Breidenbach's A-Z of the Japanese camera industry
Sometimes an individual's personal interest gives rise to something that grows far beyond its original purpose. Roland Breidenbach from Dülmen, a long-standing member of Club Daguerre, began at some point to take notes on the Japanese camera industry. Not for the public, not for a publication, but simply to give himself an overview of an industry that shaped 20th century photography like no other.
Over the years, these notes have become a small reference work of considerable depth. And Roland Breidenbach has now made this reference work available to the Club Daguerre. It is now available online at https://club-daguerre.eu/japan/.
A work of passion
What characterises Breidenbach's compilation is not just his factual expertise, but also his personal perspective. The entries he has contributed are not just dry encyclopaedia entries. They tell stories: of Canon, which began as a Leica replica and conquered the world market; of Cosina, which secretly produced cameras for dozens of Western brands; of Zenza-Bronica, which dared to challenge Hasselblad on its own turf. And they tell of the forgotten: of Yallu Optical, Shinko Seiki, Motodori Shashin Kikai, small workshops of the post-war years that today have left little more than a name in old adverts.
Many of these entries are illustrated with pictures that Breidenbach collected himself. This gives the site the character of a personally curated collection, backed by decades of collecting, reading and thinking.
Making unpublished knowledge accessible
Anyone who has followed the activities of Club Daguerre will be familiar with our initiative to preserve endangered websites, from dresdner-kameras.de and phototechnik-online.de to other photo-historical resources that were in danger of disappearing into digital nirvana. The aim is to rescue content that already exists but is under threat.
Breidenbach's A-Z is something different, and yet related. Here, for the first time ever, knowledge is being made publicly accessible that previously lay dormant in private records. No internet archive would have discovered this site, it simply didn't exist yet. In a sense, this is the logical continuation of the same idea: historical photographic knowledge, whether endangered or still unpublished, deserves a permanent, public place. The fact that Roland Breidenbach has taken this step and shared his work is not a matter of course. It is a gesture of generosity towards the entire community of collectors.
The site
The technical realisation by Club Daguerre has turned Breidenbach's material into an alphabetically structured web application. His illustrated entries form the basis and centrepiece of the site. Anyone wishing to browse further will find additional manufacturer descriptions from ongoing club research.
Roland Breidenbach himself puts it with his own modesty: "These entries make no claim to completeness. They are an invitation to browse."
We think it is more than that. It is a piece of living photographic history that would not exist without Roland Breidenbach's years of curiosity, care and generosity. Our sincere and heartfelt thanks go to him for this.
https://club-daguerre.eu/japan/
Roland Breidenbach is currently undergoing rehabilitation following an operation. We sincerely wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to him being able to enjoy the finished site in peace and quiet soon.