Lustre

The Vest Alex and the Vest Olympic are prewar Japanese cameras taking 4×6.5cm pictures on 127 film, sold from 1936 until maybe 1941 or 1942. The Vest Alex was sold by Misuzu Shōkai between 1936 and 1938 and it was replaced by the Vest Olympic sold by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō (the predecessor of Ricoh). The actual maker of the body is unknown, but the shutter of the Vest Olympic was certainly made by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō, the dependent company of Riken that was making the bakelite Olympic cameras. The Vest Adler and Regal Olympic are variants about which few is known.

See also the 3×4cm and 4×4cm Olympic, the 24×36mm Super Olympic and the 4.5×6cm Semi Olympic.

General description

All the models have a metal body and the lens and shutter seembly is mounted on a bright metal telescopic tube. There are tabs on each side of this tube to pull it forward. The tubular finder is in the middle of the top plate and the advance knob is on the left end. The release lever is on the shutter housing and the lens is front cell focusing. The back is hinged to the right and film advance is controlled by red window. Some models (perhaps not all) are dual format and can take 3×4cm exposures.

The Vest Alex

The Vest Alex was introduced first and was sold by Misuzu Shōkai from 1936 to 1938. An advertisement dated March 1936 offers the camera for ¥19.50 as a new model and makes no mention of 3×4 exposures. (The lines in the viewfinder delimiting the frame for 3×4 pictures are not visible in the advertising picture, perhaps because it is heavily retouched. All the actual examples observed have such lines.)

The lens of the Vest Alex is an Erith Anastigmat 75mm f/6.3.

The shutter is called Complete and gives B, 25, 50, 100 speeds. The shutter plate is marked Vest Alex at the top and COMPLETE at the bottom, with an intricate logo on the right, perhaps reading MS for Misuzu Shōkai. The back leather is certainly embossed Vest Alex.

Minor variations are known, they are described below in the presumed chronological order. The early examples have a conical advance knob and lack the metal film flanges at the top right and at the bottom. The viewfinder is black painted and the back is opened by pulling a lever. The tripod thread is at the right end of the bottom plate and it is slightly offset to the front. The shutter plate has no decorative strips and two screws are visible. The markings use a thin font and the logo is directed inscribed on the plate itself. The speed is selected by a movable index and the settings are engraved on the shutter plate in the B, 25, 50, 100 order. The aperture scale has 6.3, 8, 10, 12, 15 positions.

The middle examples have a larger and lower advance knob and metal film flanges on all other corners. The tripod thread in inside one of these flanges, at the right end of the bottom plate. The viewfinder is chrome finished and the back is opened by sliding a button. The shutter plate has attached decorative strips and the logo is probably a separate part too. The markings use a bolder font. The aperture scale has 6.3, 8, 11, 16, 22 positions.

On the late examples, the speed is selected by turning the shutter rim and the settings are engraved in the 100, 50, 25, B order on the rim itself.

The Vest Olympic

Vest Olympic.
Picture courtesy of Rick Soloway. (Image rights)

The Vest Olympic is based on the Vest Alex with an f/4.5 lens. It was released in 1938 or perhaps at the end of 1937. The body is exactly similar to the Vest Alex. One example has been observed with a black accessory shoe added to the right of the viewfinder but this is perhaps not original. In the only picture of the back observed so far, only one red window is visible in the middle, with a pivoting black cover and Vest Olympic embossed in the leather above. It is currently unexplained how the camera can be dual format and take 3×4 exposures with a single red window, except in the most crudest way, only taking eight exposures in 3×4 format.

The lens of the Vest Olympic is an Ukas Anastigmat 75mm f/4.5 and the shutter is a Fiskus. The speeds are selected by turning the shutter rim, engraved 25, 50, 50, 100, 150, T, B in that order. The shutter plate is marked VEST OLYMPIC at the top and FISKUS at the bottom, with an AKK logo on the right certainly standing for Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō. The lens and shutter equipment is thus identical to the Semi Olympic.

The Vest Olympic was briefly mentioned in an advertisement published in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938. The same advertisement also offered T, B, 1–250 shutters and f/3.5 lenses, mentioned as "available on request". None has been observed since on the Vest Olympic, but a Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f/3.5 lens and a shutter giving T, B, 250, 150, 50, 25 speeds have been observed on a Super Olympic.

The Vest Olympic was listed in the official price list compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, for ¥42. The camera was offered for the same price of ¥42 in an advertisement dated September 1941. The advertisement was inserted by Doi Shōten and it says that the camera was sold (not necessarily made) by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō. A catalogue said to be dated 1942 still listed the Vest Olympic for ¥48.

The Vest Adler

A Vest Adler has been reported with a Ukas Anastigmat 75/4.5 lens, a Fiskus shutter and a telescopic tube. It is probably a name variant of the Vest Olympic. The official price list dated November 1941 also has a "Vest Adler" attributed to Riken Kōgaku.

The Regal Olympic

The Regal Olympic is only known from the advertisement published in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938. It is a dual format (4×6.5 and 3×4) camera, probably with a metal body. It looks like the lens and shutter assembly is mounted on a helical pulled out by turning a massive metal ring, an arrangement similar to the bakelite Olympic models. There are large thin knobs at both ends of the top plate.

The camera is offered with a Ukas Anastigmat 75mm f/4.5 lens and a shutter announced as "Olympic System". The shutter plate is marked Regal Olympic at the top and has an AB logo on the right, certainly for Asahi Bussan. The speed settings are engraved on the speed rim, certainly in that order: T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 (unlike the Fiskus of the Vest Olympic).

Bibliography

• Advertisement by Asahi Bussan in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, edited by Arthur J. Dalladay, published by Henri Greenwood & Co., Ltd., London. Pp. 694–5. (By its very nature, the 1938 Almanac was published at the end of 1937.)
• Arimura Katsumi (有村克巳). "Rikō Ryakushi" (リコー略史, Ricoh short history). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 6–7.
• 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. Items 16 and 51.
• "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 2, section 5A.
• Template:Kakaku1940 Type 2, section 5A.
• 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). Pp. 692 and 747.
• 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 3042 and 4017.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Rikō kamera no nagare" (リコーカメラの流れ, Evolution of the Ricoh cameras). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 8–11.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Senzen no kamera 1: Orinpikku" (戦前のカメラ1・オリンピック, Prewar cameras 1: Olympic). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 12–6.

Links

In Japanese:

• Vest Alex in a page of the AJCC website
• Vest Olympic in the Ricoh camera list of the Ricoh official website (copied in this page of the Kitamura Camera Museum)
• Vest Olympic at Japan Family Camera
• Pages of the Asacame website:
  • Vest Olympic among the 127 film cameras from A to Z
  • Riken 127 film cameras