Special Pearlette

From Camerapedia.org

Japanese Vest (4×5 and 4×6.5) (edit)
4×4.5	folding	Orient
4×5	folding	Minion
	collapsible	Alfax | Olympus Standard | Sakura (bakelite) | Well Standard
	unknown	Vesten
4×6.5	folding	Clover Vest | Dianette | Eagle | Friend | Kooa | National | Nifcarette | Pearlette | B Pearlette | Special Pearlette | Pionette | Pocket Prince | Sirius Bebe | Speed Pocket | Tsubasa Spring | Victory
	rigid or collapsible	Vest Adler | Vest Alex | Kowa Kid | Light | Baby Minolta | Minolta Vest | Regal Olympic | Vest Olympic | Tsubasa Chrome
	box	Baby Clover | Sakura (box) | Spirit
	unknown	Victor Vest
unknown		Meiro
Japanese 3×4 and 4×4, 4.5×6, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Special Pearlette is a Japanese folding camera taking 4×6.5cm exposures on 127 film. It was made by Konishiroku (predecessor of Konica) in 1929.^[1]

Contents 1 Description 2 Lens and shutter equipment 3 Notes 4 Bibliography

Description

Despite its name, the Special Pearlette has nothing in common with the strut-folding Pearlette. It is a copy of the Roll Tenax by Goerz. It has a folding bed but it is not self-erecting: the front standard needs to be manually pulled out. It is said that the lens standard is focused by a worm-gear.^[2] There is a brilliant finder attached to the lens standard. The back is hinged to the bottom and the advance key is at the top right, as seen by the photographer holding the camera vertically. The name SPECIAL PEARLETTE is embossed in the front leather.

Lens and shutter equipment

The following lens and shutter combinations are reported:^[3]

• Trinar f/6.3 lens, Ibsor shutter;
• Eurynar f/6.3 lens, Pronto shutter;
• Trinar f/4.5 lens, Ibsor shutter;
• Trinar f/4.5 lens, Compur shutter.

All the lenses were made by Rodenstock. It is said that the prices ranged from ¥48 to ¥70.^[4]

The only surviving example observed so far is pictured in Sugiyama.^[5] It has a dial-set Compur shutter said to give T, B, 1–250 speeds and a lens reported as a Trinar Anastigmat 75/4.5.

Notes

1. ↑ Date: Lewis (p. 49), Sugiyama (item 1143) and chronology of the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website.
2. ↑ Kameari, p. 2 of Camera Collectors' News no. 11.
3. ↑ Kameari, p. 2 of Camera Collectors' News no. 11. Lewis, p. 49, partly confirms this list but mentions a Prontor shutter.
4. ↑ Kameari, p. 2 of Camera Collectors' News no. 11; Lewis, p. 49.
5. ↑ Sugiyama, item 1143.

Bibliography

• Kameari Hisao (亀有久雄). "Pāretto kamera no hensen" (パーレットカメラの変遷, Evolution of the Pearlette). In Camera Collectors' News no. 11 (May 1978). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
• 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. 49. (The camera pictured as a "Pearlette Special" is a regular Pearlette.)
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P. 544.
• 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 1143.

Konishiroku prewar and wartime cameras (edit)
plate	hand cameras	stereo hand cameras	strut folders	box	telephoto	SLR
	Idea (4×5in and larger) | Idea A | Idea B | Idea Snap | Idea No.1 | Idea (metal) | Lily (original) | Lily (horizontal) | Lily (metal) | Noble | Ohca | Sakura Palace | Sakura Pocket Prano | Sakura Prano	Idea Binocular | Sakura Binocular Prano	Minimum Idea | Idea Spring | Korok	Champion | Cherry | Sakura Army | Sakura Honor | Sakura Navy	Idea Telephoto	Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911) | Idea Reflex (1932) | Neat Reflex | Sakura Reflex Prano
rollfilm	folders			box or collapsible		TLR
	Pearlette | Special Pearlette | B Pearlette | Pearl (for plates and rollfilm) | Pearl No.2 | Pearl (Year 8) | Baby Pearl | Semi Pearl | Sakura Palace			Record | Sakura (box) | Sakura (bakelite)		Sakura-flex