Zessan

The Zessan is a Japanese camera taking 3×4cm pictures on 127 film, made by Mori and sold by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō (the predecessor of Ricoh) from about 1941.

Description

The Zessan has a metal body with a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. The advance knob is at the top right. The tubular optical finder is offset to the left and a small part extends further to the left, as a step above the top plate supporting the accessory shoe. The film loading is probably through the top plate (like on the Picny and Gelto cameras, to which the Zessan is directly comparable). A small knob is visible between the finder and the advance knob, perhaps used to lock the top plate in closed position.

The shutter is an everset Licht by Seikōsha and the lens is front-cell focusing.

Advertisements and other documents

The Zessan was listed in the list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in 1941, in two versions called "Zessan I" (¥60) and "Zessan II" (¥77) with no further detail. The camera was also pictured in an advertisement dated February 1941 but again no detail was given.

The Zessan was still mentioned in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943, again in two versions. In the reproduction of the document published today, they are both called "Zessan I" but it is said that the original document is hardly legible at some places and the models were perhaps called "Zessan I" and "Zessan II". They both have the Licht shutter and a 50/4.5 three-element lens made by Riken. The lens is called Roico on one model and "Seiko" (セイコ) on the other, but the latter is perhaps a typo for "Seica" (セイカ): a Seica 50/4.5 lens was announced at some time for the Seica camera.

Name

The Japanese word zessan means "praise" when written 絶賛 or 絶讃. Riken used many such names in the prewar and wartime period. The name has not yet been observed on any original document and the actual writing used by the company is not known.

Bibliography

• "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. Items 158–9.
• "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, sections 5 and 7.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Rikō kamera no nagare" (リコーカメラの流れ, Evolution of the Ricoh 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.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp.8–11. (The Zessan is only mentioned on pp.8–9 of this magazine issue, otherwise displaying most of the cameras made by Riken and Ricoh. It is not present in the camera list of the Ricoh official website, mostly based on this source.)

The Zessan is not mentioned in Kokusan kamera no rekishi nor in Sugiyama.

Links

In Japanese:

• Japanese prewar 127 film cameras, including the Zessan, at Nekosan's website
• Advertisement for the Riken cameras picturing the Zessan (first camera from the top), published in the February 1941 issue of Gakusei no Kagaku, reproduced in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website