OT: Have you ever seen a folding large-format SLR with focal-plane shutter?

[Roman]

Me neither...

Look here:

http://cgi.ebay.at/Zeiss-Ikon-Mirof...548371906QQcategoryZ32933QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Roman

 

[wlewisiii]

That's interesting, but I'd rather get my hands on a Super D Graflex for that kind of fun.
(edit - no, it doesn't fold up quite that much, but it still folds up into a somewhat smaller box... 😉 )

William

 

[DougK]

Wow. Ugly, but a good kind of ugly. I think I can hear the mirror slap from here.

 

[Nick R.]

That is so cool. One of you guys has to grab it.

William, I had a Super D. It was like shooting with the box your speed Graphic came in.

 

[wlewisiii]

Oh, I can believe that easily. I just don't think the Zeiss would be any better. Then again, the National Graphic beats both of them in the wierd camera department... 😀

William

 

[Roman]

What would you want that thing for? It does not even come with film cassettes (and probably it uses glass-plate negatives, anyway, in some weird format like 10x15 or 13x18, judging from the focal length of the lens).
Or are you turning into a collector?


Roman

 

[RJBender]

2 more in the USA $170+

2 more in the USA $170+

I found 2 more in the USA:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7548465182
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7547163364
This one didn't meet the reserve:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7543472672

R.J.

 

[ZeissFan]

There were two versions of the Miroflex: 6x9 and 9x12.

These are sort of common. I have to confess that I have three of them (9x12). One is simply a parts camera and to disassemble so I can replace the shutter curtains on the other two cameras.

The one pictured in the first auction has a very unusual lens: f/2.7 16cm Tessar. Most of the 9x12 models have an f/4.5 15cm Tessar.

The first one I bought cost me just $58, and came with nine never-used film holders, the owner's manual, a neck strap, a tattered case and some other stuff.

The most unusual thing is that the top speed is 1/2000 -- very unusual for a camera that large and certainly unusual for a camera from the 1930s.

Once I replace the shutter curtains, I have some b/w film ready to give it a go.

In the meantime, I've just started work on a National Graflex II -- a very bizarre little camera. When folded up, it looks like a cookie tin, especially now because I had to strip off all of the leather.

 

[Seele]

First made by Contessa-Nettel, the Miroflex was one of the designs which continued into the Zeiss Ikon period, and was one of the cameras favoured by contemporary newspaper photographers, along with the very popular Goerz Anschutz. Think of it as a dual-purpose camera:: pitch the hood and you get a reflex; fold it down and use the frame finder you get a direct-vision folding "press camera". Alfred Eisenstaedt did a lot of his early work with one.

 

[Toby]

I was going to bid but I heard the motorwind is really hard to get hold of 🙂

 

[Daniel Unkefer]

I used to own a 4x5 Auto Graflex, which I remember I enjoyed playing with. Now I have acquired two Plaubel Makiflex cameras, the Standard and Automatic models, which are sort of a similar type of camera. Of course they don't fold-up like the Zeiss, but I have taken the Makiflex Standard on long hikes through various public parks, and they work very well, being not at all too much to carry around. These cameras have a counter on the side of the body, one body has been fired 27 thousand times, the other 32 thousand times. That's hard use! Both are functioning perfectly.

I just picked up a very clean Plaubel Makina I from CUPOG on e#%y. I'm thinking it might be good for traveling around when I want really portable medium format.
The Model I has no rangefinder, that came along with the model II. But I can use an accessory rangefinder, does anybody have a suggestions? Long ago I owned a very old Leitz rangefinder, which fit vertically into a shoe.