Taiyodo Koki & the Beauty Camera Company

This humble little camera (launched in June 1955) was the first and only 35mm viewfinder made by Taiyodo Koki. This may be a bit of a Chinese whisper, but a 2018 Japanese blog entry($) claims that a November 2004 feature in CCN magazine (see Books), described Taiyodo Koki's 1955 advertising as stating that the 35 was "Japan's first camera with a one-set lever" (i.e. a wind-lever that also cocked the shutter). The 35 was certainly one of the earliest but the Minolta A seems to have been the first. Whatever, most cameras of this period had knob winders that merely advanced the film.

 

The Beauty 35 (ビューティ35) was rebadged* as the Milo 35 (or Mil-O 35) for Miller Outcalt (a photographic equipment seller based in Santa Monica, USA), and the Ward 35 (1956) for Montgomery Ward (a Chicago based department store chain which is reputed to be the first mail order catalogue operator). It was also rebranded* by Taiyodo as the Gen 35 (1957) for sale in Canada. The quadruple identity of the 35 is arguably the most interesting thing about it, because there were a number of differences between the variants.

* Rebadged equipment is produced by the original manufacturer, sometimes with cosmetic or specification changes to meet the distributors' requirements, but the product or model names are changed by the maker. Rebranded equipment is an identical camera made to be sold by the manufacturer themselves in different markets.

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a) Different lenses. The Ward was fitted with a "Ward" branded, f/2.8, four-element, 45mm lens (which stopped-down to f/22) with a minimum focusing distance of 3 feet. The Beauty, Gen and Milo had a "Beauty" branded, f/3.2, 45mm triplet (which stopped-down to f/16) with a minimum focusing distance of 3.5 feet.

b) Different shutters. The Ward had a German five speed Prontor shutter (1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/300 +B). The Beauty, Gen and Milo all had a Japanese NKS-FB Prontor-type shutter (made by Taron) with eight speeds (1 sec., 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/300, +B).

c) Different features. The Beauty, Gen and Milo had a self-timer, while the Ward did not. None of the models had a self-resetting frame counter. The accessory-shoe featured a knurled end-stop, which was actually a rotatable frame-counter setting wheel, deployed after film had been loaded. However, on some Beauty 35s - including mine - the stop on the accessory-shoe was merely a fixed post, and the frame-counter had to be wound to zero (minus 2), using the film advance lever, before a film was loaded.

d) Different designs. The wind-arm, rewind knob, film-type reminder, and shutter release components varied, but few were unique to any particular model. I'd like to give some credit here to this site($) (look for the "History of post-war domestic cameras" slide show near the bottom of the page). This accidentally includes a throw-away portion of a magazine scan about the Fujica 35 EE, which highlights three different shutter-release and rewind-knob type/combinations seen on the Beauty 35, and lead to my realisation that there were further variations and combinations. ​Here's a document showing all the different design options. 

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Sales

35s do not have camera body serial numbers (and lens numbers are unreliable for dating cameras), but I would guess that a maximum of 30,000 were made (on the basis that the serial numbers of the replacement model started at that number). Unsurprisingly, the 35 is best known under its Ward badge, in which guise it sold for $29.95, which would have been equivalent to £10 &15s in GB Sterling, but prior to 1957 no Japanese cameras were imported into the UK. It is however interesting to note that the English spelling of "colour" - as opposed to the American "color" - was used on the film-type reminder for the Beauty and Milo. In Japan, the price of the Beauty 35 was 8,000 Yen. 

 

Today the 35 is an uncommon camera in all its guises, but the Milo variant is the rarest: I have found only 3 examples on the Internet.

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The Gen 35s is also rare, and I have encountered five examples: one here($), a second on a Hungarian auction site (listing since deleted), and Alan Bradshaw's (a gentleman who kindly emailed me from Canada). The fourth can be seen alongside a Ward 35 at cameracollector.net($) along with information cribbed from my pages†, while a fifth appeared on eBay-Canada (seller montreal.classic.camera) with an absolutely comical price tag (£1,600 in July 2022). It is currently (October 2024) offered at the reduced price of £658.50!!!

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Ironically, in March 2024 I spotted the Gen 35 pictured at cameracollector.net (eBay seller ir100) listed on eBay-Canada at a far more realistic circa £23, which proved over-ambitious and was reduced to £11 in April 2024. Sadly, the shipping cost quoted to me by ir100 was a ludicrous £45†, so I passed. It sold for a maiden bid of £11.68 (C$20). 

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† The site owner of cameracollector.net had a bit of a keyboard-warrior hissy-fit when they read this page and discovered they'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.​

 

​I own a Beauty 35, which was added to my collection in March 2019 at the cost of £9.00 (plus p&p). It looks nice but it was a pig in a poke($). The focus adjustment turns without altering the focus. The shutter speed selection dial is very stiff. The film transport winds-on, but the shutter release disengages the interlock without tripping the shutter. The film receiving spool is gummed-up with what looks like contact adhesive. The rewind knob turns but will not retract (for film cassette insertion). The self-timer setting arm is seized, and the viewfinder reflecting frame lines are out of alignment and almost invisible.