'Baby-Max' sub-miniature camera. .
Tougodo
Category
Photographic technology
Date
1951
Materials
Metal, Leatherette, Glass
Measurements
36 x 63 x 34 mm
Place of origin
Japan
Order this imageCollection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1524649.1
Summary
A Baby-Max sub-miniature camera manufactured by the Tougodo Company, c. 1951. The camera is made of metal and the body is partially covered with leatherette. The body is elongated with polygonal ends and the viewfinder is integrated in the camera's symmetrical top housing. The film is advanced by a knob on the photographer's right, and there is a small fake knob on the left. The back is hinged to the right and locked by a sliding bar on the left. It contains a single orange uncovered film counter window in the middle. The camera has a fixed-focus lens. The shutter mode lever, for 'I' or 'B' settings, emerges from the lens barrel, along with the shutter realease lever. Markings: 'Baby - Max' is marked above lens, and mode settings 'I' and 'B' are embossed into lens barrel. The 'B' (Bulb) setting mode at the mode switch lever on the lens tube indicates that the manufacturing date is likely to be later than 1950 (when the original 'Hit' with only an 'I' - Instant mode - was produced). The camera is made of metal, with the body partially covered in black leatherette. It has a fixed-focus lens with the shutter on the side of the lens tube. There is a simple film winder at the top along with view finder. The uncovered film window is coloured orange and located in the centre of the hinged back, which opens to reveal the film chamber. Markings: 'Hit' is engraved above the viewfinder. 'Hit' is marked above the lens and 'MADE IN JAPAN' below. The speed modes 'I' and 'B' are embossed on lens tube.
Provenance
Part of The Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986.
Makers and roles
Tougodo , manufacturer