Ami (4.5×6 folder)

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Japanese Semi (4.5×6)
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The Ami (アミー) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folder, distributed by Tōkyō Shashin Shōkai and perhaps made by Daiichi Kōki.

Description

The Ami is a vertical folder copy of the Ikonta. There is a folding optical finder, a body release on the left and a folding bed release on the right (as seen by the photographer holding the camera horizontally). The advance control is at the bottom right and the back is hinged to the left.

Documents

The official list of set prices dated November 1941 has an "Ami II", attributed to Daiichi Kōki, a company which is otherwise unknown.[1] The camera is not in the earlier price list published in January 1941, probably because it was not yet produced.[2]

The Ami was advertised by Tōkyō Shashin Shōkai in the December 1941, March and April 1942 issues of Hōdō Shashin.[3] It was offered with an Ami 75mm f/3.5 lens and an Ami shutter giving 1–200 speeds, and was priced at ¥115, together with the Sintax (a Baldax copy) as a more expensive alternative.

There is an Amiflex 6×6 TLR dating from the early 1950s; it is unknown if the two cameras are related.

Notes

  1. "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, section 7A.
  2. "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku".
  3. December 1941: advertisement reported in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.334. March and April 1942: advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.58 and 74. Olympus cameras, binoculars and microscopes are also briefly mentioned in these two advertisements.

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. Item 9 and 123.
  • "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 3, section 7A.
  • "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. The Ami does not appear in this document.

The Ami is not listed in Sugiyama.