Firstflex

[Berndt]

I hope, I do not become annoying with my TLR stuff, but here is another interesting ( and mysterious ? ) japanese early postwar TLR, which I got from an auction last week.

As I recently got a Middl Flex and now a Firstflex, I just need to find a Lastflex now ;D

I couldn't find much about my new find and all pictures of Firstflexes, which I found in the internet look different from mine. The only hint is the box. My TLR came with the ( hopefully original ) box and "Model II" written on it. But I have no idea, what it exactly means or when my Firstflex has been made.

It has not been in really good condition when I got it, but the shutter has been still working, which is always the most important thing. I decided to disassemble the lenses completely and it was worth, doing that. The lenses are clean like new now

But ... it took me three days, to get all parts together again ... hahaha ... and the focus adjusted. Different from the Middl Flex, the lenses are synced by cog wheels on this one. However, if somebody needs to know how to do it, he/she can ask me now.

And here it is:


Firstflex by bokuwanihongasuki, on Flickr

If anybody has more information about this camera, please don't let me die benighted

[mickeyobe]

berndt,

Behold The Firstflex.
Courtesy of Google.

www.google.ca/search?q=Firstflex+camera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Mickey

[Berndt]

Google is the first to check of course ... but not many good sources there. The best is always Barry Toogoods TLR HP: www.tlr-cameras.com/
The rest probably just copied from there.

It seems, that there are a few variations of this camera, but none of them does exactly look like mine ... or just one. It shows up if you try to google pictures of "firstflex", but it seems to be a dead link. Klicking on the picture, it leads to an old japanese blog with no useful information.

Interesting, that the Firstflex is mentioned at the end of the camera manual of the "first six" www.cameramanuals.org/pdf_files/first_camera_works.pdf
However, no model described there, would match MY Firstflex.

[Berndt]

And ... getting the first test film back from the lab today, this camera seems to be still capable of taking decent pictures


My lovely wife by bokuwanihongasuki, on Flickr

[mickeyobe]

"And ... getting the first test film back from the lab today, this camera seems to be still capable of taking decent pictures "

With lovely subjects like that any camera would strain itself to make good picures.

Mickey

[Berndt]

Thanks Mickey I will forward your kind words to the right address

[daveh]

It's amazing the number of different camera makes and names.

No light leaks on this one Berndt.

[ewu]

Thanks for sharing! I haven't see it before!

[col]

berndt the camera and results look top class!