Dan 35 I Camera

My Dan 35 Model I camera

I need to start this post back in time. I first started collecting cameras and other photo items in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I can remember purchasing one of McKeown's Camera Price Guides and spending hours combing through each camera manufacturer, looking at the cameras they had made in the past. There were so many odd and unusual like very rare original Leica; the very first bullet-shaped brass Voigtlander camera, the Compass camera or Photosphere that I could only dream of owning, and many were so far from the price budget that I knew there were only a pipedream.

 Many large companies, like Eastman Kodak, Polaroid, and Zeiss, made hundreds of different model cameras, which were abundant. Then, there were the smaller camera companies that produced unique cameras, like Univex, which was the first camera I owned. It was a Uniflex that was given to me by my uncle Bud, who, to this day, along with my brother Tim, I owe my love of photography.

 Then, I can remember thumbing through the price guide and finding a tiny company that produced a camera near and dear to me, the Dan camera. I immediately thought I needed to find one of these to put into my collection. My initial search was hopeless, as many of the local flea markets and antique stores I'd frequent only had the very common Kodak, Polaroid, Zeiss, and other companies like Herbert George and other American brands.

Online Auctions:

It would help to remember that this was before eBay, which didn't exist before the mid-1990s. I was an early adopter of buying and selling on eBay in 1997. At that time, there were no photos, and it was mainly just a buy/sell board with an auction element so you could post a camera or item for sale, but you only had the description from the seller to go by. When I first joined eBay, there was no name to have but a number. My original number was 1034; you had to do everything through DOS.

 EBay made a massive difference as it gained popularity. It changed how people bought and sold items. Adding photos gave the buyer more confidence in their purchase, and rarer items could hit higher pricing due to the inability to find them.

 For many years, the Dan Camera was very elusive, and since the camera was from a smaller company, the scarcity and pricing made the purchase of it next to impossible up until a couple of years ago when I was looking through a different online auction website, and I found a grouping of cameras which piqued my interest. As I zoomed in to look at this lot, there was a portion of a lens I could see.   I could barely read "Dan" on the ring around the lens as I looked closer. Here was my chance to finally own the elusive Dan 35 camera.

Name embossed on the back of the camera.

 The auction happened, and there was minimal interest in this group of cameras as many of them were very common items. However, these are the groups that I really enjoy because tucked away in the corner "could" have a gem hidden, and in this case, there was. I won the camera lot, got the items shipped to me, and there it was as I unwrapped it: the Dan 35 camera. To my amazement, it was the first model.

History:

The Dan 35 is a simple Bolta film camera made in Japan after WWII. Bolta film was invented by Johann Bolten, who founded Bolta-Werks in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1936. The film was to go into his smaller, more compact cameras named the Boltavit. Bolta Werk later produced the Photovit line of cameras from 1936 to the 1950s. Bolta film was incorporated into many different cameras during this period and was a nonperforated 35mm film with a paper backing loaded into special cassettes. Later models of film were spooled similar to films like 828 and 127.

Stetch of Dan 35 Camera by Hagimoto Danji.

 The Dan 35 camera was made by Hagimoto Danji. He built a small plant in Suwa to manufacture the Dan 35 camera, which he sold in his camera shop in Ginza after WWII in 1945. After the moderate success of the Dan 35, there were three different distributors for the camera between 1945 and 1950, when the camera company went bankrupt. The logo on the camera coincides with the company's name, which is H for Hagimoto above Dan for Danji on the far right of the camera.

 Here's where it gets a bit fuzzy. Yamato Koki Seisakusho was a camera company that started in Tokyo in 1943. It made shutters for Japanese camera companies like Gelto and Leotax. The first cameras produced by Yamato were the Minon 35, Minon Six, and Pax 35.

 Yamato, known to produce the Minon 35, a copy of the Dan 35 III and later the Pax 35, is a camera that is a copy of the Super Dan 35. Some sources say Yamato made the Dan 35 and Dan 35 II, but others say they took over producing the Dan 35 after Hagimoto went bankrupt in 1950. Yamato produced the Pax line in the 1960s.

