The Primo-Jr camera

Primo-Jr (type II), shown in two versions, one with a built-in light meter. Photo © 2001 Frugal Photographer.

PRIMO-JR 4x4 TLR cameras, using 127 film,  were made around 1958. 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 the Sawyer company, an Oregon-based importer, labeled as the Sawyer's Mark IV.

The first variation, according to McKeown (I have never seen one) featured a Seikosha-SLV shutter, and had separate speed and aperture settings.

The second variation, referred to in McKeown's as the Primo-Jr II, had a Seikosha-MXL shutter (not the SLV reported by McKeown) adjusted in Light Values. 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.

There is no indication of a model number "I" or "II" anywhere on the examples known to me.

Shown above is an example of a Primo-Jr II (s/n 283553) along with an unusual variation of the II (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 a II without the TOKO logo on the viewfinder hood (s/n 262071). It is shown here:

A summary of the PRIMO-JR and SAWYER'S MARK IV examples in the Frugal Photographer collection:

Last updated 08/19/2008