I saw this little gem posted on ebay as an Ikeda Anba but knew it was something different. A little research leads me to believe it is an early Nagaoka Seisakusho 4×5 field camera but it may be another maker too. It has a lovely dark cherry finish with brass hardware.  It weighs a mere 2 pounds 10 ounces and locks down tight and rigid.  This camera has some quirks but is not fidgety to setup and use. The tripod mounting hole is a 1/4 standard thread and sits at the back of the camera under the rear standard. A hole in the base allows the camera to be folded with a lens in the front standard.

Unfolding the Camera:  First you have to loosen all the knobs in order to unfold the back to its upright position, then tighten the rear tilt knobs to lock it in place. Then you lift up slightly on the front standard and slide it forward and upright. The front tilt knobs and the rise fall knobs should be gently locked initially. Then there are 4 small knobs on the front standard that allow placement and swivel so these need to be tightened as well. Adding the lens is the same for this camera as most others in that there is a sliding plate to lock in the lens board.  One of the oddities of this camera is that it uses 90x90mm lens boards. I had some old home made craft plywood boards sized 96×99 so I just cut them down. However the thin plywood is a little loose in the front standard because they are not thick enough, so I used a little gorilla tape to thicken them up a bit.

Focus is achieved by first loosening the small knobs on the base and getting the front standard near the position you want, then lock the small knobs, then use the geared base knob for fine focus and lock it. I found the bellows will compress easily for a 65mm lens and with a bit of play for fine focus and will stretch out to support a 250mm lens (maybe 270mm). I do not think a 300mm would focus at infinity without a high hat board.   The rear standard is fixed to the base but does swivel/swing and tilt if needed.  The front standard offers tilt, swing and rise/fall.  There does not seem to be any marking for centered rise/fall so one has to check corners when focused.  Before one even attempts to take a picture all knobs need to be double checked to make sure they are locked.

The rear standard has a standard back with a nice bright but grainy focusing screen. The ground glass has no markings. The back can be rotated 90 degrees for portrait or landscape mode. Latches at the top of the camera slide outward to release the back and snap back inward to hold it in place. Springs are nice and tight. I inserted 3 different holders and found them all to fit snuggly in the back.

Folding the camera is relatively easy in that you just loosen all the knobs. The base should be squared to the front edge, and the lens board latch slid downward to the locked position if no lens is attached. The front standard can then be slid back into the rear standard and the back and front folded down together.  There is a latch which holds it all closed. There is a small leather handle for carrying the camera.

I purchased this camera on a whim and may package it with some lenses and holders and resell it for Christmas. Otherwise it makes a nice back up if ever needed. Below are a few pictures of the camera with a 135 Schneider Xenar f4.7 on my home made board. The camera has very few scratches except where one would expect to find them. For a 30-50 year old woody it is in fine shape.

Tested: I put a couple of sheets through this camera in the back yard. The back springs are nice and tight and hold the film holder tight to the body. Focusing was very easy near and far. Once every thing was tightened down it felt solid. Movements were easy to control. If I were going to modify anything it would be the front standard opening. I think it needs a thin shim with circular opening so one can use a thinner lens board and further restrict the light. After packing it all up in an 8×11 lunch box with padding, 2 lenses, and 2 additional lens boards, it weighs less than 4 pounds. A couple of holders might add a pound but would fit. This would be a great camera for backpacking and still leave room for other gear.