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The Type 99 Handheld Aerial Camera (15cm) (九九式航空写真機十五糎) was produced for the Japanese Navy by Rokuoh-sha (and later Konishiroku) and by Fuji (presumably Fuji Shashin Film or one of its subsidiaries).[1]
As was usual practice with the Japanese military ordnance of the time, the name "type 99" stands for year 2599 in the Japanese imperial calendar, i.e. 1939. A recent Japanese source says that the introduction of the camera was plagued with reliability problems, and it only went in full service around 1943.[2] While a report from the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan, written in December 1945, gives detailed production figures for the Konishiroku-built Navy Type 99 Handheld Aerial Camera in the 1941–1945 period (Table 1), the production figures for the the cameras made by Fuji are unknown. Thus the total production was surely higher.
Table 1 Production volume of Navy Type 99 Handheld Aerial Camera for the period 1941-1945[1]
| Year | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | Total |
| Ordered | _ | 50 | 700 | 1416 | 1440 | 3606 |
| Delivered | _ | 50 | 600 | 1231 | 65 | 1946 |
The camera is loaded with 9cm wide[1] perforated film rolls. The picture format is about 7.5×10cm.[3][4] The film strips are 2.3 metres in length,[1][5]allowing for 20 exposures.[6]
The camera has a folding frame finder at the top, and wooden handles on both sides of the body. The shutter is of the focal-plane type, with horizontally running curtains. It normally gives 1/75, 1/150, 1/250 and 1/400 speeds,[7] selected by a wheel at the top. (The American report mentions 1/25 to 1/500 speeds, probably by mistake.)[8] The main release has the shape of a trigger, actioned by the right index. The film is advanced and the shutter is wound by turning the right-hand handle by 90 degrees twice.[9][2] The camera has an automatic exposure counter. The back is fully removable and is locked by two keys, with open (開) and close (閉) indications.
At least two versions were made, reputedly one for aerial use only and the other for both aerial and terrestrial use.[2] The American report mentions two variants distinguished by the lens maximal aperture, either f/3.5 or f/4.5, saying that the latter was more common.[10] Variations have been observed in the surviving camera bodies, but no clear pattern has been identified.[11]
Surviving Examples
A number of examples have appeared in recent years, which allow the identification of two types and some variants.
Cameras manufactured by Rokuoh Sha / Konishiroku
It is highly probable that the design originated by Rokuoh Sha / Konishiroku ¶¶¶
Documented Lens Options
The lens is attached to the camera by four screws and has the standard three prongs at the front for filter attachment. The aperture is controlled by a large ring at the front of the outer lens cone, connected to the lens diaphragm via a lever.
At least one surviving camera is known to have a Hexar Ser.1B 15cm f/4.5.[14]
Cameras manufactured by Fuji
Distinguishing Criteria
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Japanese Naval Photography. Compiled by Lt W.D.Hedden, USNR, with LtCdr G.Z.Dimitroff USNR and Lt(jg) W.A. Seymour, USNR. Intelligence Targets Japan (DNI) of 4 September 1945. Facicle A-1, Target A-39. U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan. December 1945. pp.8-9
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Aerial camera types at Wetwing Aerial Camera.
- ↑ Iwama Tomohisa (岩間倶久). "Konica history 8. Konishiroku no gun'yō kamera." (Konica history 8. 小西六の軍用カメラ. Konishiroku military cameras.) Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.54–5.
- ↑ this page at Wetwing Aerial Camera, and Japanese Naval Photography, p.11, all say 7.5×10cm. This page at Kore Nāni says 70×100mm, and Sugiyama, item 6010, says 72×98mm.
- ↑ Japanese Naval Photography, p.18.
- ↑ The camera pictured in this page at Kore Nāni clearly shows an exposure counter graduated from 1 to 20. Japanese Naval Photography, p.11, repeated in this page at Airrecce, also mentions 20 exposures. This page at Wetwing Aerial Camera, mentions 6 or 10-exposure film strips, perhaps by mistake. Sugiyama, item 6010, says that the camera takes glass plates and sheetfilm, but this is obviously a mistake.
- ↑ This page at Kore Nāni, and specifications in Sugiyama, item 6010.
- ↑ Japanese Naval Photography, p.11, repeated in this page at Airrecce.
- ↑ This page at Kore Nāni.
- ↑ Japanese Naval Photography, p.10, repeated in this page at Airrecce
- ↑ Examples pictured in this page at Kore Nāni, in this page at Wetwing Aerial Camera, in Sugiyama, item 6010, and in Iwama, p.54 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10.
- ↑ On record are Hexar sn#3050 (body #344)(Koni very messy alignment); Hexar #3910 (body #1009)
- ↑ On record are Hexar sn#4152 (on body #1185); Hexar #4098 (on body #1257);
- ↑ Example pictured in this page at Kore Nāni.
