Taiyodo Koki & the Beauty Camera Company

The "Beauty Canter 35" is often mistakenly referred to as the Canter Beauty, because the names are engraved on the top-plate in that order. I've read a few Internet blogs and even a printed magazine article from "the land of fast food" (i.e. December 1992 Popular Photography magazine) that mock the name "Canter", but according to some Japanese sources, it's a corruption/anglicisation of "Kanda", the district where the camera was made. What a joy it would be to discover one of these condescending people was called "Gary", which to a Japanese speaker sounds like "Geri" (meaning Diarrhoea). The Japanese for Beauty Canter is ビューティキャンタ, but English language versions names were pretty much adopted from hereon.

The Canter was launched on the domestic market on 15 February 1957(*), and was the last model produced by Taiyodo Koki before it became the Beauty Camera Company. It wasn't very different to the previous 35 Super. At first glance, the most obvious dissimilarity is the absence of the Beauty logo between the viewing windows, but the Canter had other more significant functional and styling changes. 

The Canter came in two models: one with a legacy f/2.8 Canter lens, and the other with a new and superior f/1.9 Canter S, which comprised 6 elements in 4 groups (a Double Gauss type) and was made using lanthanum glass (first discovered by Leitz laboratories). Lanthanum is a metallic element, the oxide of which was used to make high quality optical glass, because of its high refractive index and low dispersion. Lanthanum is not appreciably radioactive and was generally used as an alternative to glass containing Thorium dioxide ... which is radioactive. The f/1.9 Canter S lens barrel was aesthetically different to the f/2.8 Canter's, with black painted focus, and shutter speed dials. The focusing scale was changed to feet - perhaps for the American market.

Each Canter model had a newer version of the same Copal-MXV shutter as the Super 35 with a higher 1/500th top speed (and the 1/300 step reduced to 1/250), plus a shutter set indicator stud was added to the film transport mechanism. This was located behind the shutter release button and popped-up when the film was wound on.

With regard to styling, the rewind knob and wind lever cap were similar to, but not exactly the same as those found on the Super 35, but while the f/2.8 model retained silver hardware, on the f/1.9 these items were painted black, and the film-type reminder dial was printed in colour (red and green). The top-plate was also slightly different and on the f/2.8 model featured raised viewfinder and rangefinder window frames.

The focus handle was changed from a half-moon shape to a knurled knob on a back plate, as found on a few Super 35s. The flash sync-port was relocated from the lens housing to the rewind knob side of the top-plate.

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Variations

There was a variation of the f/2.8 Canter with a small release catch on top of the rewind knob, which traps the wind-crank-arm in its folded position (Figure 3). Examination of Internet photos - where the serial number can also be seen - show that the "with-catch" are earlier and account for about 75% of the total numbers produced.

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There was a further variation on the earliest models, where the distance scale was engraved on the flat face of the focus dial, with lines on the bevelled edge to show alignment of distances against the DOF scale. Later models had the distance scale on the bevelled edge, making the alignment lines unnecessary (Figure 4).

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According to a press advertisement placed at the end of March 1957(*), Taiyodo planned three models, but the third lens option had to wait for the Super II that followed.

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Sales

The serial numbers I have collected suggest that something like 40,000 Canter 35s were made, including maybe 4,000 f/1.9s. However, that advertisement (*) I keep referring to said that Taiyodo Koki were discontinuing TLRs to concentrate exclusively on the 35mm market and develop the Beauty Canter, which was being produced at the rate of 7000 per month, of which 3000 were for export: so, there may have been more Canters made than I have estimated.

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Surviving Canters seem to be reasonably easy to find, although the f/1.9 is far less common.

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In 1958, Olden Cameras & Lens Co., advertised the Canter, in the US magazine "Modern Photography" (Figure 5), at the discounted prices of $39.95 for an f/2.8, and $54.95 for an f/1.9 (equivalent to about £14 and £20 in UK Sterling). The expected retail price proposed by Taiyodo Koki had been about $80(*).

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This model was marketed in the USA, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, South America and India as well as other Asian countries (*). The export cameras were marked "Made in Japan", and had a sticky label applied in a cut-out on the back-release catch-housing leatherette. Cameras currently advertised for sale in Japan lack this detail. A maker's TKK mark was also absent. The Canter never made it into the UK, despite the 1957 introduction of a quota system for camera imports from Japan, which placed a value limit of £15,000 for the whole year shared amongst all (according to Maurice Fisher's article Photographic Memorabilia($)). The larger manufacturers, such as Minolta and Olympus, will have undoubtedly grabbed the lion's share, if not all of this allowance.