My Camera:

The Dan 35 is a very simple camera with a torpedo-shaped viewfinder on top. It measures 3.25" wide by 2.25" tall from the base to the top of the finder and is 2" deep from the front of the lens to the back of the camera. The camera weighs a whopping 5.2oz and is considered a miniature camera. The Dan 35 has a Dan Anastigmat 40mm f4.5 lens with a Silver-B shutter.

Around the lens is the focus ring, a helicoid focus measuring from 1 meter to infinity. Just behind the aperture numbers on the lens is a knurled ring that sets the aperture. In front of the aperture numbers is another knurled ring that sets the shutter speeds on the camera. There are only shutter speeds, 1/25, 1/50, and 1/100 sec, along with B. On the left of the knurled ring is a cocking lever to cock the shutter, and the shutter release is on the right side to expose the film.

Logo and Torpedo viewfinder

 To load the film, on the top of the camera is a locking lever with "L" for lock and "O" for open. Switch the lever to "O," and the top comes off to load the film. The base comes off to load in later models like the Dan 35 Model II. My camera has no spools to load the film, and the shutter doesn't work. On the back of the camera is a red window with an open/close lever to see the numbers on the paper backing of the film so you know where to stop for your next exposure. Also, Dan 35 is embossed on the back of the camera.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, I don't have film, and the camera's shutter doesn't work, so I couldn't take photos with this camera to share.

 I mainly have this camera for a couple of reasons. One is its rarity; the more important reason is that it has the same name as me, so I get a kick out of that. I have another miniature camera set aside for next week's blog post, which I also find fascinating.

 Thank you for taking a few minutes to review my blog post about the cameras in my collection. Please be safe until next week.

 

Minolta Six Camera

It seems like I purchase items from camera auctions in "lots," and there is always a treasure hidden in the background that you either didn't notice at first, is hidden within all the photos of the items, or, in this case, the camera wasn't taken out of the case, and the case was obscured, so there was no visual evidence that the camera was.

 As I unwrapped the cameras won from the auction, one brown case caught my eye. It bore a striking resemblance to the Mamiya Six in my collection. But upon closer inspection, the name 'Minolta Six' was revealed. I initially thought it might be similar to the Mamiya Six, but the truth was far more exciting, as I'll reveal when I introduce the camera.

History:

In an earlier post, I did on the Minoltaflex CDS, I did a brief history of the company, which read, 

Kazuo Tashima founded Minolta in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten, which means Japanese-German Camera Shop. In 1931, the company updated its name to Minolta, which stands for Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima. In 1937, the company was reorganized as Chiyoda Kogaku Seikō, K.K. They are now introducing their first Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, the MinoltaFlex, based on the German Rolleiflex cameras. The MinoltaFlex was only the second TLR introduced from Japan after the Prince Flex by Neumann & Heilemann. In 1947, Minolta introduced rangefinder cameras like the Minolta-35, and in 1959, the Single Lens Reflex (SLR) SR-1 camera. In later years, they signed agreements with Leica and came out with the first autofocus SLR, The Minolta Maxxum 7000, which carried on to several in their autofocus system.

 To expand slightly from the above text, in the early years, there was a big German influence on the Minolta company, which was known as Nichidoku Shashinki Shōten, which means Japanese, German camera shop. In the early years, the company received help from camera technicians Billy Neumann and Willy Heilemann, and the shutters and lenses were supplied from Germany. Their first camera was the Nicarette, which was released in 1929.

In 1931, the company was transformed into a stock corporation named Molta Gōshi-gaisha. Molta is an abbreviation of Mechanism, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima. Neumann and Heilemann left the company in 1932, returning to Germany to start their own company, and the German influence left with them. In 1933, the name Minolta was adopted. In 1937, the company became Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō K.K and expanded the production of cameras into TLR and press cameras similar to the Plaubel Makina. 

