Taron 35 III MX

At the heels of the classically styled Taron 35 I and II, in 1958, Taron introduced the Taron 35 III, marked as Taron MX, after which they paused till 1963 with the introduction of the meter-aided Taron Auto EE. The Taron VR is based on this model, with just slight changes.

Borrowed from the above page, Taron was a short-lived post-war Japanese manufacturer that sold cameras under its name as well as made cameras for other distributors, such as Hanimex, Fodor, Sears, Brumberger, Amica, Porst, Viceroy, Boots and BA camera, and supplied their NKS shutters for brands such as Mamiya, Fujica, Topcon, and Tougodo.

Taron made its first camera, the Taroflex TLR, in the early 1940s and held back for a decade till after the war. Then, it mainly made compact rangefinders and viewfinders until it caved out in the late 1960s. All of the Taron models I have require CPR, and perhaps that build quality was the reason for the company’s early demise. collection-appareils.fr also suggests a compact SLR, which does not appear anywhere else. The Taron cameras bear a strong resemblance to models made by Royal Cameras.

The camera has an exact sister named Robin 19, probably meant for another market/distributor. Taron cameras were sold in the US by Miller Outcalt, who also sold the Beauty 35 and the Westomat 35, and also via catalogue sales of Grayston-Robinson. Both companies are long gone.

The MX is a restyled version of the Taron 35, a tad larger but much heavier, with softer lines and a less angular top and body. It is simple to use; if needed, a link to the user manual is in the table below.

• The bright viewer has an added parallax frame, with a typical Taron smalish patch.
• The top has the lever winder, cold accessory shoe and a frame counter under a lens, self resseting upon closing of the back.
• A unique pop-up rewind crank. To erect, pull the arrow-marked tiny tab and fold back the crank. Once done, push back into place.
• The bottom has a large, as big as a battery cover, thumb button to release the rewind clutch. A memo film speed dial is on the other side.
• The focusing dial is on the lens assembly, closest to the body, assisted with a finger rest. Like other Taron cameras, the finger rest is dedicated to the left hand.
• Next dial is the aperture setting, with the synch selector and the self-timer lever.
• At the front is the shutter speed selector.
• All dials on this model are easy to reach, more than what can be said on other Japanese cameras of that generation.
• The shutter here is a Copal, not Taron’s MKS, that was used on most of their cameras.
• The front name tag is Taron MX, in a style that was followed by later models.