Vero Four
The Vero Four (ヴェロ・フォアー) is a Japanese camera taking 4×4cm pictures on 127 film. It made by Kinshō and distributed by Ueda Shashinki-ten from 1938 to about 1943.[1] The name "Star Camera Works" appears in at least one advertisement,[2] but it was probably not the name of any actual company.
Contents
Description
The Vero Four has a metal body and a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. The viewfinder sits in a recessed part of the top plate, slightly offset to the left. There is an accessory shoe at the left end. The advance knob is at the right end and the right half of the top plate is covered by a housing on the right containing the auto-stop advance mechanism and an exposure counter. This is needed because the film paperback is not marked for 4×4cm pictures.
There is a single red window in the back, used to set the first exposure and protected by a horizontally sliding cover. Film loading is through the bottom plate, that is styled after the Leica screw mount models, with a single opening key at one end.
All the models have a Rapid-Vero shutter giving T, B, 1–500 speeds. This shutter is perhaps the same as the Rapid-Presto made by The lens is a front-cell focusing Vero Anastigmat 60/3.5 on the first models and a unit-focusing Verona Anastigmat 60/3.5 on the following models.
Evolution
Original model, front-cell focusing
The original model has a front-cell focusing lens and no leather covering. The lens is a Vero Anastigmat 60/3.5 lens and the shutter is a Rapid Vero giving T, B, 1–500 speeds. This model is described in advertisements dated January, March, June and September 1938.[3] The price was ¥115 (lens hood, filter holder and case included). The company name in all the advertisements is "Star Camera Works" (スター・カメラ・ウワークス), mentioned as the distributor (発売元).
In January and March, the exposure counter window looks like a simple slit and no button is visible over the top plate. In June and September, the window has the shape of a parallelogram and there is a button next to it, at the rear edge of the advance housing. It is supposed that this button interacts with the exposure counter. The name Vero is engraved on the advance housing, together with the serial number. A logo is engraved above the viewfinder, that is perhaps not the same as the K.S. logo observed on later examples.
No surviving example of the Vero Four with front-cell focusing has yet been observed.
Vero Four F, unit focusing
The range was declined in three models from October 1938. The Vero Four C seems to be identical to the previous model and the Vero Four D is the same camera with leather covering. The Vero Four F has a focusing helical at the base of the telescopic tube and a Verona lens; on the original variant, the rest of the features is the same. These three models were described in an advertisement dated October 1938, where the C and D were offered for the same price of ¥115 while the F cost ¥125.[4] The F appeared alone in an advertisement dated April 1939.[5]
The exposure counter was altered again after that date, on the second variant of the Vero Four F. It now appears under a crescent-shaped window, displacing the Vero engraving to the rear. The button has moved too and a small lever is added behind, with an unknown function. There is a K.S. logo above the viewfinder.
This variant of the Vero Four F is pictured in Sugiyama and the same example is also pictured in Kokusan kamera no rekishi (the advance knob is not original).[6] The lens is engraved Verona Anastigmat f=6.0cm 1:3.5 with a three-digit serial number. The speed rim is engraved RAPID–VERO at the bottom.
The second variant was pictured in advertisements dated August and November 1940 and January 1941, at an unchanged price (an advertisement dated December 1940 made use of an older picture showing the previous exposure counter).[7] The camera was also listed in the Template:Kakaku1940 short, compiled on October 25, 1940 and published in January 1941, under the names "Vero Four" and "Vero Four F", both for the same price of ¥125.[8] This perhaps indicates that the front-cell focusing model was still available for sale.
On the third variant, a frame was added to the front of the viewfinder, attached by two screws. One example with this frame and the crescent-shaped exposure counter is pictured in this page of the AJCC and another appears in a Christies auction catalogue.[9]
The examples of the fourth variant have a round exposure counter window replacing the crescent-shaped one. This variant is the most common, and one example is pictured in this page.[10]
 
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| Vero Four F n°4784, Verona Anastigmat 6cm f/3.5 lens n°3080. Pictures courtesy of eBayer ipruksleica. (Image rights) | ||
Rangefinder conversions
The Cyclon coupled rangefinder conversion offered in 1943 and 1944 for the Gelto was also available for the Vero Four (presumably only for the unit-focusing Vero Four F).[11] The conversion is described in detail in this section of the Gelto page. It is not known if the earlier conversion with separate range- and viewfinder, called Suzuki coupled device, was offered for this camera. No surviving example has been observed with a rangefinder conversion.
Notes
- ↑ Made by Kinshō: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), item 153. Dates: advertisements listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 341, run from 1938 to 1941, and the camera was still mentioned in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras") compiled in April 1943.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera June 1938, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 92.
- ↑ January: advertisement published in the 17 January 1938 issue of Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Gochamaze website (it is written 17 January 1937 probably by mistake). The advertisement says that the camera can take 14 exposures in 4×4cm size, obviously by mistake. It also gives the following range of speeds: T, B, 1, 2, 5, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 (with no 1/10 speed).
March and June: advertisements published in Asahi Graph (23 March 1938 and 29 June 1938) reproduced in the Gochamaze website, and advertisement published in Asahi Camera (June 1938) reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 92.
September: advertisement published in Asahi Camera, whose scans have been observed in an online auction. The range of speeds appears again without 1/10. - ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 92.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 92. The heavily retouched picture seems to show a Vero Four D instead.
- ↑ Sugiyama item 3053, Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 13. Lens n°364, body number starting with "2".
- ↑ Advertisements published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 72, 76 and 77. The December 1940 picture is the same retouched picture of a Vero Four D mentioned above.
- ↑ Template:Kakaku1940 short, type 1, section 10.
- ↑ Christies auction dated 13 January 1994, lot 221. Body n°2529. Lens number reported as n°0771. The example of the AJCC has body n°2x25 and lens n°0838.
- ↑ Examples observed: body n°4784, lens n°3080 (this page); lens n°3220 (Sugiyama, item 3054); lens n°44xx (McKeown, p. 943); body n°6617, lens n°4513.
- ↑ Advertisements dated October 1943 and May 1944 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 112.
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 and 136 and the picture on p. 13.)
- Christies auction catalogue: "Cameras and Optical Toys" (13 January 1994), lot 221.
- "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7. Item 153.
- Template:Kakaku1940
- 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 January 1938 issue of Asahi Graph (it is written 17 January 1937 but this is probably a mistake)
- Advertisements published in the 23 March 1938 and 29 June 1938 issues of Asahi Graph