Minolta Six in the July 1938 catalogue and price list by Asanuma Shōkai. Scan by A. Apra. (Image rights)

 In 1940, the famous Minolta Rokkor lens was produced, but it was only used for the military. Consumer camera production ended in 1943 to concentrate on the war effort. Three of its four plants were destroyed by Allied forces during WWII. Soon after the war, Minolta released the Semi Minolta III, and throughout the 1950s, Minolta expanded its line of cameras to include folding cameras, TLRs, SLRs, and rangefinder cameras.

 In 1958, the SR-2 was released, and it was Minolta's first system camera. This reign of SLR system cameras included partnerships with Leitz in the 1970s, which helped produce CLE cameras. Minolta had a full line of autofocus cameras, the Maxxum line of bodies and lenses, and Minoltas final SLR camera ended in 1995 with their X-370.

 Minolta produced many different 35mm, APS, and DISC cameras and partnered with Konica in 2003, but by 2006, the camera company had discontinued camera production and relied heavily on the copier business.

My Camera:

Opening the case and looking at the camera for the first time, I was surprised by the Minolta logo and text on top. Since it was made in 1936, it has a genuine Art Deco design in the look and feel of the camera. My biggest surprise was when I initially pulled the lens out from the body and found the camera didn't have a cloth bellows. Instead, it has a series of stacking cubes that pull away from the camera body, AND these boxes are reinforced with another Art Deco element, metal brackets that resemble an "M" when the camera is laid on its back with the lens pointing up. WOW, Just a fantastic design.

The Minolta Six camera measures 6 inches in width, 4.75 inches in height with the finder up, 3.75 inches with the finder closed, and 4 inches in depth with the lens out, or 2.25 inches with the lens closed. It weighs 1 lb. 5.7oz. without the case or loaded with film. The camera's body is made from a bakelite or plastic material, covered in a high-quality leatherette.

 To pull the lens out to take photos, there are two grips, one on either side of the lens, that you grab onto to pull the lens out and away from the body. You need to expose three stacking cubes before the camera is ready to take the photos. Under the lens are two curved chrome bars you can slide down to prop the camera up so that when the lens is out, it doesn't tip forward and keeps the lens level.

Around the top of the lens is Patents-Nippon, and below is Crown, which is the shutter on the camera. The actual lens is an 80mm f5.6 Coronar Anastigmat Nippon lens. Around the lens is a manual focus ring that focuses from under 1 meter to infinity. The focus line to judge distance is a protruding tab with a line at approximately 10 O'Clock on the lens face. The lens also has a stopping screw that prevents the lens from rotating past the infinity mark on the tab.

 

My camera has only four shutter speeds: 1/150, 1/100, 1/50, and 1/25, along with "b" and "T" for timed exposures. On the top of the camera is a pop-up viewfinder with etched or lined crosshairs to line up horizontal or vertical subjects as needed. The back of my camera sports three red windows with different numbers, which are used to line up with the number on the paper backing to get to the proper frame number. In later cameras, they went to a single window system, which is more common with current 6x6 format cameras using 120 film.

 

To open the back of the camera, there is a latch behind the strap on the left side with an arrow pointing down. Slide the button down, and the camera's back opens. The chrome winding lever was used on the older models. Later they went to a plastic or bakelite knob in the later models. My first thought when I looked at the back of the camera was that it was not a full-frame 6x6 camera, but that was because I was looking at the retracted plastic cubes from the bellows. It is indeed a full 6x6 format camera. Load the film on the right side and bring the leader to the left to take up the spool. The knobs on the bottom of the camera pull out so you can put in the film and take up the reel easily.

 The case for my camera is in great condition. There's a pretty cool instruction tab on the inside of the case, which was made for the three window cameras.

 The crown shutter doesn't have a cocking mechanism. There's just the shutter release to take the photos. I loaded the film. I pulled out the cube below and started to take pictures of the neighborhood with my trusty light meter. Once I reached the end, I unloaded the film and processed the negatives.

My Results:

Here are some of the photos taken with the Minolta Six camera. The photos were a bit flat in exposure and contrast.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed shooting with the camera, but I am still primarily impressed with the innovative and beautiful bellows system in the camera. Not only is it functional, but it is very light and tight and only wears out slowly compared to the style bellows. The flip side is, if something happens to this bellows, the replacement is hard to replace due to the material. I wished there were faster shutter speeds, but I was using 125 iso film, and with the aperture range of the lens, I didn't have an issue.

