Canon JS Camera 1941-1945
A Description of the Canon JS Camera produced during World War II
Canon JS from wartime period with a Nikkor 50mm f4.5 lens
as shown in Canon Camera Museum 4
Production of the Canon JS
Seiki Kogaku as World War II conditions developed made cameras particularly to the Japanes military, while sales to private photographers were limited. As was described in the page of this canonrangefiner.org site on the Canon J, Seiki Kogaku had produced a simplified camera without rangefinder mechanism, and without slow shutter speeds. The Canon JS was a camera produced just as the Canon J, but with the addition of slow shutter speeds.
Features of the Canon JS
Peter Dechert 1 has described the Canon JS as follows:
"...beginning about 1941, Seiki Kogaku produced the Canon JS on special order as copy cameras for the Japanese army."
These cameras were supplied with the Nikkor 50mm f4.5 lens which had the reputation as a sharp lens for close-up photography. Dechert further observed:
"...used with a sliding or rack-over ground glass copying device. Focusing was not necessary to a copy camera, but slow speeds were." 1
What was meant by this is that a rack-over device allowed the camera with its viewfinder to be 'racked over' to the right (or left) allowing the operator to focus the lens upon a ground glass element seen through the viewfinder. After focusing, by racking back to the left (or right), the camera, now focused, would be brought into position to record the image of what was to be copied.
So, the Canon JS seems to have been used during its production 1941 to 1945 primarilty as a copying camera used by the Japanese military.
You can click on the links in the table below to consult other pages of the canonrangfinder.org site.
| Navigation: Click Below to Jump to Desired Subject Page | ||
|---|---|---|
| Canon Rangefinder Cameras - 1 | Canon Rangefinder Cameras - 2 | Canon Rangefinder Lenses |
| Canon S | Canon IVSB2 | Canon 19mm |
| Canon J | Canon IIS2, IID2, IIF2 | Canon 25mm |
| Canon NS | Canon VT, Canon L2 | Canon 28mm |
| Canon JS | Canon L1, L3 | Canon 35mm |
| Canon J-II | Canon VT Deluxe | Nikkor 50mm |
| Canon S-II | Canon VL, VL2 | Canon 50mm |
| Canon IIB | Canon VI-L, VI-T | Canon 85mm |
| Canon III, IIC, IV | Canon P | Canon 100mm |
| Canon IIIA, IVF, IVS | Canon 7 | Canon 135mm |
| Canon IIA, IID, IID1 | Canon 7s | Canon 200mm-1000mm |
| Canon IVSB | Minolta Rangefinders | Minolta Lenses |
| Canon IIF, IIS | Other Rangefinders | other M39 lenses |
| Go to canonrangefinder.com home page | ||
Any additions or corrections to these pages would be welcome simply by contacting this site as shown at the foot of this page .
Footnotes:
1 Dechert, Peter. Canon Rangefinder Cameras 1933-1968. Hove Collectors Books. West Sussex, United Kingdom. 1985. ISBN 0-906447-30-5.
Peter Dechert's book is the most important expert source of information regarding Canon Rangefinder Cameras.
2 Kitchingman, Peter. Canon M39 Rangefinder Lenses 1939-1971. A Collector's Guide. Published by Peter Kitchingman. Perth, Australia. 2008. ISBN 978-0-646-48144-9.
Peter Kitchingman's book is the definitive study of the more than three decades of M39 format camera lenses developed for Canon Rangefinder Cameras.
3 Nostalgic Canon Camera Book. 懐かしいキヤノン EI Publishing Co. Ltd. Tokyo, Japan. June 2003.
Peter Kitchingman's book is the definitive study of the more than three decades of M39 format camera lenses developed for Canon Rangefinder Cameras.
4 "Canon Camera Museum" history website. https://global.canon/en/c-museum/history/ published by Canon, Inc. accessed in 2019.
5 Rajner, Hans P. (author), John Wade (editor). Leica Copies. Classic Collections Publications. London, UK. ISBN 13: 9781874485056
Hans P. Rajner's book is an excellently detailed and carefully researched study of camera from around the world which used the Leica M39 lens mount and the same lens to film plane distance.
7 Dechert, Peter. Canon Single Lens Reflex Cameras 1959-1991. Historical Camera Publications. Yakima, Washington. 1992. ISBN 1-879561-04-2.
8 Tomlinson, Shawn M. The Film Photography Book. Lulu Pulbications. 2016. ISBN: 9781365263972
9 Sartorius., Ghester. Identifying Leica Lenses. Classic Camera 19. Tokyo, Japan. 2001. ISBN 4-257-12029-0
10 website http://www.nicovandijk.net/rflensmatrix.htm consulted 2019.
11 O'Reagan, Douglas M. Allied Exploitation of German Science after World War II. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, Maryland. 2019. ISBN 9781421428888
12 website www.canonrangefinder.servehttp.com consulted 2008.
13 Minolta expert Andrea Aprà has posted information on minoltarangefinders group and other groups and further detailed information by email. (thanks Andrea !)
14 website http://www.collection-appareils.fr/objectifs/ consulted 2019.
15 Small, Marc James. Non-Leitz Leica Thread-Mount Lenses. Wittig Books. Hückelhoven, Germany. 1997. ISBN 3-930359-47-2.
16 the Nikon Corporation website: https://imaging.nikon.com/history/ consulted 2019.
17 p 152. Ray, Sidney F. Photographic Lens ISBN 9780240510323
18 website http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Lens%20History.html accessed 2019
If you have any comments or questions about this Canon Rangefinder site, please e-mail me (Larry Huffman) at e-mail address: [email protected]
