The Victory (ビクトリー) is a Japanese folding camera taking both 4×6.5 and 3×4 pictures on 127 film. It is known from a leaflet published around 1937[1] and it also appears in Sugiyama. There is no indication of the company that made or sold this camera.
Description of the Victory A
Victory leaflet. (Image rights)
The camera presented in the leaflet is called Victory A (ビクトリーA型). It has a bakelite body. The folding struts have a complicated arrangement, copied from Kodak designs like the Pocket Kodak Junior.
There is a folding optical finder in the middle of the top plate and no body release. The advance knob is at the right end and there is a spool holder at the left end. The latter can be pulled out only after it is turned counter-clockwise. The back is hinged to the left and the text says that it contains three red windows, the middle one being used for 4×6.5 exposures and the other ones for 3×4.
The shutter is everset and gives B, 25, 50 speeds. The release lever is attached to the front of the shutter housing. Only a part of the markings is visible, reading Victory at the top, STRAIT SHUTTER on the right and TYPE 1935 (or 1936) and MADE IN JAPAN at the bottom.
The lens is fixed-focus and engraved VICTORY GO ANASTIGMAT. ("Go" is probably the Japanese character 號 meaning "number" or "type".) The rest of the engraving is more confusing and seems to read 1:9.5 F 6.3. The advertising text says that the lens aperture is f/6.3 and the meaning of "9.5" is unclear.
The text says that the "large aperture" of the lens equipping the Victory A only makes pictures possible from the infinity down to 10 feet, and that a separate attachment is necessary to take closer pictures down to 5 feet.
The camera is offered for ¥18 including the portrait attachment.
Other versions
Sugiyama does not show this particular version but two other models.[2] Unlike the Victory A, none of them is self-erecting and the lens standard is manually pulled out on two rails after opening the folding bed. The folding finder is different too, with the rear part folding over the front one.
In both cases, the shutter plate is marked Victory at the top and has a logo at the bottom, that is perhaps the letter "Y" inside a circle. The only speed settings are 25 and B.
The lens is fixed-focus and the aperture scale goes from 8 to 32 on both cameras. One camera[3] has no lens engraving and certainly a single-element lens. The other[4] has a lens engraving similar to the Victory A, with VICTORY GO ANASTIGMAT and perhaps 1:5.5 F 8. The meaning of 5.5 is again unclear. This example has the top of the advance knob finished in black.
Notes
- ↑ Undated leaflet for the Victory, Semi Dymos, Reex, Baby Ref, Union Ref and Baby Chrome.
- ↑ Sugiyama, p. 67.
- ↑ Sugiyama item 4103.
- ↑ Sugiyama item 4104.
Bibliography
- Leaflet for the Victory, Semi Dymos, Reex, Baby Ref, Union Ref and Baby Chrome, published by an unknown company. Date not indicated.
- 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 4103–4.
The Victory is not listed in Kokusan kamera no rekishi.