The Letix is a Japanese camera taking 4×4cm on 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 was 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 was K.K. Kaneki Shōten (株式会社カネキ商店). Other advertisements dated November 1940 (by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō) and August 1941 (by the distributor Kawara Shashinki-ten) offered the Letix with the same lens and shutter combination for ¥55.[6]
The camera was listed in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled on October 25, 1940 and published in January 1941, under the names "Letix I" (¥60) and "Letix II" (¥95), with no further details.[7]
Examples of the Letix have been observed with the Ukas lens and 25–150 speeds.[8] 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 version of the Letix has been observed, perhaps corresponding to the Letix II. It has a 5cm f/4.5 lens reported as a Helios Anastigmat, mounted on an everset Perfect shutter by Neumann & Heilemann, giving 5–250, B, T speeds. (The same lens and shutter combination has been observed on an example of the Seica.)[9] 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.[10] The frame around the viewfinder window differs on that particular example.
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 November 1940, visible in this page of Xylocopal's photolog, and in Asahi Camera August 1941, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 61.
- ↑ Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 1, sections 5 and 9.
- ↑ Examples pictured in McKeown, p. 85, Sugiyama, item 3031, in this page of the AJCC and in this page and this page at Asacame.
- ↑ Example pictured in McKeown, p. 537.
- ↑ Example pictured in Sugiyama, item 3032, and in "Senzen no rikō kamera – hoi", pp. 21–2 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 14 (a small copy of one picture is presented in this page of the Ricoh official website).
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.
- "Senzen no rikō kamera – hoi" (戦前のリコーカメラ・補遺, Prewar Ricoh cameras – appendix). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 21–2.
- 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 3031–2.
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
- Advertisement for the Letix published in Asahi Camera November 1940, visible in this page about old camera magazines of Xylocopal's photolog
| 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 |