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Advertisement by Ōsawa Shōkai in Asahi Camera April 1937. (Image rights

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Primo exposure meter in Photo Art no.80, June 1955. (Image rights)


Osawa (大沢) was a Japanese distributor from the 1930s to the 1960s.

History[]

The company was already active in 1937 as K.K. Ōsawa Shōkai (㈱大沢商会), with an address in Kyoto. It was the distributor of the Rosen Four and Semi Rosen. It perhaps owned the "Rosen" trademark, and it is likely that it was also the distributor of the Rosen plate folder and Baby Rosen 3×4cm camera.

In the early 1940s, the company distributed the Primo folders made by Daiichi Kikō. By 1940 it had opened a branch in Tokyo, at Ginza 42–5. By the end of the year this became the main address of the company, which also had branches in Nagoya, Ogura and Seoul, in addition to the original shop in Kyoto. By early 1944, the company was operating as Ōsawa Sangyō K.K. (大沢産業㈱), a name that was used only for a short time.

The company survived the war; in 1948 it was again operating under the name K.K. Ōsawa Shōkai (㈱大沢商会), and the only remaining address was that in Ginza. In the 1950s, the company reused the "Primo" trademark (which it probably owned) for the Primoflex and Primo Jr TLR cameras made by Tōkyō Kōgaku. This was also used for the Primo exposure meter, whose actual manufacturer is unknown.

The company was still active in 1960, as an authorized dealer of the Kinotar and Kinotel cine lenses; it was still in Ginza but the address was slightly altered, perhaps merely because of a reform of the postal system. In 1962, it was distributing the Viscawide-16 panorama camera made by Taiyō Kōki.

Distributed cameras[]

  • Rosen (unconfirmed)
  • Semi Rosen
  • Baby Rosen by Proud (unconfirmed)
  • Rosen Four by Proud
  • Primo by Daiichi Kikō (1941–4)
  • Primoflex by Tōkyō Kōgaku
  • Topcon 35 by Tōkyō Kōgaku (1953–4)
  • Semi Oscon by Yamagata Kikai (1953–4)
  • Viscawide-16 by Taiyō Kōki (1962)

Other[]

  • Cosmos rangefinder (c.1937)
  • Primo exposure meter (sold ¥3,800 in 1955)

References/External Links[]

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/%C5%8Csawa

All credit goes back to Camera Wiki Org for i do not own any of these information nor the pictures provided in this page

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