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Every now and again you come across a camera that looks just that bit different - and of course it's usually one you haven't seen before. Sometimes it's a camera that you had only ever seen in a picture; that was the case for me with this model of the Press Van.
When I first handled it my first impression of this camera was its size and the bold styling. The second was how neat it looked when folded. The third thing I noticed was the lens; I had never seen a Takumar lens on a folding camera, either by Pentax or any other maker.
The Press Van-120 strut-folding camera was manufactured by Suzuki Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. in 1954. It is a solid, well-made camera that weighs 830g. Stamped in the back covering is "Press Van SUZUKI OPT. CO. LTD." It takes both 6x6 and 4.5x6cm exposures on 120 roll film. Two masks are folded in either side of the film plane when using the smaller format. The cleverly-designed pressure plate rotates into position to uncover the correct red window for film winding either 12 or 16 exposures.
The Press Van-120 has a f3.5 75mm Asahi-Kogaku Takumar lens in a Seikosha-Rapid shutter. With a push of the button above the lens the front springs out into place; then a small foot can be swung down from behind the front panel so the camera will stand upright on a level surface.
There are separate eyepieces for the viewfinder and the coupled rangefinder. Focusing is by turning a ring around the right-hand knob on the top plate. A scale shows the distance set and the depth-of-field. The whole front panel moves when focusing. The other knob on the top with a film reminder scale is for film winding.
Suzuki had a year earlier made a camera with an almost identical body using the same lens and shutter; it was called the Press Van. Its interesting feature is that it could use both 120 film (6x6cm only) and 35mm film.
Total production of both models is not known; they were discontinued in 1956 and are seldom seen today.
Text & photographs ©2016 Geoff Harrisson
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