Yesterday I added a new camera to my quiver. Well actually it’s not a new camera, in fact, its substantially older than I am. It’s a Zeiss Ikon Ikofelx Favorit, a Twin Lens Reflex Camera made sometime between 1957 and 1960. And its SO friggin’ cool.
Coming into winter, the summer’s creativity fading, I needed something different to keep me inspired. And it needed to be inexpensive. An antique camera seemed just the ticket, something far removed from autofocus and pixel counting. So I did a little research and settled on a Twin Lens Reflex camera. These beauties were at the peak of photographic technology from the 30s into the 60s. They have two lenses (thus “Twin”) the top is used for composing and focusing, the lower is the “taking” lens. Manual focus, manual film advance, manual exposure. There are lot of TLRs available, but just like today’s cameras, they vary a lot in quality. Top end TLRs like the Rolleiflex series still run well into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But other low-end models can be had for a few bucks. I wanted something in between and spent some time searching ebay and used camera internet shops, not finding anything that was quite right. So, I called my local used camera dealer and he happened to have a few in stock. I took a retired digital SLR and lens to trade, just in case I found something. And I did. 20 minutes later, my wallet only slightly lighter, I walked out with this camera, and 2 rolls of Black and White 120 film.
Last evening I shot through my first roll of film in a decade. It was awesome.
I’ll share some images and a more detailed opinion of the camera when I get the first rolls back from developing. No instant gratification here.
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