SUGAYA CAMERAS
Sugaya cameras can be confusing. First, information is hard to get on these cameras. Secondly, there were 16mm and 17.5mm cameras. Plus, different cameras used the same name. You get the idea, it's a real plate of spaghetti. We'll try to straighten things out here.
The original Rubix appeared in 1947. It was one of the first post-war Japanese cameras. It was small and shaped like a small Leica. It was designed for the home market and was inexpensive to use. Like many other cameras of the time, it used 17.5mm paper-backed roll film. Two models were available. One was less expensive and came with a non-interchangeable, fixed-focus 25mm (f2.8) lens. The deluxe model had the same body, but came with a focusing 25mm (f2.8-16) lens that was interchangeable. The speeds on both cameras were B, 1/25 - 1/150. These were set on a sliding lever on the front of the camera body. Another sliding lever cocked the shutter and the shutter release was on the top of the camera -- very unusual with these types of cameras. The camera had a tiny accessory shoe on the top.
The original Rubix appeared in 1947. It was one of the first post-war Japanese cameras. It was small and shaped like a small Leica. It was designed for the home market and was inexpensive to use. Like many other cameras of the time, it used 17.5mm paper-backed roll film. Two models were available. One was less expensive and came with a non-interchangeable, fixed-focus 25mm (f2.8) lens. The deluxe model had the same body, but came with a focusing 25mm (f2.8-16) lens that was interchangeable. The speeds on both cameras were B, 1/25 - 1/150. These were set on a sliding lever on the front of the camera body. Another sliding lever cocked the shutter and the shutter release was on the top of the camera -- very unusual with these types of cameras. The camera had a tiny accessory shoe on the top.
The original Rubix appeared in 1947. It was one of the first post-war Japanese cameras. It was small and shaped like a small Leica. It was designed for the home market and was inexpensive to use. Like many other cameras of the time, it used 17.5mm paper-backed roll film. Two models were available. One was less expensive and came with a non-interchangeable, fixed-focus 25mm f2.8 lens. The deluxe model had the same body, but came with a focusing 25mm f2.8-16 lens -- that was interchangeable. The speeds on both cameras were B, 1/25 - 1/150. These were set on a sliding lever on the front of the camera body. Another sliding lever cocked the shutter and the shutter release was on the top of the camera -- very unusual with these types of cameras. The camera had a tiny accessory shoe on the top.
Still, they could not make up their mind. So in 1951, they came out with a model of the Rubix that could use both 16mm AND 17.5mm film. Talk about confusing. To help resolve the confusion, they gave it a new name -- the Rubina Sixteen. It was shaped more like the original Rubix than the Rubix 16, but had features more like the Rubix 16. Focusing 25mm f3.5-16 lens. Speeds of B, 1/25 - 1/100 were set on the lens. This model could use 16mm (in cassettes) or 17.5mm paper-backed roll film. In either case it produced 10x14mm images -- like most 16mm cameras -- NOT 14x14mm, like most Hit-style cameras. It is marked "Model II" on the top, but it is unclear if this was also just to distinquish it from the earlier models, or if two models of the Rubina 16 existed. The camera had a tiny accessory shoe on the top.
There was apparently another later version of the Rubix marked "Model III" -- with the same features as the original.
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