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PRIMO-JR 4x4 TLR cameras, using 127
film, were made
around 1958-60. They were made by a pioneering Japanese firm,
Tokyo Kogaku Kikai K.K., later known as Tokyo Optical
Company, famous as the maker of Topcon brand equipment. The
examples I have seen are very high quality machines with
superb f2.8 60mm lenses and excellent Seikosha shutters with
speeds from B, 1 to 1/500. They feature a lever winding
mechanism that advances film to the next frame and
simultaneously cocks the
shutter. A covered red window on the back is used to advance
the film to the first frame, after which the mechanism automatically
advances to each subsequent frame. As with all 4x4 cameras,
it yields 12 frames per roll. They were imported into the U.S.A. by Beseler (who
sold Topcon products in the U.S.A.) and by
the Sawyer company, an Oregon-based importer, for whom they were labeled as the Sawyer's Mark IV. According to McKeown
(McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and
Classic Cameras, 12th Edition) the camera he calls the "Primo-Jr
I" featured a shutter, and had separate speed
and aperture settings. A
second variation, which McKeown calls the " Primo-Jr
II," had a shutter adjusted in Light Values. I believe this is an error. There is no
indication of a model number "I" or "II" anywhere on the examples
known to me. As well, no example has surfaced of one of these cameras that did
not use the LV system. I believe McKeown's source of this mis-information
was Sugiyama (Sugiyama, Naoi, and Bullock: The Collector's Guide to
Japanese Cameras). The Light Value
exposure system is very simple. You first determine,
using your light meter, the LV setting. An LV setting is
simply a number engraved on the shutter which can be any
combination of speed and aperture that is correct for the
scene you have metered. On an LV shutter, as you move to a
different shutter speed, the aperture also changes to keep
your exposure constant. It's the same if you change
apertures — the shutter changes at the same time. Shown above is an example of a
Primo-Jr
(s/n 283553) along with an unusual variation (s/n
250333) that had a built-in,
uncoupled selenium light meter reading directly in Light
Values. Another example in the Frugal Photographer
collection is missing the TOKO logo on the viewfinder
hood (s/n 262071). It is shown here:
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