Taron VR

Taron was a third-class camera maker that existed for a decade and a half in Japan’s post-war. Looking at the names Nikon, Minolta, and Canon as a premier class and Ricoh, Petri, and Topcon in a league behind, the likes of Taron, Neoca, and Aires are far at the list’s end. See the other Taron pages for more information.

After the Taron III, known as the Taron MX, Taron issued a similar-looking model under the VR name. True to Taron’s tradition, it had sister models, the V18, Supra V18, perhaps made for a specific distributor or market. From here onwards, Taron went wild with camera designs such as the vertical Taron Chic, the odd-looking Taron Eymax, Taron Eye, Taron JL, and the identical camera under many hats, the Taron EE Auto variants. It seems that Traon had designers hired on a revolving-door basis.

The VR was succeeded by the sisters Taron VL / Super LM, which had an added meter. Later, Taron changed the style again. All that had happened in the short decade and a half of their existence.

Admittedly, the Taron bloodline is confusing, showing many names scattered over just a few identical models.

All Taron cameras I have, either under their own name or rebrands, malfunction in one way or another, unlike other Japanese cameras of that era that function seamlessly either off the shelf or with some minor inducement. The questionable quality could be the reason for Taron’s early demise.

As with other Taron models, little is found online or in print on the VR, indicating its meagre popularity. The models sold on eBay, if any, fetch little money.

The VR is an updated MX, retaining most of its attributes, with a slightly restyled body and top. It is said that the ‘V’ is meant to mark the 5^th generation, avoiding the number 4, which is considered unlucky in Japan, just like the number 8 in the Chinese culture.

The VR had two models marked the same; the early model had the pop-up rewind crank carried over from the MX, and the later, VR II, used a traditional rewind crank. The manual link below refers to the VR II. The VR uses a Citizen MV shutter, whereas the MX had a Copal, and both had abandoned the Taron own NKS shutters.

• The top carries the lever winder with an embedded film speed memo dial. A self-resetting frame counter showing under a lens, a cold accessory shoe and, on my unit, a traditional crank lever rewind knob.
• Large and clear viewer with a parallax frame and a better rangefinder patch than the earlier models.
• The bottom has a mighty battery cover sized rewind clutch release. It could well be that Taron had designed the bottom to be part of a later model with a battery housing and had to plug it with an oversized button.
• On the lens assembly, the focusing dial is closest to the body, marked feet, being a US market model. A left-hand finger rest aids the dial.
• Next is the aperture dial, with an adjacent synch port, X/M selector and self-timer lever.
• At the front is the shutter speed dial, marked in the opposite direction from the MX.

The camera is not a great asset for the collector; it is just a nice way to decorate the shelf. For the shooter, it is a no-nonsense, no-frills camera. They are cheaply available on eBay, and some 100 Taron models are offered at any time, but the challenge is to find one that still has life in it.