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Japanese Semi (4.5×6)
Prewar and wartime models (edit)
folding
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Semi Elka | Semi Keef | Napoleon
Postwar models ->
Japanese SLR, TLR, pseudo TLR and stereo ->
Japanese 3×4, 4×4, 4×5, 4×6.5, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Semi Makinet (セミマキネット) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folder, made from 1941 by Umemoto and distributed by Kikōdō.

Documents[]

The official list of set prices dated November 1941 has a "Semi Makinet II" (セミマキネットⅡ型) and a "Semi Makinet IIA" (セミマキネットⅡA型), both attributed to Kikōdō.[1] The camera is not listed in a similar price list compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, presumably because it was not yet produced.[2]

The government inquiry listing all the Japanese cameras as of April 1943 mentions the Semi Makinet, made by Umemoto and distributed by Kikōdō.[3] The camera is registered as a 4.5×6 folder with a steel body (presumably pressed steel). The shutter is mentioned as a Northter I (ノースタⅠ) made by Nishida.[4] A choice of two lenses is mentioned: Wester 75/4.5 and Wester 75/3.5, both made by Nishida and both having three elements.[5]

No other mention of this model is known and no surviving example has yet surfaced.

Possible postwar continuation[]

Umemoto Hideo, son of Umemoto Kinzaburō, founder of the Umemoto company, testified that rather large dies salvaged from the destruction of the Kameido-machi plant during the bombing of Tokyo in 1945 were stocked and perhaps re-used for the Rocky Semi.[6] They were perhaps the press dies for the Semi Makinet body.

Bibliography[]

  • "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 3, sections 6B and 7B.
  • "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 75–6.
  • "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 Semi Makinet does not appear in this document.

The Semi Makinet is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi nor in Sugiyama.

Links[]

In Japanese:


Umemoto cameras
6×6 strut folders 4×4 SLR 4.5×6 folder
Super Makinet Six | Neure Six Super Flex Baby Semi Makinet | Rocky Semi
  1. "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, sections 6B and 7B.
  2. {{Kakaku0141_short]].
  3. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), items 75–6. The name Kikōdō (暿光堂) is given as 日暿光堂.
  4. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter item 18-P-6.
  5. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens items Lb19 and Lc19.
  6. Umemoto company history.
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