Help Identifying Mystery Wooden Field Camera

[Steve S]

I recently purchased this wooden field camera but despite extensive internet searches I have been unable to identify the manufacturer. It is a half plate and is pretty well made but does not seem to be an old camera which is unusual in itself for this format.
The Kodak half plate spring back is not original to the camera and has been shimmed to fit. The front standard seems to be of the same wood as the camera but it looks to have been modified. The lens board is a home made job.
So I am hoping someone will be able to identify it by its fittings. The top plate hardware is very distinctive. My feeling is that it may be an early Chinese or Japanese copy but as noted earlier I can find nothing like it.
I am now in the process of building a reducing back to hold a Sinar 5x4 International Back and focusing screen. The idea is that when complete it will be ideal for use with a 65mm Super Angulon for some lovely wide landscapes.

 

[Ian Grant]

Japanese I think, maybe Asuma.

Just before WWII the Japanese were making some very good field cameras based on British cameras which were also made in India, Houghton's had a factory in India. Later the Japanese refined the designs this may be one of them.

Ian

 

[ausphoto]

Looks like a Japanese or Chines pattern field camera, but must be post war
For pre-WWII Asanuma see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heritagefutures/5161505632/
For an early Konihi here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heritagefutures/5113536609/
For a pre-WWII Funahashi here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heritagefutures/sets/72157628528795413/
Note how in all cases the front standard has extensive metal fittings.
Click on the sets associated with the above cited images for further views of the relevant camera
Cheers

 

[EASmithV]

What a beaut

 

[Steve S]

'Note how in all cases the front standard has extensive metal fittings'.

Thanks for the links. The design is similar but my camera is more minimal its the provision of hardware so yes, probably later rather than earlier.

 

[ausphoto]

All wooden edges also have a 'fresher' an crisper feel to them, which also suggests a more recent, and certainly less used unit

 

[Ian Grant]

Like many Indian and Japanes cameras this one is almost certainly derived from a Houghton field camera design, Houghton's had a factory in India.

It's quite probable the camera originally had a back that took book-form plate/film holders which is why it's been changed. In the 1930's F.Charten in Kobe later Osaka, Japan, exported Asuma's and other locally sourced field camears sometimes under their own name.

I think you'll struggle to identify this one, it may be a post WWII Japanese camera, what do you know about it's previous ownership ?

Ian

 

[Steve S]

Sadly Ian I have no idea as to the previous history. It was a bit of an impulse buy from a dealer in Southern England. I was intrigued by the look of the thing,the price was right and I hadn't bought anything for a while......the usual fatal combination of circumstances.

 

[Ian Grant]

Steve it got me thinking about a book I have on Miniature format photography & cameras published in the early 1950's it had extensive listings of cameras and lenses and some companies were only around for a year or so despite having a range of lenses etc. Something similar happened in the late 20's and early 30's during the depression in Germany as camera companies went out of business and off shoots lasted months or a year or so, hardly being noticed.

That's why I think it's made just after WWII in Japan as the camera trade was coming back to life in the country.

Ian