Steky for 16mm film "Made in Occupied Japan"

introduction | Zuiho Nice | Steky Made in Tokyo - nickel | Steky Made in Tokyo Japan - nickel | Steky "Japan" | Steky "Made in Japan" | Steky "Made in Occupied Japan" | Steky Gold Deluxe | Steky II "Made in Occupied Japan" | Steky III "Made in Occupied Japan" | Steky III "Japan" | Hanken | Steky IIIA | IIIA motor drive | Steky IIIB | Steky IIIB <EP> | Golden Steky | Golden Ricoh 16 | Ricoh 16 | Ricoh 16 black

Asahi Musen Company manufactured the Steky in 1947.

The Steky I is engraved "STEKY CAMERA FOR 16mm FILM". the original camera is finished in nickel, later ones are a brushed aluminium. The earliest versions are engraved "MADE IN TOKYO", then "MADE IN TOKYO JAPAN". The chrome plated versions is engraved "Steky Camera for 16mm film" and "Made in Japan". The later ones replace the engraving with "JAPAN" or "Made in Occupied Japan" stamped into the leather on the base of the camera.

The Steky was supplied with an interchangeable three element fixed focus Stekinar Anastigmat f3.5 25mm lens, fully variable stopped down to f11. Shutter speeds for B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100. Both telephoto, with viewfinder correction, and wide angle lens where manufactured.

The 16mm film is for 24 exposures of 10x14mm and loaded into a pair of identical cassettes. The film is wound on the take up spool travelling around a large and a small pulley which results in the take up cartridge having the film slot pointing up and rotated 180 degrees to the feed cassette. A small lever moves the back plate away to make loading the film easier. All Steky's were designed to use double perforated film, but single perforations with the perforations down inside the camera  will work equally well.  Un-perforated film is a problem. The camera does not use the perforations to advance the film, but it needs them for the film counter and film frame alignment.

The camera is 138g and 158g with film. 66 x 40 x 42 mm (HxWxD). The optical viewfinder is mounted on the top left hand side above the disc that stores a filter or the lens cap. This disc has a slot on the nickel plated cameras and is solid on the chrome plated ones. The other side of the camera has the film winder, counter dial and a lock button

Some sources report that the lens mount is the same as standard D mount movie camera lens. The D mount is for 8mm movie cameras, is 5/8 inches (15.875mm) in diameter with a pitch of 1/32nd of an inch (0.03125 inch, 0.79375mm). Although close to the diameter of the Steky mount (approximately 16mm) is is unlikely that an inexpensive Japanese camera would adopt the standard for expensive movie lenses that no one could possibly afford. 

 
Model Steky
Finish/colour chrome, black leatherette "Made in Occupied Japan"
Lens  
Shutter B, 1/25, 1/50 and 1/100
Aperture f3.5-f16
Film Door lock  
Case  
Box
Instructions  
Dimensions  (width x height x depth)
Purchased  
Date of Manufacture  
Cost  
Current Value  
Auction Price Ebay
Comment  

 


Go to the 16mm Collection index Last updated 7th June 2005