Melcon

Meguro Kogaku · LTM mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1955

Also known as: Meguro Melcon · Meguro Kogaku Melcon · Meguro Kogaku Kogyo Melcon · Melcon Original · Melcon I · Melcon camera · メルコン · 目黒光学メルコン · メルコン I型 · メルコンI型

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Early (no X on the speed dial)	LTM	1955	55001 and 55050 (camera-wiki)	No figure published
Standard (X on the speed dial)	LTM	1955–1957	55043–56776 seen (camera-wiki; 56776 the highest recorded)	No figure published

Called simply Melcon while it was sold; "Melcon I" was coined after the Melcon II appeared (camera-wiki). "Melcon Original" is the name used by Pacific Rim Camera and Leitz Auction.
The Melcon II of 1957 is a different camera, a Nikon S2-shaped body with a combined 1.0× finder and lever wind, and has its own page.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Leica III layout with two eyepieces set far apart and knob wind; the Melcon II has one eyepiece, a lever and 'Melcon II' on the front
A back hinged on the right, held by a sliding bar on the left; Leica bodies load from the base
No strap lugs; tripod socket on the wind side

Early (no X on the speed dial):

No X setting on the top speed dial, which has the early small engraving with the 500 offset from its setting
On 55001 only: a film reminder reading ASA 25–100 and COLOR 4–12, with no EMPTY setting, and a hand-applied-looking top engraving 'Meguro. Kogaku kogyo co., LTD japan'; 55050 has the regular reminder
Smooth polished pressure plate and diamond-pattern knobs, shared with later bodies up to about 56000

Standard (X on the speed dial):

X at 1/40 on the top speed dial
Film reminder reading ASA 25–200, COLOR 4–16 and EMPTY
On regular production from about 55266: machine-engraved 'Meguro Kogaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. Japan' on the top plate and a larger speed engraving with the 500 facing its setting; 55043 still has the early engraving
A bubble-pattern pressure plate, introduced gradually before about 56000, and from about 56000 vertically knurled knobs crossed by two lines

Early (no X on the speed dial): camera-wiki calls 55001 probably the first production camera. Pacific Rim Camera thinks its first example may be pre-production, as it differs from most. The engraving, pressure plate and knobs changed gradually and do not line up exactly with the X: some later bodies keep the smooth plate or the old knobs.

Serial-range notes

55001–56776: Five digits in one sequence through the 55xxx and 56xxx blocks, not tied strictly to the year (camera-wiki). Seen: 55001, 55043, 55050, 55266, 55619, 55882, 55934, 56023, 56123, 56133, 56522 and 56776. Pacific Rim Camera wonders whether the first two digits give the year.
560230: The number printed for Leitz Auction 9, lot 398 (1956), with a Nikkor-H.C 5cm f/2 no.715043 in feet and an original Melcon ever-ready case. Every other Melcon has five digits; camera-wiki lists 56023.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder (viewfinder): Separate reverse-Galilean viewfinder, Leica III-style, eyepieces set far apart
Finder (rangefinder): Separate coupled rangefinder with its own eyepiece and a diopter lever like the Leica IIIa's · 1.5× magnification
Shutter: Horizontal cloth focal-plane, two dials · Top dial B, 25–1, X (1/40), 50, 75, 100, 200, 500; front slow dial T, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 (camera-wiki). Early bodies have no X · flash sync One PC socket on the front, with a selector at the rear of the top housing marked F (FP bulbs at 1/25–1/500) and S (slow speeds 1–1/10, or electronic flash at X). The flash fires only when the shutter actually trips (camera-wiki)
Film advance: Knob, with a film reminder on top
Back: Hinged on the right, held by a sliding bar on the left; fixed take-up spool, factory cartridges only. The designer says it was hinged to keep film chips from jamming the mechanism (camera-wiki; Pacific Rim Camera)
Meter: None
Weight: 530 g
Dimensions: 143 × 72 × 34 (camera-wiki); 750 g with the Nikkor 5cm f/2 mm
Country: Japan
Original price: ¥48,000 with the Nikkor-H 5cm f/2 and ¥34,000 with the Hexar 50mm f/3.5 (Asahi Camera and Photo Art columns, October 1955, via camera-wiki). Hinomaruya's Asahi Camera advertisements list only the f/2 outfit in October–December 1955 and show both outfits at unchanged prices from January to July 1957; from the July–August 1957 advertisement the Hexar is no longer listed (camera-wiki) (today ¥310,000)
Accessories: Melcon ever-ready case (Leitz Auction 9, lot 398; Leitz Auction 30, lot 231) · Nikkor screw-mount lenses distributed by Hinomaruya: 2.5cm f/4, 2.8cm f/3.5, 3.5cm f/2.5 and f/3.5, 5cm f/2, 8.5cm f/2 and f/1.5, 10.5cm f/2.5 and 13.5cm f/3.5 in January 1956; 3.5cm f/1.8, 5cm f/1.4, 18cm f/2.5, 25cm f/4 and 50cm f/5 added by August 1957 (camera-wiki)

