Okako Waltax Junior Folding Camera w/original buy leather case

Vintage post war Okako Waltax Junior Folding Camera with original embossed leather case. Camera works great. I've ran a few rolls of film through it with no issue. Really cool rare camera. Use it or display it.

The Waltax Junior (ワルタックスジュニア) is a cheaper model, reportedly featured and advertised in Japanese magazines dated 1950 to 1952.[45] It has no film advance indicator and no depth-of-field scale. The lens is a Bio-Kolex Anastigmat 7.5cm f/4.5, an uncoated triplet lens with front element focusing. The shutter is a two-blade Okako giving B, 25–150 speeds.[46] The shutter plate is silver-colored with a black stripe and has an OKAKO marking at the bottom.

The Junior does not have the Waltax OKAKO logo at the front of the top housing but has a Waltax Junior engraving at the right end, at the place occupied by the depth-of-field scale on the more expensive models. There is an OKAKO TOKYO logo embossed in the back leatherette, and nothing on the front covering. The body serial number is engraved in front of the accessory shoe.

The early version has straight folding struts, different from all the other Waltax models. The first Junior was made before the transition from the Waltax II to the Senior. The earliest known example has lens no.25325.[47] On the very first ones, the shutter is not synchronized, the OKAKO marking on the shutter plate is in big fancy letters, the aperture scale is silver with black numbers, the lens number is inscribed as NO.xxxxx buy, and the advance knob is of the older type, as found on the Waltax II. A picture of the back of one of these cameras reveals a different cover for the red window, sliding under a metal plate attached by four small screws over the leatherette covering.[48]

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Waltax Junior, body no.32777
lens no.32801, late version
image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)
These details were gradually modified: on most examples, the OKAKO marking is written in smaller capital letters, the aperture scale is black with yellowish numbers, the lens number reads N°xxxxx and the red window cover is buried under the leatherette covering, the same as on the other Waltax models, certainly for part standardization.

Flash synchronization was added at a later time. Some examples have a single synch pin protruding horizontally at the bottom of the shutter housing, but this was soon replaced by an ASA bayonet post at the top right. At about the same time, the striated advance knob inherited from the Waltax II was replaced by the newer knob of the Waltax Senior. Transitional examples exist, with the older knob and ASA post, or with the newer knob and pin synch.

The late version has the same folding struts as the other Waltax models, engraved with the OKAKO TOKYO logo. It was certainly wiser for the company to have the same standard body for the whole range than to have a special cheaper body for the Junior model. The Waltax Junior did not evolve after the introduction of the three-part folding struts. The last observed example has body no.33001 and lens no.32897, released before the switch of the Waltax Senior to the D.O.C.-Rapid shutter.


Production estimate
The serial numbers of the body, lens and shutter are very close on all the Okako and Waltax cameras. The earliest lens number observed is 02906 and the last is 38961; the last body number is 38340. The number sequence continues on the Zenobia models, of which the lowest body serial observed is 39438. If we suppose that the sequence begins at 01000, this makes a total of about 38,000 cameras produced, among which about 19,000 with a folding finder and 19,000 with a top housing.