Toyoca 66

A very rare folding camera from Japan

Well I never thought I would be writing a post on such a rare camera, but I have just bought this a Toyoca 66, a two and a quarter square Japanese folding camera from the late 1950's.

The lens is a 8cm Tri-Lausar f3.5 No. 65180 the shutter looks to be un-named but has the following speeds B, 1, 2, 5, 25, 50, 100, 300.

Sorry about the dust, but I have just un-packed it and taken a few pics, not bothering to give it the usual clean up! Too excited! Why you may ask and what is the great excitement about, it's just another Japanese Ikonta copy.

Well yes it is, but this is very unusual. There were, up to me finding this example, only about three known surviving examples, even these are all slightly different, some dual format, some just 6x6 like this example. Most seem to be marked Toyoca 6, this example is marked Toyoca 66! But all four are I think for all intents and purposes one and the same camera.

Top plate view.

How do I know it is rare? Well, I'm just going on this write up below, that I found on the internet on Camer-wiki.org.

Toyoca Six - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

The Toyoca Six is very uncommon today, and only three surviving examples have been observed so far. One of them is owned by the Pentax Gallery. It has a round lens standard and a leatherette patch on the film flange at the top right.^<5> Its shutter is a CHY-SB shutter (B, 1–200), engraved CHY–SB at the bottom of the speed rim. Its aperture scale, at the top of the shutter casing, is metal finished.

It seems like the Pentax Gallery in Japan has closed, so the current whereabouts of that camera is unknown.

There is a fantastic site on the internet called the Vintage Camera Lab, it is similar to my blog, but done properly and professionally, by someone who knows what he is doing on a computer, unlike myself who is barely computer literate!

The guy who does Vintage Camera Lab site also has un earthed one of these cameras. Toyoca Six – Vintage Camera Lab! Have a look at his site it is really worth a look.

There are a few differences on my example the side struts are plain, on the Vintage Camera Lab example they are engraved with a logo. TG logo of Tougodo

The name on my example is Toyoca 66 while the one on Vintage Camera Lab is Toyoca 6.

My example just takes 6x6. The other is dual format taking 6x4.5 as well.

On the red window cover is the name Tohko Co. Now this is a surprise as the Toyoca camera was thought to be made by Toyohashi Y.K. Tougodo of Toyohashi in Japan, all sources seem to agree on this, however my example says clearly Tohko Co which is a totally different company, who produced the Halma Flex T.L.R. camera! The plot thickens. 1530

So one theory could be that the camera I have is 1530 units after the one owned by Vintage Camera Lab. So it is much later. So did Toyohashi sell out the design to Tohko Co. The later Toyocas being made by Tohko ? The engraved Toyohashi logo on the chrome struts have gone on my example and the first references to Tohko seem to be about 1960, about four years after the Toyoca was first produced. Could be possible ?

The engraving on the lens front is different, the words are the same but the engraving is much lighter.

Camera back showing the single 6x6 format.

So, lots of questions here to which I really don't know the answers ! I think this needs a lot more research carrying out, but to me at least it is very interesting.

View of the bottom plate.

The camera came with a very nice case, also marked Toyoca 66.

So, you may ask, what is it like ? Well it looks a well made camera and has stood up to the ravages of time rather well. Many Japanese folders don't seem to wear very well, or maybe they have had a hard life or the climate is harsher I'm not sure, maybe its as simple as the Japanese dealers only sell the poor examples to the west?

Anyway this came up on eBay this week, I always look at the Japanese folders but find them too expensive for their condition as a rule, so I have never bought one. This was a U.K seller, he was not a camera dealer so I had a pop at the auction and here we are! Maybe nobody else had heard of a Toyoca? There was only one other bidder.

Condition wise it is not too bad. The catch that keeps the lens panel in when folded up is a bit strained and the shutter is a bit sluggish on a 25th and lower, the whole second really struggles, but apart from that it is fine, I really like it.

Once I find out more about the camera I will do another post with some better pictures, but today I just wanted to unpack it and get a quick post out about it and see what people think. Hopefully someone has a greater knowledge about this little neat folder that they would like to share. You never know !

E-mail me if you have any further information on this unusual camera.

Take care,

Phil

Up date 20.4.2025

A few new photos that maybe show the camera a little better