brown Bakelite plastic Twin Lens Reflex shooter built between 1949 - 1964. On the right a Kodak Duaflex IV
TLR made around 1949 - 1960. Both cameras used the 620 format Roll-film.
I love the "monitor style" viewing window at the top of the cameras. These cameras were made to be held at chest or waist level, they are a fixed focus lens camera so the image in the viewer is only for framing purposes. Shooting with this viewfinder can be a bit tricky because light is bounced off a mirror making the image reversed. Shooting Tip - look at your subject point camera in that direction then look down at the view finder to make small corrections looking through the viewfinder (remember panning or tilting moves image the opposite direction). |
and push button shutter release are on the right side of the camera. The camera has 3 different f stops
f8, f11, and f16. On the left side of the body a slide switch marked"INST" and "LONG" allows you to choose
between two shutter speeds, instant for daylight and long for dim light.
There are two screw holes that allow you to mount a flash gun for indoor photos and there is also a tripod
thread connector on the bottom of the camera, this is helpful while shooting since the shutter speed on "INST"
is around 1/30sec. The Duaflex line was made between 1947 and 1960, it had four models, I through IV.
It takes 6 x 6cm (or 2.25 x 2.25 inch) pictures on 620 film. You can substitute Kodak 120 film, it is the same
size as the 620 but is not as hard to find although it does require re-spooling on to the 620 film spools.
Information about that process can be found on the internet.
From the images I have seen on Flickr the photos produced by this camera have a little vignetting and
nice bokeh in close ups, at infinity focus is a little soft which would make these cameras good Lomo shooters.
The finish is ribbed to help grip the body as these cameras are made to be held with two hands at chest or
waist level.
Like the Kodak it has two speeds, this one marked "INST" and "TIME". The shutter speed is approximately
1/60 sec on "INST" and bulb on "TIME". A single aperture is set at f11. It also used the 620 film like the Kodak.
The Argus 75 was an economical medium format camera with a modified TLR viewing window, like the
Kodak the top lens is the single element, meniscus lens is mounted in front of a large mirror that reflected
the image up to a large glass viewfinder. On the Argus 75 the shooting lens is a fixed focus, two-element,
Argus made Lomar 75mm lens. It focused from about 6 feet to infinity.
This one came with an slip on portrait lens adapter (silver) that would allow you to focus in the 3 - 4 foot range.
Like the Kodak this camera has a tripod mount on the bottom. Interestingly the camera strap was built
right into the camera body, fortunately it is still in excellent condition.
from 1910 - 1950's.