Twin Lens Ephemera:
Twin Lens Ephemera:
The various models of the Czech made Flexarit are good cameras.
At one time Ricoh made the Diacord, also a good camera.
The Yashica A had a three element lens and "red window wind". Not the fastest camera to operate but cheap, and some wedding shooters liked the fact that the three element lens wasn't all that sharp. The Yashica D, Yashicamat, 12, 24, and 124, and 124G were "fancier" cameras with sharp four element lenses. The 24 only takes 220 film which can be a problem now. The 12, 124, and 124G accept 120 film.
Some camera models by the various companies came with selenium or CDS built in meters which are either dead or take mercury batteries. It isn't worth buying the kit to use currently available batteries only to discover that the meter is dead. The selenium cells are mostly all dead. Use the dead meter as a bargaining chip, not as a meter.
Some older Rolleiflexes had uncoated lenses and you can get very nice effects with them. I used to carry one on wedding shoots along with a coated lens model. Once you learn what shots benefit from the uncoated lens you'll be glad you have it, and they're cheap.
Some older Roleiflexes have 4 element f/2.8 Tessar lenses. These tend to be a bit soft towards the corners compared to the 5 and 6 element optics.
Back in the 50's and 60's we had the 6 element Zeiss Planar vs. the 5 element Schneider Xenotar arguments. Both were available on the same camera models. It was generally accepted that the Planar was a hair sharper, the Xenotar a bit more contrasty. Then there was the 5 element East German Zeiss Jena Biometer, also an f/2.8. These are rarely seen in the U.S., being made mostly for the East German market.
The Rollei-Wide was an F model equipped with a 55mm Zeiss Distagon and the Tele-Rolleiflex had a 135mm Sonnar.
Zeiss Mutars were high quality converter lenses to give moderate wide angle or telephoto coverage when used in front of the standard lenses.
F/3.5 lense were 75mm focal length while f/2.8 lenses were 80mm focal length.
The hood on all but the oldest Rolleiflexes, the Rolleicords, and the model T which was a simplified late model with an f/3.5 Tessar, had a little mirror in the hood that flipped down when you used the sportsfinder in the hood. An eyepiece lens just below the sportsfinder's eyepiece let you focus on the center of the ground glass. The hood on the T didn't have that little mirror. Late model Rollieflexes had interchangeble hoods so you could use a pentaprism finder and Mamiya made a porroflex finder that would fit the Rolleis. It used front surface mirrors instead of a pentaprism. It was cheaper, lighter in weight, and not as bright as the pentaprism.
Memorize the above. You will be tested at 10 AM Friday.