 I have a great and fun camera for next week's blog post, so I hope you'll stick around to read that one, too. Thank you for your time, and please be safe until then.

Update:

According to Andrea Apra, who corrected and let me know initially, a small cardstock table was provided with this camera. This table was used to calculate the Depth of Field. The card I have in the case with the wrong translation is just instructions for using this table provided with the camera, which I don’t have.

The table has a horizontal scale at the top with the various distances on the focus ring: 7, 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 1 Mtr.

Then, on the vertical column, the diaphragm has various apertures: F 5.6, 6.3, 9, 12.5, 18, 25.

Two pairs of values, the minimum and maximum distance of the DoF, are intersecting at the table's intersection.

This explains how to read the table.

This is the text translated in its original graphic structure of the text.

Super Flex Baby II Camera

When I first got this camera, I initially thought it was from somewhere in Europe, possibly Germany or Eastern Europe, due to its design and feel placement and shutter release, which resembles the Karma-Flex camera from Germany. 

 After doing some research on the camera, I found out that it was made in Japan. It was the first medium-format single-lens reflex (SLR) camera with a leaf shutter.

 The Super Flex II camera is odd and relatively small, too. When I took the camera out of the case, my hands are average size, but the camera seemed lost, and it was only a minute before I held it. It's not a miniature camera, but everything seems much smaller than I'm used to. The light tube or waist level finder, the lens and focus control, and even the winding knob appear to be smaller than what I'm used to. In the back of my mind, this will be a fun camera to test and write a blog post on.

History:

Umemoto Seisakusho manufactured the Super Flex camera between 1938 and 1942. It was started by Umemoto Kinzaburō, who started a small manufacturing plant in Yokokawa in 1931. In 1932, he was asked to open a new camera manufacturing plant in Toyko, which was completed in 1935. Their first cameras were the Super Makinet Six in 1936 and Neure Six in 1937, both 6x6 strut-folding cameras.

 As mentioned above, they took inspiration from the Karma-Flex camera in 1938. They developed the first Japanese medium-format, single-reflex camera, the Super Flex camera, built around the popular 127 film 4x4cm format camera.

In 1939, they modified the camera's design to what's known as the Super Flex Baby II. The modifications included a fully chrome shutter speed dial as opposed to the chrome and black of the original design. They also came out with a new lens with a full chrome barrel and a focal length of 70mm instead of 7cm on the original lens. They also lost the black and chrome on the viewfinder logo and went all chrome, like the shutter speed dial and lens.

Advertisement of the Super Flex Baby camera from 1942.

 During the tumultuous years of WWII, the company shifted its focus from camera manufacturing to supporting the war effort. Despite the challenges, they produced the Semi-Makinet camera, a 6x4.5 folding camera, between 1941 and 1943. The factory was tragically destroyed during the Allied bombing of Tokyo in 1945. However, the company's spirit remained unbroken. They relocated the plant to Yamagata in 1945 and rebuilt the plant in Tokyo in 1948, which was a remarkable display of resilience.

 After the war, the company briefly took the name Umemoto Kōki Seisakusho and produced the Rocky Semi in 1953. This camera didn't do well, and in 1962, it became Y.K. Umemoto Seisakusho, which still produces photo-related parts for Kenko today.

 Here is a wonderful Japanese website with a lot of insight on the company Umemoto . I used Google Translate so I hope it comes through properly.

My Camera:

My camera, with its serial number 3401, is a fascinating blend of the original Super Flex Baby and the model II version. It features the original chrome and black viewfinder, a Model II shutter speed dial and lens, both in chrome, and a lens measured in 'mm' rather than 'cm.' This unique combination, a result of the transition period, added an element of surprise and excitement to my discovery of the camera.

 The serial number on my camera is 3401, which you can find on the inside of the latch that holds the back of the camera. My camera measures 4" from the back to the front of the lens and 2.75" from the back to the lens mount on the camera. It measures 4.25" wide and 3.25" tall if the viewfinder is closed and 4.75" tall with the light hood opened. My camera weighs 1 lb. 3.2oz without the case.

