Baby Rolleiflex TLR

Picture lens: Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:3.5 f=6 cm

Ground glass screen lens: Heidoskop - Anastigmat 1:2.8 f=6 cm

Compur shutter T B 1 2 5 10 25 50 100 300

Film advance one frame and shutter clocked by crank.

Film format 4 x 4 cm

Baby Rolleiflex

Format 4x4

Film 127

Taking lens: Schneider Kreutznach 1:3.5 60mm

Waist level viewfinder lens: Heidosmat 1:2.8 60mm

Ground glass viewfinder screen 4x4, with pop up magnfier

Focus dial 1M 1.2 1.5 2 3 5 10 infinity

Compur shutter B, 4 8 15 30 60 125 250 500

Flash sync plug

Edited November 22, 2020 by MTC Photography

Wow, never seen one as old as that first one. I've got a Yashica 44, which is nice, but no Rolleiflex. I think the big thing for a brief time was Superslides, which would have been a nice step up from 35mm.

I have a Yashica 44A that currently has a roll of respooled HP5+ in it. I hope to finish it soon.

The super slides from that format were fun, although I didn't have the Yashica when 127 slide film was available. An interesting fact about the 127 format: in a late 50's or maybe early 60's photography magazine the writer was predicting that 127 was "the format of the future".

How baby Rolleiflex shutter works

at the right hand side of the lens, there is a small lever

Pull up the lever until it click stop

The same lever acts as a shutter release, press this lever down

the shutter fires

I did not know they made a model with crank advance. I have a baby gray with knob advance which is more like a cord than a flex. It is fun to shoot but 127 film is very expensive.

Yes, even the pre-war Baby Rolleiflex (like the first one pictured) was crank advance. I once owned one.

I knew someone back around 1970 who had a later version and it seemed quite nice. But before that I had a Sawyer's Mark IV (alas, stolen in 1967, aka Topcon) that I thought rather nicer, with a sharp 2.8 lens and a well behaved viewfinder. The shutter and aperture were coupled, allowing a very quick proto-program mode once you set the EV. Those 127 super slides came out very nicely, though as a kid my budget was largely nonexistent, most film arriving for Christmas, along with mailers, and I had to be sparing and not very experimental,. It was always Ektachrome, and now all faded to near monochrome. But I still remember that camera, my first really good one, with fondness. Good sharp contrasty images.

 

Eta I also did shoot some Verichrome, and it was quite nice, but balked at development cost when I got my own. The camera itself had been a gift from a relative, which explains why I could have a nice camera but some trouble supporting it.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Matthew Currie

Speaking of the Baby Rollei my gray 4x4 has developed film transport problems. At first it was intermittent but now chronic as I run a paper backing test roll through it just winds to the end never cocking the shutter. Not sure if there is an easy fix or not.