Daido Semi
The Daido Semi (ダイドーセミ) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera made by Daidō Seikō, the predecessor of Takane.
Description
The Daido Semi is a vertical folder with no rangefinder. It is said that the body is based on that for the Semi Mihama, the same way as the Daido Six was developed from the Mihama Six.[1] There is a sleek top cover; it contains the viewfinder in the middle, with the accessory shoe immediately above. The advance knob is at the left end, the folding bed release is on the left of the viewfinder, the body release is on the right and there is a film flange at the right end. The film advance is probably controlled by red window.
The lens is a Daido Anastigmat 75mm f/3.5 and the shutter is an NKS (B, 1–200) with a self-timer, synchronized via an ASA bayonet, the same equipment as on the Daido Six.
Original documents and surviving example
The Daido Semi was featured in a special issue of Photo Art dated November 1953.[2] No other original document mentioning the camera is reported.
The only surviving example known so far has Daido lens no.2013 and was offered at an online auction.
 
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| Daido Semi, NKS shutter, C Daido Anastigmat 75mm f/3.5 lens no.2013. Pictures courtesy of eBayer nif5parrot. (Image rights) |
Notes
- ↑ Based on the Semi Mihama: Hagiya, pp.130–1 of Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari.
- ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.354. For some reason, this source attributes the Daido Semi to Kantō Kōgaku, the maker of the Amiflex. The mistake perhaps originates in the article in Photo Art.
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 582.
- Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). "Mine Shikkusu: Gunma-ken Takasaki-shi no kameramēkā" (ミネシックス：群馬県高崎市のカメラメーカー, Mine Six: A camera-maker in Takasaki, Gunma). Chapter 7 of Zunō kamera tanjō: Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari (ズノーカメラ誕生：戦後国産カメラ10物語, The birth of the Zunow camera: Ten stories of postwar Japanese camera makers). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1999. ISBN 4-257-12023-1. First published as an article in Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.27. This history of Takane is based on Hagiya's interviews with four people who had been key figures in the company.
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P. 83 (brief mention only).
The Daido Semi is not listed in Sugiyama.
