Hoker-Flex

[Berndt]

Today, I am happy to present a new entry to my little collection of rare japanese early post war TLRs - a Hoker-Flex ( with just one "o", gentlemen )

I couldn't find anything about this camera, neither in the the English not Japanese speaking internet - so it seems to be quite rare and any information are much appreciated.

What maker this camera ever made ( Hoker ? ), it seemed to use own lenses and the shutter is made by Shoei Seiki, which is still manufacturing high precision technologies.

The shutter is still working at all speeds, but the lenses might need a little cleaning. Did I discover a "new" or forgotten TLR maker ?

Cheers from Tokyo,

Berndt


Hoker-Flex by bokuwanihongasuki, on Flickr

[Stephen]

I think forgotten, and rare, nothing in any reference I can find so far. The branding extends to the lenses as well as the body, and it looks a better class TLR than some of the period from Japan. the cast body is reminiscent of Elmo, the Cine Camera maker, who dabbled in TLR cameras for a while in the mid 1950's, and the design is clean and sensible, an air of quality, indicating a maker who knew what they were doing.
The brand does not come up in 35mm camera as far as I can see, it might be a shop brand, but usually the lenses would have original brand markings.
Stephen

[Stephen]

It is not Elmo, a search shows the design layout is too different, Tougodo Optical Co, Japan, who were the main maker of "Branded Cameras" suggests itself, perhaps Sanwa.
The wind on and focus knobs are in the same positions that Tougodo used, but the anomaly is the shutter,as Tougodo tended to use their own cheaper unbranded shutters on cameras made to order.
Some estimates say there were well over a hundred brands of Japanese TLRs made in the post war days, from some 20 to 30 factories, and it sometimes only possible to identify by the typical house engineering and layout of the parts, as to which they came from.
The Hoker-Flex does look a cut above average quality, and looks in good condition.

[genazzano]

Read through my copy of "History of the Japanese Camera", not a great book but obscure makes show up in it often... but not this one. My compliments. David

[Stephen]

Looking at it again, perhaps it is obvious, that Shoei Seiki were the makers of the whole camera, and as they are in business maybe they have archive records?
Stephen.

[genazzano]

Lots of strange-flex names emerged especially around 1953 but this one doesn't appear anywhere. It must have left a trace somewhere. David

[Berndt]

Stephen, Genazzano, thanks so much for the feedback !!!

Looking at it again, perhaps it is obvious, that Shoei Seiki were the makers of the whole camera, and as they are in business maybe they have archive records?

I have to correct myself here. The still existing company Shoei Seiki is a different one ( different Kanji writing as my wife said ) and founded in the 60s. I just found one line in a list of a japanese camera collectors club, where the Hoker-Flex is mentioned. According to this, it is manufactured in 1954 by Shoei Seki ... but no further information and the list seems to be very old.

What puzzles me is the fact, that a company, which is capable of developing and manufacturing an own shutter, does not leave any trace. There have been many small camera makers in the 50s, but most of them used shutters like Seikosha or NKK ... they didn't produce own ones ( at least not on that level ). Also irritating though, that the lens and camera name is the same. That would speak more for a maker, called "Hoker" and not Shoei Seiki. And last but not least, as Stephen spotted well, the quality of this camera isn't that bad. I haven't taken pictures with it yet though, but I certainly will. The shutter ( and even the self timer ) is still perfectly working at all shutter speeds, which is luck, because the camera wasn't really in very good condition, when I got it. I bought it from an auction BTW, but the seller was an antique shop ( not specialized on cameras though ). So, I couldn't ask the former owner for some more information.

Always interesting, that even the almighty internet can be just silent on something, which is just laying 60 years in the past.

[genazzano]

There are stories in the "History of the Japanese Camera" that tell of small companies by the dozen that sold shutters and lenses to other companies practically on the streets and many cameras like the Green camera (see: sites.google.com/site/ldtomei/greencameraworksc1950). So, I am surprised that a very good looking camera like the Hoker has such an obscure history. Frankly, it's a great find. David

[genazzano]

Any new information on this camera show up?

[Stephen]

I asked about the camera to an old friend who worked in the photographic trade in the 1960's onwards, and he has seen the Hoker flex before, and remembers it mentioned in an article for collectors in Modern Photography, in a list of inappropriate names chosen by camera makers who were inexperienced in nuances of foreign tongues. He thinks it disappeared as fast as it appeared! The French Foca suffered a bit due to slight similarity to.......
He can remember other odd named makes that are not on the current Wikiedia list of Japanese TLR, including Dam flex, and like myself suspects that Tougodo were behind these productions, named for the Distributor, or the shop.
Stephen.

