Help in ID'ing Japanese 5X7 Wood Camera

[griffenn]

I picked up a wood View camera from an estate sale. The camera is 5x7 format, wood, has red bellows, and has no manufacturer's plate on it. The background on the estate owner. He was WWII US Army and had 2 Speed Graphics, so I'm assuming that he was likely an Army photographer. I'm also guessing that he was stationed in Japan post-war where he may have picked up the 5x7. The red bellows should narrow the possibilities, but the last clue is the film holders. They are also wood and don't have the usual dark slides, instead, they have tambour dark slides (think roll-top desks). The dark slides pull to the top and just drape over the back of the camera. They do not come out of the holders completely. I've never seen this on a camera before and hope that this oddity will finally assist in identifying the manufacturer of this camera.

[grat]

Someone else recently posted about problems they were having with the dark slide on their camera, which they believed was a "Gilles-Faller" model from the 1950's.

Since I'd never heard of that manufacturer, I looked it up, and remember seeing a number of red-bellowed, wood cameras, with roll-top style film holders.

That's my completely random stab in the dark. :)

[Tin Can]

Welcome to the forum

Pictures would help

Recently I posted about my Japanese 1/2 plate camera and book style holders

[griffenn]

Welcome to the forum

Pictures would help

Recently I posted about my Japanese 1/2 plate camera and book style holders

I did check out the pevious posts, but none were similar, especially yours. Mine came with film holders and they fit.

Thanks though.

[Jim Andrada]

Pictures would help a lot - is anything on the camera written in Japanese? If so I could probably figure it out.

[Tin Can]

Mine looks like this

I have both types of slotted holder, plate book style and Matuo DDS film, they fit very well


Japanese 1/2 plate is close to 5X7 but slightly smaller All bought direct from Japan for peanuts, last year

I also live in ILL

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48796119296_9e1e4c4cad_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hkWSeE)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2hkWSeE) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49987799916_ab1d57aa0f_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jafxnf)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jafxnf) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

[griffenn]

Mine looks like this

I have both types of slotted holder, plate book style and Matuo DDS film, they fit very well


Japanese 1/2 plate is close to 5X7 but slightly smaller All bought direct from Japan for peanuts, last year

I also live in ILL

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48796119296_9e1e4c4cad_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hkWSeE)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2hkWSeE) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49987799916_ab1d57aa0f_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jafxnf)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jafxnf) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

Hi Tin Can,

Nice looking camera, but very different from mine. I used the ball head off that same Bogen tabletop tripod for my modified Bogen 3221. Big enough for an Olympus E-M5II and the lenses that I use. I didn't mean to sound critical of your camera, I got from your post that the film holders weren't an exact fit and that aspect contrasted with mine. Mine are also made of wood with that strange tambour darkslide. I will post photos of the camera as soon as I get a chance. I just found this site and wondered whether my camera would be easy for someone to ID from the odd points in the description. I've had this since the 80's or so and can wait a bit longer to appease my curiosity. I'm out of Naperville, BTW

[Willie]

Without posting some photos of the camera you are asking the near impossible.

[Tin Can]

I used to live inside Chicago

Now far downstate




Hi Tin Can,

Nice looking camera, but very different from mine. I used the ball head off that same Bogen tabletop tripod for my modified Bogen 3221. Big enough for an Olympus E-M5II and the lenses that I use. I didn't mean to sound critical of your camera, I got from your post that the film holders weren't an exact fit and that aspect contrasted with mine. Mine are also made of wood with that strange tambour darkslide. I will post photos of the camera as soon as I get a chance. I just found this site and wondered whether my camera would be easy for someone to ID from the odd points in the description. I've had this since the 80's or so and can wait a bit longer to appease my curiosity. I'm out of Naperville, BTW

[griffenn]

Well, Here are the images of the missing 5x7 Japanese field camera. 207076, 207077, 207078, 207079,
Does anyone have an idea of who the manufacturer could be? It looks well made based upon the brass inlays in the camera and the film holders. The tambour flaps on the film holders are unusual in my experience.

[Tin Can]

Mine is identical but 1/2 plate with black bellows

[tlloydau]

Like Tin Can, I also have a 1/2 plate camera which looks very similar as far as the included holder/hardware/tripod mount/etc though there are definitely some differences as well. Mine is marked as a Tachihara Hope A which you can find photos online of. I'm not sure if what you have represents an earlier version or perhaps they are different manufacturers sharing some hardware / design.

[griffenn]

Like Tin Can, I also have a 1/2 plate camera which looks very similar as far as the included holder/hardware/tripod mount/etc though there are definitely some differences as well. Mine is marked as a Tachihara Hope A which you can find photos online of. I'm not sure if what you have represents an earlier version or perhaps they are different manufacturers sharing some hardware / design.

Thanks guys! It appears to be at least similar to the Tachihara camera. Based upon what I saw of the estate, my guess is that the former owner was possibly stationed in Japan after WWII. This may have been an earlier model as you mentioned that may have dated back to Occupied Japan. The woodworking on it is quite impressive as is the metalwork and finish. It has certainly seen better days, but with a bit of repair, it looks restoreable.

[griffenn]

Like Tin Can, I also have a 1/2 plate camera which looks very similar as far as the included holder/hardware/tripod mount/etc though there are definitely some differences as well. Mine is marked as a Tachihara Hope A which you can find photos online of. I'm not sure if what you have represents an earlier version or perhaps they are different manufacturers sharing some hardware / design.


Thanks guys! It appears to be at least similar to the Tachihara camera. Based upon what I saw of the estate, my guess is that the former owner was possibly stationed in Japan after WWII. This may have been an earlier model as you mentioned that may have dated back to Occupied Japan. The woodworking on it is quite impressive as is the metalwork and finish. It has certainly seen better days, but with a bit of repair, it looks restoreable.

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Probably you already had a look at different models of the M.S.K. Osaka camera.

[r_a_feldman]

Several points:
1. Are you sure it is 5x7, not half plate? As Oren Grad said in Post #7 in https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?86938-Half-plate-exact-size, <quote>4.75 x 6.5 is the traditional Japanese "kyabine" ("cabinet") size</quote>. I have a similar Okuhara half plate field camera, for which I made a 4x5 reducing back. There are a number of similar branded (and unbranded) Japanese half plate field cameras. There were pictures here in my earlier posts, but I can no longer see them.

A number of years ago, I speculated in a thread here that there might have been suppliers of metal parts that were used by small-time Japanese camera makers, who built wooden field cameras using the common metal parts. I now find that my speculation had become "true fact" (see statements in the thread https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?158343-Can-anyone-help-identify-this-5x7-Japanese-camera, for example). I might have been right, but what I wrote was speculation and needs confirmation.

2. Your camera is missing the tripod "spider" adapter (Pictures 1 and 2). The part you have will still mate to a tripod, but each leg will be separate (as in Picture 3, which shows one tripod leg laid in place, but folded against the camera). With the adapter, you can mount the camera on a standard screw-post tripod head.

Bob

207114
207115
207116