80	100	120	120	420
Delivered	—	55	124	3	—	182

Army Type B Field Camera

The Army Type B Field Camera (21cm) (¶¶¶) was produced for the Japanese Army by Rokuoh-sha( (六桜社) ) / Konishiroku) (小西六)

discuss relationship to Navy camera

A report from the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan, written in December 1945, gives detailed production figures (Table 1), showing that the camera was introduced in 1941. f/4.5 21cm , plate size 12 x 16.5 (nominally)

Table 1 Production volume of Army Type B Field Camera for the period 1941-1945

Year	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	Total
Ordered	75	125	50	50	—	300
Delivered	50	100	—	100	—	250

Navy Type 99 Aerial Camera Sets

As was custom with all Japanese military camera gear, the the Type 99 Handheld Aerial Cameras (15cm) (九九式航空写真機十五糎) were supplied as a set complete with all the required paraphernalia (such as filters, additional magazines etc).

Storage Boxes

Table 1 Shape of boxes

Type	Manufacturer (of camera)	Serial number (range) Date (if known)	Material	Dimensions (L x B x H)	External View	Internal View
Type 1	Fuji Shashin Film	62	Plywood with leather covering
Type 2	Fuji Shashin Film	sn#122	Wood
Type 3	Rokuoh-sha	sn#393	Plywood with leather covering
images by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights)

 

Packaging Lists

To ensure that store personnel could account for the contents of the sets, camera manufacturers affixed content labels on the insides of the storage boxes. These labels were made of aluminum, printed paper or (cheaper) duplication by mimeograph or Whiteprint.

Table 2 Packing Labels (Lists of Contents)

Type	Manufacturer of Camera	Serial number (range)	Material	Date (if known)
Type 1	Fuji Shashin Film	62	Aluminium
Type 2	Fuji Shashin Film		Paper, printed Type-set Kanji Characters
Type 3	Fuji Shashin Film	122	Paper, mimeographed Hand-written Kanji Characters
Type 4	Rokuoh-sha		Paper, printed Type-set Kanji Characters
Type 5	Rokuoh-sha	393	Paper, Whiteprint ('diazo') Hand-written Kanji Characters	1944 (May)
images by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights)