Hit style Colly / Minetta | Subminiature camera

Two Hit-Style Subminiature Spy Cameras

the “Colly” color Black, Leather Case, cardboard box and instructions on the box
and
the “Minetta” color Black, Leather Case, cardboard box and German instructions on paper.

Description

You are bidding on a two Hit-Style Subminiature Spy Cameras; a “Colly” color Black, leather case, cardboard box and instructions on the box and a “Minetta” color Black, leather case, cardboard box and German instructions on paper. Two wonderful little collector cameras. Subminiature cameras are those which use original film formats smaller than 35mm.
The Cameras are black in color and are in very good condition. There is still an overexposed film roll in the Colly, due to opening the camera, inside.

The Specifications;

Model; Colly

Finish/colour; Chrome, black leatherette, silver lettering and arrow on the film winder.
Lens; Fixed
Shutter; Fixed
Aperture; Fixed
Film Door lock; Sliding bar
Takes 10 pictures of 14mm x 14mm on 16mm filmRoll
Carrying Case; Genuine Leather
Box; Cardboard, nicely printed with camera photos
Instructions; Printed on the box
Dimensions; 55.5 x 34 x 36 mm (width x height x depth)
Weight; 52gr


Model; Minetta

Finish/colour; Chrome, black leatherette, silver lettering and arrow on the black film winder.
Lens; Fixed
Shutter; I (1/25), and "B" - Manual
Aperture; Fixed
Film Door lock; Sliding bar
Takes 10 pictures of 14mm x 14mm on 16mm filmRoll
Carrying Case; Genuine Leather
Box; Cardboard, nicely printed with camera photos
Instructions; on paper
Dimensions; 55.5 x 34 x 36 mm (width x height x depth)
Weight; 52gr


History Hit camera;

The Hit camera was made by Tougodo in Tokyo, Japan during the 1950s.

Tougodo's original Hit

The original Hit has an f/11 lens, an everset shutter with release lever at the lens tube, and an advance knob that can't be turned in the wrong direction. Its production started in the years when Japanese cameras were marked "Made in Occupied Japan" (1947-1951), probably in 1950. The earliest have a 30mm lens and just instant mode. Later models have also B mode and a mode switch lever at the lens tube, opposite to the shutter release. Some examples were made with a simple exposure counter at the base of the advance knob.

Hit-type cameras

After WWII the Japanese had a period of low spending capacity. So they enjoyed using cameras which didn't use much film material, making 14×14mm exposures on narrow paper-backed 17.5mm film. This kept film costs affordable. The main design used for most of these cameras was that of a miniature version of a simple contemporary 35mm viewfinder camera, with leatherette covered body, chrome plated parts, a film advance control window in the back and a characteristic top with a simple viewfinder and film advance knob. Most of these cameras had a non-focusable lens with fixed small aperture, an everset shutter with bulb and instant mode. The original idea to make such 17.5mm viewfinder cameras was introduced in 1937 with the Midget, certainly invented by Nakamura Jirō, followed in 1939 by the Mycro, but the vast majority of the models appeared in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
One of the most successful models was the Hit, made by the Tougodo company based in Toyohashi. Its name became the synonym for that camera type, at least in the Western world, where the various other Japanese cameras with a similar design are called "Hit"-type cameras. In Japan, these are called mame kamera (豆カメラ), literally "bean cameras". Only the cheapest of these cameras were similar to Tougodo's Hit, the heavier and more evolved models were actually inspired by the Midget and Mycro.

Many of the Hit-type cameras were exported to the US and turned into cash. They were revealed to the US public by the magazine US Camera in September 1946 — this was before the release of the Hit, and the featured camera was certainly the Mycro, the first such camera to reach the market after 1945. It is said that more publicity was given when one of these cameras was offered to Marlene Dietrich by a US soldier back from Japan. The demand from the US grew rapidly, and a business model emerged in Japan, with no less than 18 manufacturers and about 50 subcontractors involved in Hit-type camera production in 1949. The sales reached a peak that year, with 188,500 units sent for export, generating nearly 800 million yen. It is said that many of these cameras, not seriously considered for picture taking, were used as toys or Christmas tree ornaments. The sales were very seasonal, with 65,000 cameras, or about one third, bought in June and July 1949 in anticipation for Christmas. By 1950, the trend for such novelty cameras was already declining, with about 50,000 units exported in the same period of the year. On the Japanese user market, better subminiature cameras using 16 mm film began to displace the 17.5mm film cameras.
Production of cheap Hit-type cameras nonetheless continued for a long time. Various cameras were made with a more modern design, adapting the original Hit concept. Some were made by Tougodo itself, such as the Baby-Max and Toyoca Ace, and others were probably made by different companies, such as the Homer No.1 or Bell 14.
See pictures for cosmetic. All the pictures are from the object itself. What you see is what you will receive. The camera itself has not been tested by myself.
Please use the refnr “CAM005” in all our communications.

For your information, I will be selling about a hundred subminiature cameras from my collection in the coming months. So if you are a collector, follow my account so you can follow my other items for sale in the coming months.
Thank you for bidding.