Ciro-flex

[gene m]

<a href="http://westfordcomp.com/classics/ciroflexfeb08/index.html"> From the

40's. <a>

[craig_supplee]

That's the kind of B&W pictures I'M talkin about! Those are Great!

[minhnguyen9113]

Gene

 

The camera looks so simple but the pictures are beautiful !!! Any camera will be a good one in your hand. Thanks

[Andy Collins]

Nice shots, Gene. You seem to be able to make what could be the most mundane scenes (if I shot them!) look like artwork. Very nice!

[richard_oleson]

Bravo! I keep recommending the Ciro-Flex as one of the best cameras to try out Medium Format, but it's photos like those that can persuade people that it's a serious camera despite its low price and modest appearance. Thanks Gene!

[mark_hahn]

capable camera nicely used! good photos!

[ralf_j.]

Great stuff. The texture on the checkered wall is my favorite.

[patrick j dempsey]

Loving the shot of the bricked-in windows with ivy growing over them!

[johnw436]

I wonder if Josh still loves Elise? (spray paint on wall)

[jeff bishop]

I've had a couple of the ciroflex cameras. I bought one a few months ago just for the shutter and lens, which I put in a lens board for the Crown Graphic 2x3.

[Troll]

As I recall, they were bought by Graflex who continued to produce the same cameras upgraded cosmetically.

[Andrew in Austin]

Yep, Ciroflex was later bought out by Graflex. Excellent shots of all the hussle and bussle in beautiful Holyoke and S. Hadley.

[classcamera]

Hello,

 

Yes, the Ciro-Flex is a real sleeper of of a camera. I have gone through many and slod them to happy students. If you are set on getting one though, try to find the later models, as most (not all) will have the Rapax shutter. The Velloastigmat, is the same lens put on Ansco Automatic Reflex' and is a very good performer. What it lacks in sharpness, they made up for in coverage, and so at 85mm it takes the hot spot form the center, so the edges are nice and sharp. Also, as a three element Cook Triplet, it gives very good contrast as shown in the pictures. Not bad for a 30 dollar camera. Also, these cameras are pretty simple and can be worked on for around 50 dollars.

[gene m]

Mark. Don't try and make a Ciro flex collector out of me...please !!

[canfred]

This looks like a decent and well made camera and a very capable lens. AS always Gene brings out the best of it, great shots.

[Charles_Webster]

I still shoot with the Ciro-flex Model F I inherited from my father more than 50 years ago. My camera was made in '53, and I've been using it off and on since '64.

 

The Raptar lens is amazing sharp and the Rapax shutter remains fairly accurate today.

 

Thanks for the pictures, Gene, they are up to your usual standard of excellence.

 

<Chas>

[rogerwb]

I'm with Mr Oleson as a promoter of these cameras. My first TLR was a Model F, which I still have. Simple, sturdy and the shutter is easy to work on when needed.<div></div>

[tony_lockerbie]

Wow Gene, you are certainly on a roll with your picture taking at the moment.

The cold weather must agree with you! Like to see your complete TLR collection, must be a healthy one. Nothing like some textured boards for B&W photos.

 

Tony

[doug grosjean]

Hi Gene,

 

I'm another suppporter of the Ciro-Flex for a cheap but good entry into world of MF. It worked for me, my g/f's late father's CF is what gave me the bigger-film-is-better bug.

 

A couple additions to your page:

 

1. Ciro did make a 35mm camera, but I don't know any more than that. A Google search should find bunches of info on it.

 

2. I *think* I read somewhere that the CF production was around 250,000 units. Seems everybody has one in their attic. If price were based on quality of the results, and if not for the glut of CF units that just seem to keep oozing out of peole's attics, I'm sure they'd bring a better price than $30.

 

Doug Grosjean

[richard_oleson]

Ciro's 35mm (appropriately named the Ciro 35) does not have (for me) the charm of the CiroFlex.... in its day though it was an apt counterpart, a modest but capable coupled-rangefinder 35. The 35 neither began nor ended with Ciro: Ciro bought the dies for the Perfex "Cee-Ay 35" when Perfex bit the dust, and just gave it a light facelift. When Graflex bought Ciro, the 'Flex just got a mild facelift but the Ciro 35 got a real going over and emerged as the very pretty (but really no more capable, and ergonomically disappointing) Graphic 35.

[david_f._stein]

The Ciroflex is a great example of outstanding "low-tech" engineering. It could be made from lower-cost materials (i.e. less precisely machined) and lower-cost assembly labor, yet a solid performing product with some nice features like the fresnel and mirror, overall focusing quality.