Using the camera is pretty straightforward. There is a latch on the camera's right side, and you slide up to open the back door. You take the empty spool from the right of the camera and put it on the left side where the winding knob is. To take out the spool and put in the roll of film, you'll need to pull out the knob that holds the film into place. Once you have loaded the empty spool and film, pull the leader to the empty reel and thread the leader into the spool and wind. Once it's securely on the take-up reel, close the back.

 Here's where it gets exciting, something I learned and did when I looked at the company's website. I have the link to the above in the "history" section. Here's an excerpt from the company history explaining the film numbering sequence and the camera's winding instructions.

 "There are three red windows on the back cover for taking 12 4x4 cm shots. ( It seems that 4x6 cm numbers were used because 127 film did not have numbers for 4x4 cm. ) The left and right windows only accept odd numbers, and the center window only accepts even numbers and is read as follows (ignore the ○ parts). 1st photo) 1○○ 2nd photo) ○○1 3rd photo) ○ 2○ 4th photo) 3○○ 5th photo) ○○3 6th photo) ○4○ ... 11th photo) ○○7 12th photo) ○8○ I think this operation was quite difficult."

 

Looking at the numbers by the window openings, the text above now makes sense.

I didn't use this method and only got eight photos on my roll.

 The mirror in my camera was so bad that I couldn't use it and didn't notice before putting in the roll of film, so I was forced to use the sports finder to frame the photos I took. It worked out OK, so I wasn't too upset.

 I used my trusty light meter to get the needed exposures. I also needed to find a roll of 100 ISO film, as anything faster would have run into issues since the fastest shutter speed on the camera is 1/100, and the lens stopped down to f22. Luckily, I noticed that the lens focusing was in meters instead of feet, which I'm used to with most cameras I use. I needed to keep that in mind when composing my photos.

 

The camera case I have is in moderately good condition. The strap is intact, and it covers the camera well. The only thing missing is the snap that holds the front and back together but stays closed and protects the camera well.

 The film was used up quickly; now it was time to process it. 

 

Results:

The film I had was some pretty old and out-of-date 127 film, so I had yet to learn what I would get. It was not as good as I anticipated after I pulled the film from the processing tank. While I'll call the "art" prints, the negatives were very mottled, and I'm unsure what caused it, but the images are somewhat sharp.

 Here are some of the results from the camera.

Conclusion:

The camera was interesting, but the mirror and the focusing, or lack thereof, could have sat better with me. I decided to remove the finder and clean up the mirror to bring the camera back to life and make it more usable.

 Thank you for taking a few minutes to look over this camera blog. I'll have another exciting camera for next week's post, so please be safe until then.

Camera Update:

There were only four screws to hold the light hood on, so I proceeded to take them out. The hood came off quickly enough. Under the hood was a mask on top of the focus screen. I turned the camera upside down slowly, and the focus screen came right out, exposing the dingy mirror.

 They always say to test a small part when cleaning first to see if it's OK to proceed. I didn't hear that little voice say that this time, so I cleaned the mirror, thinking the silver paint was on the backside of the glass, which is normal. I took two swipes with my Q-Tip, and the finish came right off. YIKES!!!!

 

So, I ordered some silver markers to see if that would suffice to bring back the mirror effect to my new piece of glass. The mirror, or glass, now was easy enough to get out as it was held in the bracket with corner clips, which I slowly bent back to take out the mirror.

I received the silver or what’s called Chrome markers late last night. Early the next morning, I applied a generous amount to the glass I removed and let it dry. The markers produced more of a ripple effect as opposed to a clean glass mirror. It was certainly shiny enough, so I reassembled the focus screen and light hood back onto the camera, and the camera actually did a good job of focusing on a subject when viewing through the camera. It’s considerably better than before I disassembled it and when I took photos so I’m happy with how it turned out.

Here are the results.

Thank you again for reading about this interesting camera. Until next time, please be well and safe.