[hansz]

Hm, names... In IBM we had a program (mainframe - VM/370 time) calles SMART, which is an acronym for System Measurement and Analysis in Real Time.
The original, very shortlived, name was given by some yanks (sorry folks) calling it Monitor Analysis, with the shortname MonAnal...
Hans

[Berndt]

I always wanted to visit the state library here in Tokyo to check old camera magazines from the 50s. Maybe there have been adverts, showing the maker and other information.

Regarding names, the japanese language has a special problem with that anyway. Foreign words are always written in Katakana ( basically a sound imitation, transformed into the japanese syllable alphabet ). As for an example, the famous food chain McDonalds is written as マクドナルド and if we would transfer that back into our alphabet, it would be "makudonarudo", which doesn't really sound much like McDonalds anymore ... or the good old Beatles become "bituresu" I am just lucky, that my family name is so simple, that it can be easily transferred back and forward between both alphabets. It can come to ridiculous issues, if a foreigner marries a Japanese lady and she likes to use her husbands name, because here in Japan we HAVE to write our western names in Katakana BUT if the wife gets a new passport after marriage and changing her name, they DO NOT use the original western writing of the name ( like McDonalds ). No, they transform the name from the Katakana writing into our alphabet ( like Makudonarudo ). Absolutely meaningless and ridiculous. In the end, couples do often have problem at the airport, because the officer does not believe them to be married and carrying the same name.

Katakana are also reducing the amount of sounds. For example, the words "very" and belly" would become the same

But ... aside from the stubborn habit of writing all foreign words in Katakana, it is also considered as "cool" to write some (brand) names using our alphabet, especially if an export of those brands is intended. It requires quite some imagination to guess the origin of some of those names though. Famous example is the camera brand "Aires", which is built from the words "Eye" and "Rescue". Writing the short form "Eye-Res" in Katakana and transforming it back into our alphabet, we will get "Aires". I am still puzzled with the word "Hoker" though. Question to the native English speakers: Are there similar words in English ( which sound similar, but which are not necessarily spelled like that ), which might have some kind of cool meaning ? The japanese pronunciation of the word Hoker would be an "o" like in "go" and the "ker" would sound like "car".

[Stephen]

The pronunciation would be correct, it is not pronounced as "Hooker". I reckon there must be about 50 names used on Japanese TLRs, I came across Wagoflex in the search.

A lot of export Japanese equipment after the war was named by Australians, as direct import to the States was not allowed and the Aussies acted as agents, with export to them, and then on. This occurred in both Cameras and Model Railway exports, till about 1950.

I was always told the only source of information on older Japanese makes was the Photographic Magazine adverts, like Asahi, the language is the problem, the originals were not sold in the west at all, so it's limited to archived copies in Japan, and restricted to Japanese readers where they exist. Some makers exist only in the adverts, all other records have vanished. Many producers were very small businesses, a family firm, or just a few people running the company, using skills from other industrial experience. With large factories closed after the war, people sought other work, with Japan's pre-war experience of camera making, it was a popular line to make, with a ready market.

Stephen.

[Berndt]

Stephen, you are always a fountain of knowledge.

I was always told the only source of information on older Japanese makes was the Photographic Magazine adverts, like Asahi, the language is the problem, the originals were not sold in the west at all, so it's limited to archived copies in Japan, and restricted to Japanese readers where they exist. Some makers exist only in the adverts, all other records have vanished.

That's what I always wanted to do. We do have some kind of national library in Tokyo, where all magazines are available to read.

I reckon there must be about 50 names used on Japanese TLRs, I came across Wagoflex in the search.

That can be. For me it became some kind of challenge, finding and getting some of the ultra rare ones The thing is, we can't collect everything and there are still tons of japanese film cameras in second hand shops and on auctions available ... but watching the market here for a few years I would say, TLRs are getting rare. Each shop has mostly just 2-3 and only very common brands like Ricoh or Yashica and even on auctions, you will basically just find the usual suspects. From the rarer named TLRs the Beautyflex, Alpenflex or Wagoflex, which you mentioned. Beyound that, it is getting thin. Watching all domestic auctions and visiting 2nd camera shops here in Tokyo regularly, it is still like christmas, finding one of those rare named TLRs a year. But if not, it wouldn't be interesting, wouldn't it.

[Berndt]

And here comes a picture from the first test film. Not really good conditions on this festival for taking pictures with a TLR ( because it was simply too crowded ), but I forgot my glasses anyway. So ... guess-focus, elbows, point and shoot


Oiran Dochu Parade in Asakusa by bokuwanihongasuki, on Flickr