Vero Four

The Vero Four (ヴェロ・フォアー) was a prewar Japanese camera taking 4×4cm pictures on 127 film. It was probably made by a company called Star Camera Works. The lens and shutter assembly were mounted on a telescopic tube with helical focusing. It had a rigid optical viewfinder, an accessory shoe at the extreme left and an automatic stop advance mechanism with an exposure counter. There was what looks like a body release on the top plate.

It was advertised in the 17 January 1937 issue of Asahi Graph (ad visible at this page), with a Vero Anastigmat 60/3.5 lens and a Rapid Vero T-B-1-2-5-25-50-100-300-500 shutter (note the absence of 1/10, maybe a mistake). Its price with lens hood, filter holder and case was ¥115. The ad indicated 14 exposures in 4×4 format, probably by mistake.

It was also advertised in a 1938 issue of Asahi Camera, with the same lens and shutter (1/10 also absent). The price was the same, with no mention of the case. The ad now indicated 12 exposures.

It has been reported by a dealer with a Verona Anastigmat 60/3.5 lens. The camera pictured in McKeown also has a Verona Anastigmat 60/3.5 lens, and it shows slight differences with the ads. The position of the body release and exposure counter window, and the shape of this window, are not the same. The shutter rim is marked VERO in the ads; in McKeown's example it is RAPID-VERO with T-B-1-2-5-10-25-50-100-300-500 speeds. In the ads, the cameras have an all metal finish, while in McKeown it is covered with black leather or leatherette.

McKeown lists the camera under Uyeda Camera. Indeed a camera shop called Ueda Shashinki-ten (上田写真機店, old transcription Uyeda) existed since 1901, and made a pocket watch camera shown here at the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology. However the company name in both ads was Star Camera Works (スター・カメラ・ウワークス), with no mention of Ueda.

The Christies auction catalogue dated 13 January 1994 shows a picture of a Vero taken from the top, once again the exposure counter window is different from the both styles cited above, and there is a K.S. logo above the viewfinder, that is maybe related to K.S. Fabrik.

Bibliography

• 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 239. (See also the advertisements for items 129, 136.)
• 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. 943.
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Items 3053–4.

Links

In Japanese:

• Vero Four in a page of the AJCC website
• Advertisements for the Vero Four reproduced in the small format camera page of the Gochamaze website:
  • Advertisement published in the 17 November 1937 issue of Asahi Graph
  • Advertisements published in the 23 March 1938 and 29 June 1938 issues of Asahi Graph