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 1957–8. 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.

Description

Aires Viceroy n°670655, Coral 75mm f/3.5 lens, Seikosha-MX shutter.
Pictures courtesy of Robbie Verhagen. (Image rights)

The main body is identical to the body of the Mine Six IIF, including the camera back with two red windows. The Viceroy is dual format and can take both 6×6 and 4.5×6 exposures, and the film advance is manually controlled. Only the leather covering has different patterns and markings: the AIRES CAMERA logo is embossed on the front door, MADE IN JAPAN on the back latch and perhaps something else next to the red windows.

The top cover differs from the Mine Six models. It contains a combined range and view-finder, with the eyepiece offset to the left and a bright frame, illuminated by an additional translucid window in the middle. The advance knob and body release are on the right and there is a film reminder on the left. The model name Aires VICEROY, the company name AIRES CAMERA JAPAN, the serial number and the film plane indicator are engraved above the top housing, on both sides of the accessory shoe.

Pictures courtesy of Robbie Verhagen. (Image rights)

The Viceroy has a 75mm f/3.5 lens: either a Coral (produced by Aires) or a Nikkor. It is unit-focussed: the entire lens and shutter assembly is mounted on the focusing helical, not merely the frontmost element. At least some examples have a Seikosha-MX shutter giving B, 1–500 speeds, with a self-timer and a PC synch post.

The leather case is prominently embossed VICEROY and has the same AIRES CAMERA logo as the camera's folding bed.

All the numbers for the body Coral lenses observed so far are in the 670xxx and 671xxx range.

Sources / further reading

• Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Item 1088. (This book does not reproduce any advertisement for the Viceroy, which was for export only.)
• Christies auction catalogue: "Fine and Rare Cameras", 5 November 1992, lot 253.
• 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 (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.. 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.
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P. 44.

This camera is not listed in Sugiyama.

Links

In English:

• The Aires Viceroy in a page about Aires and with other folding cameras at Nekosan's website
• Aires camera survey by Massimo Bertacchi (also in Italian), the Viceroy is at the bottom of the page

In Japanese:

• Page of wanted cameras with an Aires Viceroy at je2luz