Hamond

The Hamond (ハモンド) is a series of Japanese novelties combining a pair of binoculars and a camera taking 3×4cm exposures on 127 film. They were advertised by Marusō in the first half of 1939 and were perhaps sold until the war.

Description

The Hamond has a prism-shaped metal body. The oculars are contained in the body between the film spools and the exposure chamber, so that the eyepieces protrude from the camera's top plate. There is a folding optical finder in the middle. The back is hinged to the left, and the position of the film advance device is unclear: there seems to be a key at the bottom right of the body.

It seems that the lens and shutter assembly is mounted on a bakelite helical. The name HAMOND is sometimes embossed in the front leather.

The features and shape of the lenses and shutters are similar to the ones for the Baby Chrome. It is supposed that the lens and shutter assemblies were provided by Optochrom, and the camera body was perhaps assembled there too. The shutter plate is marked WING PATENT at the top, with a logo perhaps depicting a pair of wings, and HAMOND at the bottom. The name "Wing" is akin to the "Tsubasa" name used by Optochrom on many products (tsubasa means "wing" in Japanese).

Versions

The Hamond was advertised in January 1939 in two versions, distinguished by the lens and shutter equipment and by the magnification of the binoculars:

• Hamond B: Macold f/4.5 lens, Hamond shutter, 25, 50, 100, T, B speeds, 5× magnification (¥37);
• Hamond Junior: Macold f/6.3 lens, Hamond shutter, 25, 50, 100, B speeds, 3× magnification (¥25).

A third version with f/3.5 lens was mentioned as "available in March" (三月発売).

In an advertisement dated June 1939, the two same versions were listed but the f/6.3 version was called Hamond A and cost ¥27. The f/3.5 version was still indicated as "available soon" (近日発売).

The Hamond was still listed in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled in October 1940, in two versions called "Hamond A" (¥32) and "Hamond D" (¥60) with no further detail. The name and the price might suggest that the Hamond D was the f/3.5 version previously announced.

Actual examples

Two examples of the Hamond are pictured in Sugiyama. One of them is a Hamond A. It has the Macold lens mentioned in the advertisement and the HAMOND embossing in the front leather. It is similar to the Hamond B pictured in this page of the JCII collection except for the lens.

The other example pictured in Sugiyama has no embossing and a different folding finder. The shutter gives B, 25, 50 speeds, with a similar design of the shutter plate. The lens is a 50mm f/8, marked NEW-GOLD like the lenses of the Baby Chrome. The lens number is 1013, perhaps a very low number in a sequence starting at 1000. This example is perhaps a prototype.

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 180–1.
• Template:Kakaku1940
• 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 4037–8.

Links

In Japanese:

• Hamond B in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology