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The Story of a Comet Hunter's Life

My 50 years with Comets

Part 47: A spy camera and I, part 2

    I got this miniature camera Gucchi after all the troubles, but something unexpected happened involving this camera. It was in the middle of the Pacific War. I liked to photograph landscapes and was shooting madly the changing appearances of my town due to the worsening war-time situations. We had a bomb shelter in our courtyard in which my family evacuated on the night of the huge air-raids of Kochi city in July 1945. Only one photo of this shelter taken by this spy camera remains in my possession. The yellowed tiny photo reminds me of the dark days in the miserable and tense war-time situations.
    One fine day, from a small hill in the city I was taking photos of the city through which Kagamigawa river was flowing. I heard from behind "Stop it! Show me that camera" in a demanding scary voice. Turning around, I saw a man with a threatening look wearing a hunting cap. He was a member of the Tokko police force specially formed to control treasonable thought. Because of prevailing spy activities by America, the police and military were on the high alert. Especially, taking panoramic photos was strictly prohibited. The policeman knew I was not a spy because I was a junior high school student. I was taken to the special police and had the film confiscated after reprimand. It happened 6 months before the huge air-raids of Kochi city.
    We were running a paper mill and during the war it served as a kind of munitions plant. Speaking of spies, we happened to be drawn into a horrifying incident because of this. I will tell you about this later.
    Since my first encounter with a miniature camera when I was an elementary school student, my association with them had continued for many years. I got hold of almost all miniature cameras released both in Japan and overseas and enjoyed using them. This helped me to get to know Mr. Hajimu Miyabe, a pioneer in this field, and took charge of illustrations in his book "The World of Miniature Cameras". Later, this led to the naming of Minor Planet "Minox", a world famous miniature camera.



    Many of the miniature cameras have disappeared with times, but there is one camera still in use after 50 years have passed. It is "Gami 16" released by Galileo Optical in Italy. This 16mm film camera has has fast optics as well as unique and excellent mechanisms. But it was priced as high as that of of Leica or Kontax, which was comparable to the cost of building a house in those days. No matter how much you wanted to get one, it would be completely out of your reach. However, thanks to the rising value of the yen and other favorable circumstances, I was able to purchase it from a second-hand shop. At first I was so excited that I held it close to me even while I was sleeping. Instead of taking photos with it, I adored its beautiful and refined design by simply looking at it.
    Open the front cover as wide as 180 degrees and you will see the lens and finder. At the same time this motion will wind the spring motor enough for three rapid-fire shots. It used a self-winding mechanism because batteries were not used in those days. The lens is a sharp Estimar 25mm f1.9. Parallax is automatically corrected up to 50cm and a yellow filter is built in. The 30-exposure film is contained double cartridges. The shutter is automatically locked to prevent any accident if the film is finished or slides off the film mask. The shutter covers a wide range from Bulb and ? second to 1/1000. As the light sensitivity was commonly a maximum of ASA100 in those days, the exposure meter is not compatible with ASA400 film. It is unthinkable and miraculous that a camera made half a century ago is still in good shape and works perfectly well. As you can imagine, 16mm-wide films for this camera are no longer available either in color or monochrome. I designed a special cutter to make 16mm film out of 35mm film.
    I will show you below the first photo of a starry sky taken with this superb camera and "home-made" film. Developing tanks and enlargers specific for this camera were manufactured initially, but unfortunately, they are no longer available. Even if a problem occurs, a repair cannot be made in Japan because of the unique precision mechanisms. In order to have it repaired, you might have to call for help of the chairman of the Galileo Company, "Mr. Galileo".
    The camera I acquired second-hand in 1979 contained an undeveloped film magazine. It is likely that the previous owner sold the camera with the exposed film in it. I had the film developed and found many pictures of landscapes somewhere in the South Pacific, unknown islands, port towns, an island with a white lighthouse, etc. It seemed that a wealthy tourist with this camera had traveled leisurely around the world on a luxury cruise ship.
    However, several years after that, when I visited islands of New Caledonia following Halley's Comet in 1986, I saw the same scenery as the one in the pictures left in the camera. It was the white lighthouse on Amedee Island. This huge lighthouse said to have been built by Napoleon III and the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere until the end of the previous century. Halley's Comet, the comet of the century, must have been shining above this lighthouse. It must be a sight worth a million dollars. My Gami 16 saw this sight again. It was a camera which could perform such miracles.


The Amedee Lighthouse as seen by Gami 16 and
Halley's Comet shining above it.
At New Caledonia on April 8, 1986.



Copyright (C) 2019 Tsutomu Seki.