Star watch camera
From Camerapedia.org
The Star watch camera or Radio camera (ラジヲカメラ, rajiwo kamera) is a Japanese camera disguised as a pocket watch, released in 1912 by Ueda.[1] It was patterned after the Lancaster watch camera. The watch-case opens and reveals the lens and shutter, mounted on a series of six concentric telescopic tubes. Pictures are taken on circular sheetfilm of about 3cm diameter.[2] The camera is fixed-focus and the shutter only has T and I or B and I settings.[3]
The inside of the watch-case has the word REGISTER'D, a five-pointed star, the name THE WATCH CAMERA, the initials S.C.W. for Star Camera Works and the serial number. The example pictured in Sugiyama has no.37414.[4]
It is said that the camera was available in three different versions: with silver plating (¥8), brushed silver plating (¥9) or in sterling silver (¥20).[5]
Notes
- ↑ Date and attribution to Ueda: Sugiyama, item 5002, and this page of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology.
- ↑ Lewis, p.27, says 3cm; Sugiyama, item 5002, says 31mm.
- ↑ T and I: Lewis, p.27. B and I: Sugiyama, item 5002.
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 5002.
- ↑ Lewis, p.27.
Bibliography
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), ISBN 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P.27.
- 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. Item 5002. (See also the colour picture at the beginning.)
Links
In Japanese:
