Egorette

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Japanese monocular-shaped cameras (edit)
No.0 (4×5cm) Secrette
atom (4.5×6cm) New Argus | Egorette | Secrette
Japanese plate film: box, folding bed, strut-folding and SLR ->
3×4 and 4×4, 4×5 and 4×6.5, 4.5×6, 6×6 and 6×9 ->

The Egorette (エゴレット) is a Japanese camera taking 4.5×6cm film plates. It is only known from an advertisement in the June 1932 issue of Asahi Camera, placed by the maker Yamamoto Shashinki Kōsakusho. In this document, the name is written in katakana script only; the Roman name "Egorette" is hypothetical, and "Egolette" would be plausible as well. No picture of the camera is known, and no example seems to have surfaced so far.

In the advertisement, the camera is described as "a detective camera of the Argus type". Argus is the name of the predecessor of the Ergo by Contessa-Nettel, shaped as a monocular, and the Egorette is probably a copy.

The lens is a meniscus, the shutter gives 25–100, T speeds, and three distance settings are available (far, medium and close). The price is given as ¥18, including three plate holders. The company was looking for authorized dealers, maybe an indication that the camera was a fairly recent model.

Bibliography

The camera is not mentioned in Sugiyama or in the article in Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.22, listing other Japanese cameras taking 4.5×6cm plates.