Well Standard
The Well are Japanese cameras made by Nihon Kōki between 1939 and 1942 and distributed by Misuzu Shōkai.
Well Standard
Template:127 Japan The Well Standard (ウエルスタンダード) takes ten 4×5cm pictures on 127 film. It was made between 1939 and 1942. At the beginning, between 1939 and 1941, it was only called Well (ウエル).
It was meant to imitate the luxury 35mm rangefinder it was not. It only has a direct vision finder and a brilliant finder, one on each side of the top housing, thus showing two windows like a rangefinder. There is an accessory shoe between the two finders.
To confuse you even more, it has two knobs, at each end of the top plate. The right knob is a real one, and is used to advance the film. The left one is a fake rewind knob, because 127 film does not need to be rewound.
Under the advance knob is what looks like an exposure counter. In fact it is just another fake, an exposure counter of the crudest type: numbers engraved in the rotating knob. It is not possible to use the traditional red window advance because the 127 film paperback is not marked for this unusual 4×5cm format. A serious maker would have made an automatic stop advance device, that equips almost all other Japanese 4×4cm and 4×5cm cameras of the time. But not Nihon Kōki: to advance one exposure, you have to manually stop turning when the correct number is facing an index. There is just one red window, at the back's left, for the first exposure. Irregular spacing is probably frequent. To load the film, the back is removed together with the bottom plate. The latter has a tripod screw on the right and the locking key on the centre.
The lens and shutter housing are mounted on a telescopic tube. The Well is offered in 1940[1] with a Well Anastigmat f:4.5 lens and a shutter providing T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds, for ¥60. From 1941 the Well Standard is offered in three variants[2] (prices dated March 1942):
- Model I, with f:3.5 lens and a Well Rapid shutter (with self-timer, speeds said to be T, B, 1–500[3]), for ¥129;
- Model II, with f:4.5 lens and T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 shutter, for ¥71;
- Model III, with f:3.5 lens and T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 shutter, for ¥94.
The camera has been observed with a Well Anastigmat 65mm f:4.5 lens (black lens bezel) and a shutter giving T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 speeds, engraved Well Standard, MODEL I and N.K.K. on the top housing.[4] It has also been observed with the same shutter and a Well Anastigmat 65mm f:3.5 lens (chrome lens bezel), engraved Well Standard, MODEL II and N.K.K. on the top housing. In both cases, the engravings are contradictory with the advertised model numbers.[5]
The Well Standard has also been reported with a Well Anastigmat 60/3.5 lens (but the focal length seems dubious) and a Well Rapid 1–500 shutter.[6] An example is pictured in McKeown with a Well Anastigmat 65mm f:3.5 lens (chrome lens bezel) and a T, B, 1–500 shutter.[7] The shutter rim has a marking that begins with WELL (maybe "WELL RAPID"), and the top housing is either unmarked or the marking has been erased.
Well Super
The Well Super (ウエルスーパー), made in 1942, takes 4.5×6cm pictures on 120 film. It looks similar to the Well Standard, except that it is a little higher and that the top housing extends somewhat under the fake rewind knob. The front of the top housing is marked ウエル ("Well" in katakana writing). The marking above the top housing reads WELL SUPER, 4.5x6 and something else, maybe an NKK logo[8]. The advance knob has the same shape as the Well Standard, with the same crude exposure counter. There is one red window at the bottom of the back, protected by a horizontally sliding cover.
The Well Super is advertised in 1942[9], in three versions, all with a Well Anastigmat lens (focal unknown):
- Model I, with f:4.5 lens and T, B, 25–150 shutter (¥88 — case for ¥8.35 extra);
- Model III or Model IIIA (depending on the advertisement), with f:4.5 lens and T, B, 1–300 shutter (¥111);
- Model IIIB, with f:3.5 lens and T, B, 1–300 shutter (¥129).
The two advertisements observed show the same picture of a Model IIIB, with an f:3.5 lens (chrome lens bezel) and the shutter rim probably reading SUPER-WELL. There is no mention of Nihon Kōki in these advertisements, and there is no record of a Model II.
A Well Super has been observed with a Well Anastigmat 75mm f:4.5 (black lens bezel), and the shutter rim marked SUPER-WELL. It is probably a Model IIIA.[10]
Notes
- ↑ Advertisement for the Well, published in the April 1940 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 25.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Well Super I, IIIA, IIIB and Well Standard I, II, III, published in the March 1942 issue of Hōdō Shashin, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, item 26.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 334.
- ↑ Example sold by a Japanese dealer, with lens number 3713. The same variant is pictured in this page of the Asacame website, with lens number 4100, but the markings are not visible.
- ↑ Example sold in a Yahoo Japan auction, lens number 1610.
- ↑ Reported by a Russian dealer.
- ↑ McKeown, p. 721, lens number 2146 or 2148.
- ↑ Example observed in a Yahoo Japan auction.
- ↑ March 1942 advertisement cited above. Another advertisement, originally published between 1942 and 1945, is reproduced in Nostalgic Camera, a page of old Japanese ads by Toshio Inamura.
- ↑ Example observed in a Yahoo Japan auction, lens number 1829 or 1629.
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 25–7.
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P. 721.
