Trionar
From Camerapedia.org
Some Japanese advertisements from the 1930s list a lens called トリオナー (torionā) in katakana script, often in association with an Elka shutter. The corresponding Roman spelling is unclear. The possible alternatives are examined below.
Trionar is the most plausible candidate. It appears on the following occasions:
- a Steinheil München Anastigmat Trionar 105mm f/6.3 lens and dial-set Elka are known, reportedly coming from a Sun plate folder;[1]
- the same combination is reported on a Need plate folder;[2]
- a Steinheil Anastigmat Trionar 135mm f/6.3 and an Elka shutter have been reported on an unknown plate folder;[3]
- a Fuji Optische Werk Anastigmat Trionar 105mm f/6.3 and Elka-C shutter are known, reportedly coming from a Need plate folder;[4]
- a Trionar Anastigmat 75mm f/4.5 lens is reported on a Collex camera;[5]
- an Anastigmat Trionar 50mm f/4.5 lens is reported on a Kinka Lucky.[6]
The name Steinheil Trionar was certainly specially carved for the Japanese market: it is only known on these Japanese products, and the normal brand name for the Steinheil three-element lenses was Cassar. The name "Fuji Optische Werk" certainly corresponds to the company Fuji Kōgaku, which maybe acquired the license of the Trionar lens to Steinheil, and maybe assembled the lenses from elements coming from Germany, the same as Neumann & Heilemann certainly did with the Radionar lenses licensed from Schneider.
Torioner is another possibility: a TORIONER lens marking has been observed on a National (4×6.5), for a fixed-focus f/6.8 lens associated with an Elka shutter.[7]
Torionar is closer to the katakana spelling, and a Torionar lens has been reported on the postwar Elliotte 6×6 TLR.[8] However this lens name has not yet been observed in a prewar context.
Terionar does not match the katakana spelling, but a Fuji Kōgaku Terionar f/4.5 lens has been observed with an Elka-C shutter on a surviving example of the Neure Six, certainly the result of a non-original repair.[9] A plausible guess would be that Fuji Kōgaku changed the lens name from Trionar to Terionar, perhaps after it severed the links with Steinheil and made the lens from optical elements made in house. See the Fuji Kōgaku lenses.
Notes
- ↑ Yazawa, pp.10–1 of Camera Collectors' News no.265.
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 1212.
- ↑ See the posts at the bottom of this page of the Monomono blog.
- ↑ Yazawa, pp.10–1 of Camera Collectors' News no.265.
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 1035.
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 3026.
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 1209. The text wrongly reports "Torionar".
- ↑ Sugiyama, item 2097.
- ↑ Example pictured in the Umemoto history page.
Bibliography
- Anonymous company. Leaflet for the Gold Camera. Date not indicated. Document reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. 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.
- 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.
- Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Renzu no hanashi (175) Kubi no shūshū" (レンズの話[175]首の収集, Lens story [175] Collection of heads). In Camera Collectors' News no.265 (July 1999). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.9–11.
