Well Standard

This is a work in progress.

The Well are Japanese cameras made by Nihon Kōki between 1939 and 1942 and distributed by Misuzu Shōkai.

Well Standard

The Well Standard (ウエルスタンダード) takes ten 4×5cm pictures on 127 film.

Description

The Well is trying to imitate the luxury 35mm rangefinder it is not. The lens and shutter are mounted on a telescopic tube. The direct vision finder and a brilliant finder are positioned on each side of the top housing, thus showing two windows like a rangefinder camera. There is an accessory shoe between the two finders.

To confuse you even more, the camera has two knobs, one on each end of the top plate. The right knob is real 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 paper backing is not marked for this unusual 4×5cm format. A serious maker would have made an automatic stop advance device, as almost all other Japanese 4×4cm and 4×5cm cameras of the time were equipped with. 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 to set the position of the first exposure, placed on the left of the back and protected by a horizontally sliding cover. 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.

All the models have a front-cell focusing Well Anastigmat lens of 65mm focal length. The f/4.5 lenses have a black bezel and the f/3.5 lenses have a silver bezel.

Evolution

Extract of a leaflet by Kankyū Hyakkaten. Click on the image for a translation. (Image rights)

Released in 1939, the Well Standard was simply called "Well" (ウエル) in advertising until about 1941, but it seems that all the examples of the camera have the name Well Standard engraved above the eye-level finder, together with the model number and the initials N.K.K.

The Well was offered in an advertisement by Misuzu Shōkai dated April 1940 for ¥60 with a Well Anastigmat f/4.5 lens and a shutter providing T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds.

An undated leaflet by Kankyū Hyakkaten (関急百貨店) offered the camera in three versions:

• Model I: f/3.5 lens, Well-Rapid shutter (T, B, 1–500, self-timer), ¥110;
• Model II: f/4.5 lens, T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds, ¥60;
• Model III: f/3.5 lens, T, B, 25, 50, 100, 150 speeds, ¥80.

The Well Rapid shutter was made by Nihon Kōki itself and the three-element Well Anastigmat 65mm f/3.5 lens was made by Suzuki (the f/4.5 lens was certainly made by Suzuki too but this is unconfirmed). The camera pictured in the leaflet has a Well-Rapid and lens no.1004; the lens number sequence presumably started at 1001 and this is probably one of the earliest made.

The Well Standard was mentioned in the official price list compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, under the names "Well Standard I" (¥125), "Well Standard II" (¥60) and "Well Standard III" (¥92), probably corresponding to the above versions. At least the Well Standard II and III were again in a similar price list dated November 1941.

In an advertisement by Misuzu Shōkai dated March 1942 the three same versions were offered, respectively at ¥129, ¥71 and ¥94. The Well Standard was still mentioned in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943, in the version with f/3.5 lens and Well-Rapid shutter.

Well Standard Model I, Well Anastigmat 65mm f/4.5 lens, T, B, 150–25 speeds. (Image rights)

The model numbering observed on the surviving examples is inconsistent. Either the company changed its mind about the model numbers at some time, or it simply used whatever top housing was available regardless of the information given in the advertisements. The observed combinations are summarized in this table:

Combination	Lens	Shutter	Marking on the camera	Model number in the advertisement
1	f/4.5	25–100	MODEL I	Model II
2	f/3.5	25–100	MODEL II	Model III
3	f/3.5	Well-Rapid	MODEL I (reported only)	Model I
4	f/4.5	25–100	MODEL II	Model II

The simple shutter has a black shutter plate and perhaps an "NKK" marking, and the speeds are inscribed in the T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 order. The Well-Rapid has a silver shutter plate and the name WELL–RAPID inscribed at the bottom of the rim.

Bibliography

Original documents

• "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 2, sections 5B and 7; type 3, sections 3B, 6B and 7B.
• Kankyū Hyakkaten. Leaflet for the New Midget II, Romax, Semi Leotax and Well Standard. Date not indicated. Document reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.
• "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7. Item 155.
• "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in 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. Pp.108—9. Type 1, section 10; type 2, sections 5B and 7.

Recent sources

• 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.
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Items 3059–61.

Links

In English:

• Well Standard Model I at Tomei Collection

In Japanese

• Well Standard in the A-Z 127 film cameras at Asacame
• Well in a page of wanted cameras at je2luz
• Advertisement for the Well Super, also mentioning the Well Standard, published in an unidentified Japanese magazine in 1942, reproduced in Nostalgic Camera, a page of old Japanese advertisements by Toshio Inamura.