Konicolor
Description
“The Konicolor system, introduced by Konishiroku Shashin Kogyo (Now Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.), split the image into three colors and shot them separately onto three b&w films. In that sense it had something in common with the US ‘Technicolor system’, but this was not a contact print with color dye to create positive film, but used coated emulsion to develop each color in a triple process, which is peculiar. With this ‘one shot camera’ (No. 1 made in 1953), after the light went through the lens, the beam was split into three by the green and blue reflecting half mirrors in the white box, and shot onto three different films. As it went through a complicated optical mechanism, it did not use a color split filter, and a special film was introduced for this system. The loud rotation noise of the camera was a problem, but it is notable that an original Japanese color system existed. However, it failed to compete with the rapid expansion of US Eastmancolor, and was retired in 1959.”
(Process description displayed in the permanent exhibition Nihon Eiga: The History of Japanese Film at the National Film Archive of Japan)
Secondary Sources
Koshofer, Gert (1988): Color. Die Farben des Films. Berlin: Wissenschaftsverl. Volker Spiess, on p. 114 View Quote and on p. 151. (in German) View Quote
