HIT

 introduction | Arrow black face script | Foreign | HIT II | Counter | New Hit | film
HIT Made in Japan

class 2 : black name plate, capital, capital top plate : black 5 bandblack 3 bands | gold black
class 2 : white name plate, script, capital top plate : gold | black
class 2 : white name plate, script, script top plate : black, bar | black, clip | dark blue, bar | light blue, bar | brown, bar | green, bar | grey, bar | red, bar
class 9 : black name plate, capital , capital top plate: black 
class 9 : white name plate, script, script top plate : gold | black | black, with box |
green | grey | red

HIT CAMERA
class 2 : black name plate, capital : black
class 2 : white name plate, script : black
class 9 : black name plate, capital: gold

Hit cameras from which all the others are termed even though the first appeared about 1950, several years after the Midget and Mycro cameras of 1939. Hits were made by the Tougodo Co, founded in 1930,  by Masanori Nagatsuka and named after Admiral Tougo of the Japanese Navy.

Variations include single shutter speed with a sliding bar door lock and ones with speeds of I (1/50th) and B and all having a fixed aperture of f11 and a snap shut door lock or sliding bar. There is also a version almost identical to the Barlux and Baby-Max but with a 'HIT' name plate, lens and controls. (See "Spy Camera" page 79 Michael Pritchard and Douglas St. Denny.)

The front nameplate surround is black or white and different fonts. Variations in the engravings on the top of the camera and a version with gold finish as well as the chrome. The above variations have "HIT Made in Japan" on the name plate. The photograph below,  supplied by Alan Corb, has instead "HIT CAMERA".

photograph supplied by Alan Corb

The camera engraved with Made in Occupied Japan also has a film counter dial, which is rare on HIT style cameras. As the MIOJ period was from 1947 to 1951 this was one of the earlier models. A "Made in Japan" version is also found.

The Hit II, as engraved on the name plate, is a bottom loading camera. A cameras with "HIT CHARCOFLEX" and "NEW HIT" have been reported.

The packaging and instructions seen with many HIT cameras is also seen with cameras of other names, an indicator that Tougodo Co also produced many of these.

Can you take a photograph with these? See Tim Verthein's test report at http://www.uslink.net/~hepcats/hitpics.html and http://www.uslink.net/~hepcats/hitc.html to find out.

Larry Hester has also used a "HIT" and has some results on show.


Last Updated on 3rd March 2007