Vintage Land(?) camera

**Jollybox** · 20-Sep-2004, 04:05

Has anyone heard of a camera called the "Astoria"? The metal 'badge' on one I recently bought also states Osaka - Japan. The ground glass is approximately 150mm x 130mm. The front standard folds back on itself and lies flat against the base. The rear folds down flat on the front standard, making the camera about 50mm flat when folded. It has a circular tripod mount in the base the tripod having small lugs in the folding 'arms' that fit into the circular mount. Maximum extension of the rear and front (seperate racks) is about 280-300mm. I have made several searches on the net with no success. Thanks for any help

JB

**Ernest Purdum** · 20-Sep-2004, 06:46

Astoria Is or was the tradename for The Astoria, Ltd., of Osaka, Japan. I have 1971 addresses. etc., for them if you want them.

Your description is that of a fairly typical Japanese 1/2-plate camera of a type made with little change for very many years. You could see them in use outside temples, the Imperial Palace and other sites where tourists gathered and ceremonies were held. Their users were a very conservative group. Many still used Thornton-Pickard style roller-blind shutters clear up into the 1960's. The often beautifully made holders that came with such cameras were plateholders requiring adapters for film.

The basic design originated in England. These cameras were very similar to English cameras ca. 1905, but were not direct copies of any particular English camera. Many were made by rather small companies. In the late 1960's, they started to evolve into the field cameras we enjoy today. The first change was elimination of the turntable for the dangerous separately attached tripod legs. Ikeda and Tachihara were amongst the many makers making this transition. Before the turntable was eliminated, many were fitted with a plate which fitted into the turntable and allowed attachment of a modern tripod. Soon after, more movements came to be provided. Toyo and Rittreck started making them in metal. In the meantime, production of cameras of this sort had ceased in England, so today's field cameras, wherever made, are sometimes nearly unrecognizable descendants of British cameras but via Japan.

**Ernest Purdum** · 20-Sep-2004, 09:15

I should have added that if you want to use the camera today there are several ways this can be done. One is to trim down 5" X 7" film to 4 3/4" X 6 1/2" to fit into the original holders which I hope you have. Another is to make, or have made, adapters to put 4" X 5" film into the holders. (You have to check to make sure that the distance to the film plane is identical to that of the groundglass when doing this.) The third is to remove the original back and replace it with a 4" X 5" spring or Graflok back with an adapter to match it to the camera. Making an adapter for this purpose is a fairly straightforward job for a competent woodworker.

The result will be a very lightweight camera which, though having limited movements, provides as much flexibility as most people have occasion to use in landscape work.

If you use the separate tripod legs, one way of reducing the hazard of disastrous collapse is with a keychain type split ring, three short lengths of lightweight chain and three eye hooks. Attach the chains to the ring, screw the hooks into the legs, and hook on the chains, adjusting for as much spread as desired. A better way is one of the three-armed adjustable braces which used to be sold for this purpose, but they are scarce and making one would be rather difficult.

**Jollybox** · 22-Sep-2004, 19:41

Ernest, firstly thanks for your informative reply. Yes the address for the company would be useful. Since I aquired the camera I have had the bellows replaced (kept the originals) and the camera cleaned and serviced as far as I can. Unfortunately it did not have any dark slides/film holders with it. That should not be a problem as I have sourced other vintage holders from ebay. They are the wrong size but are a suitable pattern for reproduction. In fact the person that arranged the bellows for me then sourced a far larger Astoria in a similar condition. That one had a dark slide included in the 'outfit'. The examples I had sourced from ebay are very similar in appearance and construction. Incidentally the Astoria I have was sourced in Myanmar (Burma), I guess there is a chance it originated there during WW2 during the Japanese occupation. I have since bought a 'period' Ross brass lens to fit once I get back onshore, then all I need is a shutter,,,,,,,,

**Ernest Purdum** · 23-Sep-2004, 08:29

Their address in 1971 was: 17, 1-chome, Sonezaki-Shinchi, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. They had a box number which was: C.P.O. Box 178, Osaka, Japan. Their President was Shinuemon Watanabe.

If you get to Hong Kong or Taiwan, they had distributors there, but I don't have addresses for them. In Hong Kong, East Asia Enterprises (I & E.) Ltd. Taiwan, Yi Fa Trading Co., Ltd.

If you want to be traditional, the shutter would be a roller-blind (the Japanese called them "Thornton" type shutters, even though that is a difficult name for Japanese to pronounce). The Japanese made ones were probably influenced by German shutters in that they cocked by a key instead of the Thornton-Pickard string. Later ones were apt to have metal bodies rather than wood. Two brand names were "Hansa" and "Tommy".