Aires Viceroy
The Aires Viceroy is a folding 6×6 coupled-rangefinder camera that Aires produced for export to India (some sources say southeast Asia) around 1957. The body was manufactured by Takane (and was based on that for the Mine Six and indirectly on that for the Mihama Six), the finder was manufactured by Aires.
The Viceroy came with an 75mm f3.5 lens: either a Coral (produced by Aires) or a Nikkor. This was unit-focussed (focussed by moving the entire lens assembly, not merely the frontmost element). At least some examples have a Seikosha-MX shutter (B, 1–500).
At least one example of the Viceroy has been sold in a Christies auction, with a catalogue estimate of £250–£350 on 5 November 1992 (it is unknown if this price was attained).
Links
- The Aires Viceroy in a page about Aires and with other folding cameras at Nekosan's website
Sources / further reading
- Christies auction catalogue: "Fine and Rare Cameras" (5 November 1992).
- Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). "Airesu no kamera: Yarūfurekkusu soshite 6×6han niganrefu, 35mm kamera e" (アイレスのカメラ:ヤルーフレックスそして6×6判二眼レフ、35mmカメラへ, The Aires cameras: From the Yallu Flex to 6×6 TLRs and 35mm cameras). Chapter 5 of Zunō kamera tanjō: Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari (ズノーカメラ誕生:戦後国産カメラ10物語, The birth of the Zunow camera: Ten stories of postwar Japanese camera makers). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1999. ISBN 4-257-12023-1 In Japanese only. First published in issue 22 (September 1992) of Kamera rebyū: Kurashikku kamera senka (カメラレビュー・クラシックカメラ専科).
- Hagiya Takeshi. "Mine Shikkusu: Gunma-ken Takasaki-shi no kameramēkā" (ミネシックス:群馬県高崎市のカメラメーカー, Mine Six: A camera-maker in Takasaki, Gunma). Chapter 7 of Zunō kamera tanjō: Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari. First published in issue 27 (December 1993) of Kamera rebyū: Kurashikku kamera senka (カメラレビュー・クラシックカメラ専科). On the manufacture by Takane and the reason for this.