Camera Works
Names ending in Camera Works were used by various Japanese distributors before and during the war. Examples are "First Camera Works" used by Minagawa Shōten or "Star Camera Works" used by Ueda Shashinki-ten. These names are found in advertisements and logos, ostensibly as the manufacturers of the distributed cameras. In many cases the name of the actual manufacturer is known from other sources and it is a different Japanese-sounding name. It seems that no actual Japanese company had such a name ending in "Camera Works".
The reason for using these fake names is probably two-fold: on the one hand, a Western name was certainly thought to sound better in advertising than the true company name; on the other hand, this allowed the distributor to hide the true names of its various camera suppliers and to give the impression that all the cameras were made in its own factory.
List of "Camera Works"
This list is incomplete:
- Condor Camera Works
- First Camera Works (Minagawa Shōten)
- Gelto Camera Werke
- National Camera Works
- Star Camera Works (Ueda Shashinki-ten)
- Victor Camera Works
- Walz Camera Works
- Zeitax Camera Works
