My first budget SLR revisited

[dee]

I have just taken another look at a pair of chrome '' Prinzflex Super TTL '' cameras , bought a while ago on e-bay , and revisiting my 1st 1972 SLR .
Made by Chinon or Cosina , depending upon who I ask .

Another body is expected , but this time in heavily scrstched black - as mine was .

What I did not know was that unlike the rival Zodel version , it was painted over chrome !!?? To say the least, it did not wear well !

I was tempted by the unusual shutter speed dial on the front of the camera , making alterations easy , which may have been a legacy of the Rigoh sourced Prinzflex TTL with the same unusual feature .

However , in retrospect it is a sturdy , heavy , very noisy camera , and the meter still in each example still works accurately.

i guess , I wanted a Spotmatic , but that was more money , but was well satisfied with my expensive camera . A Praktica Super TL body was tinny by comparison .

Later , it was Minolta SRT and Rokors , but the size and shape of the Prinzflex shaped my SLR preferences ever since .

It is still a viable photographic tool , and , as budget amateur camera , is ironcally , likely to have had an easier life than many '' better '' SLRs .

I am going to put a film through it , and try the 50mm f 1.7 Auto Reflectar lense on my Leica Dig 3 .

 

[Livesteamer]

Enjoy. And Spotmatics are still quite nice altho I prefer the unmetered H3v/SV that came before it. My middle age eyes work well with the H3v focusing screen and there's lots of wonderful lenses available. Joe

 

[dee]

I have just recieved a black Prinzflex STTL body with much of the chrome scratched off . Very dirty too . It's not to be used however , just an excercise in pure nostalgia -

i have a pair of chrome STTLs with the correct case and lense , but my 1st new Prinzflex STTL SLR was black.

i rather roughly acrylic painted over the scratched chrome , not to attempt to make it iike new or restore it , just to get an impression iof how it was to me [ I had touched in mine too ! ]

It works fine , the shutter speeds sound right , and the self timer works .
Not so the meter .
But . I have been searching e-bay for a black STTL for some years , and this is the 1st to turn up I guess most have been scrapped !
It's fascinating to place it alongside my black Minolta SRT - it's eventual replacement .

Size and weight are very similar , but the STTL is NOISY !!! - and I still prefer big SLR cameras !

in all £9.50 of quiet reminiscence .

 

[dee]

Now the hat trick - by chance the first Prinzflex body turned up @ £11 body in nice condition , but dead meter .
I now have al three versions .