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Japanese Semi (4.5×6)
Prewar and wartime models (edit)
folding
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collapsible
Semi Kinsi | Lord | Lyrax | Nippon | New Olympic | Semi Olympic | Semi Renky | Auto Victor | Well Super
stereo
Sun Stereo
unknown
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 Germa (セミゲルマー) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folder, made by Tōkyō Shashin Kōgaku Kōgyōsha in the first half of the 1940s.

The camera is mentioned in the official list of set prices dated November 1941, where it is attributed to "Tōkyō Shashin Kōgakusha".[1] It does not appear in the earlier price list compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, probably because it was not yet produced.[2]

The Semi Germa also appears in the government inquiry of April 1943, where it is registered as made by Tōkyō Shashin Kōgaku Kōgyōsha and distributed by Kigawa.[3] The lens is a three-element Miss 75/3.5 and the shutter is a Miss giving T, B, 1–300 speeds and made by Takahashi.[4] This lens is also reported on the Semi Miss, and the shutter is probably related too.

No surviving example and no picture has been observed so far.

Notes[]

  1. "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, section 7B.
  2. "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku".
  3. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), item 65. The distributor is given as "Kigawa Shin" (木川新) for some reason.
  4. "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens item Lb9 and shutter item 18-P-18.

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, section 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. Item 65.
  • "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 camera does not appear in this document.

This camera is not listed in Sugiyama or in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.

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