Pilot Six

The Pilot Six (パイロットシックス) is a Japanese 6×6 folder, made by Tachibana Shōkai.^[1] It was announced in 1940 and 1941 and sold from 1942.^[2] It is said that the Adler Six is a rebadged version sold by Riken.^[3]

Description Edit

The Pilot Six is a horizontal folding camera, copied from the Ikonta B. It has a folding frame finder in the middle of the top plate, a body release on the right and a key at the top left to advance the film. There are strap lugs at both ends of the top plate. The back is hinged to the right.

Advertisements and other documents Edit

The camera is not mentioned in the official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, presumably because it was not available yet.^[4] It first appears in an advertisement in the December 1940 issue of Asahi Camera.^[5] In the January 1941 issue of the same magazine, it is advertised as "available soon" (近日発売) with a choice of f/4.5 or f/3.5 lens.^[6] In the advertisement in the September issue, it is presented as "long awaited" (待望), with two lens options (f/4.5 and f/3.5, both called Pilot Anastigmat) and three shutter options (T, B, 5–200; T, B, 1–300 and T, B, 1–300 with selftimer, all three called Pilot).^[7] In the official price list dated November 1941, the camera appears as "Pilot Six I" and perhaps in other versions as well.^[8]

In advertisements dated February 1942, the Pilot Six is listed in two versions, both with a Pilot shutter giving T, B, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 speeds:^[9]

• Pilot Anastigmat f/4.5 lens (¥92);
• Pilot Anastigmat f/3.5 lens (¥109).

The Pilot Six is still mentioned in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943, again in two versions with f/4.5 or f/3.5 lens and T, B, 5–200 speeds.^[10] The two lenses have three elements and were made by Sugimoto, as well as the shutter called "Pilot Six I".^[11]

Notes Edit

1. ↑ Made by Tachibana: advertisements published in Asahi Camera January and September 1941, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.83, say that Tachibana was the maker and distributor of the Pilot cameras: "パイロツト写真用品製造発売元". This is also confirmed by the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), items 82–3.
2. ↑ Dates : Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.339.
3. ↑ Tanaka, p.9 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14.
4. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku".
5. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.339.
6. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.83.
7. ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.83.
8. ↑ "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 4, section 3.
9. ↑ Advertisement in Shashin Bunka reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.83; advertisement in Asahi Camera, visible in this page of Xylocopal's photolog.
10. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), items 168–9.
11. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens items Lb12 and Lc21, shutter item 18-U-8.

Bibliography Edit

• 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 177.
• "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 4, section 3.
• "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7. Items 82–3.
• "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in 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. Pp.108—9. The Pilot Six does not appear in this document.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Rikō kamera no nagare" (リコーカメラの流れ, Evolution of the Ricoh cameras). 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.8–11.

The Pilot Six is not listed in Sugiyama.

Links Edit

In Japanese

• Advertisement for the Pilot Six in Asahi Camera February 1942, visible in this page about old camera magazines of Xylocopal's photolog