Cine Vero
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The Cine Vero is a Japanese camera using 35mm film to take 24×35mm pictures.
Origin
No original document about the Cine Vero has been found or reported so far, and the maker of this camera is unconfirmed. The most plausible candidate is Kinshō Kōki Seisakusho, alias "K.S. Fabrik", which made the Rapid-Presto shutter mounted on the Cine Vero and also made a similarly named Vero Four camera.[1] The date is uncertain too: the lens and shutter are typical of prewar or wartime cameras, but they might have been rescued from a stock of parts. A wartime origin is most probable, but an early postwar date cannot be discarded. For an unknown reason, Sugiyama and McKeown say that the camera was made in 1947 by "Kyoto Precision Manufacturing", perhaps corresponding to Kyōto Seiki.[2]
Description
 
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| Cine Vero no.287, Rapid-Presto shutter, Lausar 5.0cm f/4.5 lens no.6650. images by eBayer yecats45. (Image rights) |
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| Cine Vero no.287, Rapid-Presto shutter, Lausar 5.0cm f/4.5 lens no.6650. images by eBayer yecats45. (Image rights) |
The Cine Vero has a metal body with rounded ends and chrome top and bottom plates. The top plate is covered by a long housing, containing the viewfinder in the middle. The advance knob is to the right end, as seen by the photographer, and is surrounded by an exposure counter. The rewind knob protrudes from the top housing at the left end. There are two buttons next to the advance knob: the front one is the body release and the rear one probably disengages the sprocket wheel to rewind the film.
There is a telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly and mounted on a focusing helical with a focusing tab. A rectangular plate is screwed to the front of the body, on both sides of the lens. The body release is linked to the shutter release lever by an external covered by a metal fairing. There are strap lugs at both ends of the body on some examples, but not all. The back does not open and the film is loaded through the removable bottom plate; this plate is locked by a knob with S and O indications on the advance side, and has a tripod thread on the rewind side.
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| Name engraving. (Image rights) |
The name CINE VERO KSK is engraved above the viewfinder, arranged so as to form the silhouette of a bellows camera; the exposure format 24X35 is engraved further to the rear. The serial number is engraved at the rear of the top housing, to the left of the viewfinder eyepiece. There is a rectangular metal plate in the middle of the back, showing through a cut-off in the leather covering, and engraved with the same CINE VERO KSK logo as on the top plate.
The lens is a Lausar 5.0cm f/4.5 by Tomioka and the shutter is a Rapid-Presto (T, B, 1–500) by Kinshō Kōki Seisakusho. The shutter plate is inscribed PRE STO at the top and K.S. FABRIK at the bottom, and the name RAPID–PRESTO is engraved at the bottom of the rim. The whole shutter unit is slanted so that the release lever faces the connecting rod for the body release. The shutter plate has two small holes under the PRE STO name, probably to attach a focusing index for a front-cell focusing lens. These details indicate that the shutter was designed for folding cameras and used as is on the Cine Vero. The initials K.S.K. are engraved on the aperture scale; they are the same as in the engravings on the main body, and probably correspond to Kinshō Kōki.
Surviving examples
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| Body no.287. (Image rights) |
Three surviving examples are known so far. The one pictured in this page has body no.287 (engraved NO287) and lens no.6650. The other two are pictured in Sugiyama and in McKeown.[2] The only visible difference is the absence of strap lugs on no.287.
Notes
Bibliography
- Camera Collectors' News no.54 (December 1981).
- "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. (For the Rapid-Presto shutter.)
- 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.592.
- 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. Item 3221.
