The Letix is a 4×4cm format camera, using 127 film, made by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō from 1940 to 1942.[1] This company was a sub-company of Riken (today Ricoh). At about the same time, Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō was making the Roico, another 4×4 camera.
Description of the body
The Letix has a bakelite body, like the Olympic, but the lens and shutter assembly is mounted on a metal telescopic tube. The name of the camera is moulded in the front of the body. It is written LETIX in some examples,[2] and Letix in advertising pictures.[3] At least one example is known with the body marked Retix.[4] An explanation for that funny mistake is that the Japanese phonology does not distinguish between the "l" and "r" letters.
The Letix is covered by a top housing except the space around the advance knob, at the left end of the top plate. The advance knob itself is quite thick, and the camera is equipped with auto-stop film advance. The tubular optical finder is a distinct part, centred above the top housing, and there is an accessory shoe on the right end. Between the shoe and the finder is an exposure counter made of a fully exposed disc engraved from 1 to 12. This device was necessary because at the time, the film paperback was not marked for 4×4cm pictures. Between the finder and the advance knob there is a button that perhaps unlocks the auto-stop advance device. The back is removable together with the bottom plate, and has a single red window to set the first exposure. The back is locked by a knob surrounding the tripod mount, at the centre of the bottom plate.
The Kraft by Ehito Kōgaku Kōgyō is very similar to the Letix, but with a metal body instead of bakelite. It is unknown if the two cameras are related, or if Ehito simply copied the Letix.
Evolution
In an advertisement dated October 1940[5], the Letix is offered with a front-cell focusing Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f/4.5 (a lens equipping many models of the Olympic) and a shutter giving 25, 50, 100, 150, B, T speeds. The distributor is K.K. Kaneki Shōten (株式会社カネキ商店). In an advertisement dated August 1941[6], the Letix is offered with the same equipment for ¥55 by the distributor Kawara Shashinki-ten (河原写真機店).
Examples of the Letix have been observed with this lens and shutter combination. The shutter plate has decorative patterns, is marked Letix at the top, has an AKK logo on the right (surely for Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō) and the aperture scale at the bottom. The speeds are written on the rim in the following order: T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25. The shutter is everset, and it is probably the same as mounted on the Olympic cameras.
Another variant of the Letix has been observed, with an everset shutter by Neumann & Heilemann, giving 5–250, B, T speeds. The lens is reported as an Helios Anastigmat 50/4.5 and the shutter as a Perfect. The shutter plate is black, has the NH logo on the right (for Neumann & Heilemann) and two screwed black plates, one at the top marked Neumann & Heilemann and the other at the bottom wearing the aperture scale.[7] The same lens has been observed on an example of the Seica.[8]
Notes
- ↑ Attribution to Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō: advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 104. Dates: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 343.
- ↑ Example pictured in this page and this page at Asacame, and example pictured in Ricoh Camera no Subete, pp. 21–2 (a small copy of one picture is presented in this page of the Ricoh official website).
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 61 and 104.
- ↑ Example pictured in McKeown, p. 85.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 104.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 61.
- ↑ Example pictured in Ricoh Camera no Subete, pp. 21–2 (a small copy of one picture is presented in this page of the Ricoh official website).
- ↑ Example pictured in McKeown, p. 537.
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 319. (See also the advertisement for item 35.)
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P. 85.
- Ricoh Camera no Subete (リコーカメラのすべて, All the Ricoh cameras), issue no. 14 (1 October 1989) of Classic Camera Senka (クラシックカメラ専科). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama. Pp. 21–2.
Links
In Japanese:
- Letix in the camera list of the Ricoh official website
- Related pages at Asacame:
- Riken 127 cameras (the Letix is the fourth camera from the top)
- Letix in the A–Z 127 cameras
- Page from the All Japan Classic Camera Club, presenting the Roico and the Letix side by side
| Asahi Bussan and Riken prewar and wartime cameras () | ||
|---|---|---|
| rigid or collapsible | ||
| Vest Adler | Gokoku | Semi Kinsi | Letix | Olympic | New Olympic | Regal Olympic | Semi Olympic | Super Olympic | Vest Olympic | Riken No.1 | Ricohl | Roico | Seica | Zessan | ||
| folders | pseudo TLR | TLR |
| Semi Adler | Adler III | Adler A | Adler B | Adler C | Adler Four | Adler Six | Gaica | Heil | Kinsi | Chukon Ref | Ricohflex | Ricohflex B |