Rangefinder 1.5× (camera-wiki). The window spacing is 38mm in one source and 40mm in another (see disputed). With the Nikkor 5cm f/2 the rangefinder is coupled only to 3.5 ft, although the lens focuses to 1.5 ft.

Where sources disagree

Production

About 1,700–1,800, not more than 2,000 (camera-wiki)
At least about 1,800 if numbered from 55001, at least about 1,300 otherwise (Pacific Rim Camera)
About 2,300 Melcons, 1955 to perhaps the end of 1957 (Leica Copies Japan; it may include the Melcon II)

Better supported: About 1,700–1,800, from the serial evidence

Base length (mm)

38mm, giving a 57mm effective base at 1.5× (one source, via camera-wiki)
40mm, giving 60mm effective (another source, via camera-wiki)

Last

1957: advertised until August 1957 and replaced by the Melcon II the next month (camera-wiki)
1956 (Pacific Rim Camera)

Better supported: 1957

What reviewers say

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History

The Melcon of 1955 was the first camera of Meguro Kogaku Kogyo, a Tokyo firm set up in 1951 or 1952 to build it. It is a Leica III in layout: a die-cast body with an integral top plate, separate viewfinder and 1.5× rangefinder eyepieces set well apart, a diopter lever like the IIIa’s, knob wind and a cloth shutter to 1/500 with the slow speeds on a front dial. Two things set it apart. The back is hinged and the take-up spool fixed, which the designer said, writing in Shashin Kōgyō in January 1956, was to keep film chips out of the mechanism rather than for easy loading. And he held the flange distance to 28.8 ±0.01mm, against the ±0.02mm he says was ordinarily thought sufficient. It has a front PC socket with an F/S selector, but no strap lugs.

Hinomaruya, the Nicca distributor, sold it with the Nikkor-H 5cm f/2 for ¥48,000 from late 1955. A ¥34,000 outfit with the Hexar 50mm f/3.5 was quoted at launch, but the advertisements show it only from January to July 1957, and by August 1957 they listed a full range of screw-mount Nikkors. The last advertisement ran in August 1957, and the Melcon II replaced it the month after. Serials run in one five-digit sequence from 55001 to the highest recorded, 56776. camera-wiki puts production at about 1,700–1,800, and Leica Copies Japan at about 2,300.

The early bodies 55001 and 55050 have no X on the speed dial, and 55001 also has a shorter film reminder and hand-cut-looking lettering. Later ones add X at 1/40 and a reminder with an EMPTY setting, soon get machine-cut top-plate lettering, and change gradually to a bubble-pattern pressure plate and cross-knurled knobs. As a guide to price, Leitz Auction 29 sold body 55893 with its Hexar for €960, and Leitz Auction 30 sold body 56133 with a Nikkor-H.C 5cm f/2 for €780, both including premium. The same 56133 had gone unsold at Leitz Auction 26. Note that the rangefinder couples only to 3.5 ft, even though the Nikkor focuses to 1.5 ft.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

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