Rare Mystery SLR.

tunalegs said:
Was it located in Australia? That might explain how it escaped my notice. I don't think they were ever sold in the U.S. so I watched ebay Canada and UK, where I know they had been sold. I paid more for shipping from England than I did for the camera itself, I had feared a bidding war because the last one I saw, without lens, ended up going for rather a lot of money. In this case, rarity does not = $$$, there were only two others bidding against me.
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Yes on the Australian eBay. its packed in a box somewhere, I'll have to go and dig it up later. I thought it might be cool to put other lenses on, but the exakta ones one fit completely due to the different aperture linkages on it.
 
nhchen said:
Yes on the Australian eBay. its packed in a box somewhere, I'll have to go and dig it up later. I thought it might be cool to put other lenses on, but the exakta ones one fit completely due to the different aperture linkages on it.
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Will they not mount? Or is it just incompatible with the aperture lever thing? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
 
So I got curious and searched for information on the web. That camera has only two shutter speeds? 1/125 and B?

Perfect for iso 100 film and sunny 16 :)
 
bucs said:
So I got curious and searched for information on the web. That camera has only two shutter speeds? 1/125 and B?

Perfect for iso 100 film and sunny 16 :)
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Lol ... the original one trick pony! :p
 
tunalegs said:
Will they not mount? Or is it just incompatible with the aperture lever thing? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
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I just checked again, I got it the other way around. The exakta lenses I have do mount it, but its lens doesn't mount on the exakta slr. I also tried with a topcon lens, it almost mounts but the tab doesn't click in completely to secure the lens.

Here's my one:


Firstflex 35

nathan
 
Interesting.

The known lens numbers run from the 10XXX range into the 13XXX range, which also suggests around 3000 units. I have to wonder why production was so low, given how long these cameras appeared in catalogs.

Nhchen, I'm hoping the lens will at least mount in my exakta-canon adapter so I can try it out on digital. If the camera functions well enough I'll probably shoot a roll of film through it as soon as I can too.
 
this Tokiwa Seiki Pentaflex camera has a behind the lens leaf shutter and not a focal plane shutter.
 
Well it is here today. It is basically functional, but both lens and camera need some minor attention. It might take a while to get the lens together again because a filter ring dent is complicating disassembly (some ham-hand apparently tried to take it apart before hence why it needs fixing in the first place).
 
Ok, so here we are. First day with the Firstflex 35.

Pentacon 3.5/30 mounted:


Pentacon 3.5/30 on Firstflex 36 by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Fits just fine. I have to imagine that the Tokinon lens's one-way compatibility was probably planned. Exakta lenses, and T-mount lenses could be mounted on the Firstflex, but Firstflex lenses can't be mounted on Exas/Exaktas.


Firstflex 35 shutter by Berang Berang, on Flickr

The shutter works just like the shutter in an Exa. The mirror swings up, and is followed by a capping section, which then fits against the back of the mirror sealing light out. Only in this case, both swing back down automatically.

Then it was time to do some cleaning:


In pieces by Berang Berang, on Flickr

The viewfinder was filthy with haze and specks. The exposure counter didn't work. The viewfinder was easy to take care of. I just had to clean all the crumbling foam out of the pentaprism housing. I replaced it with strip of packing foam for now. Blew out the focusing screen and cleaned the pentaprism's glass surfaces and the eyepiece.

The exposure counter doesn't seem to be repairable. There is too much "slop" (for lack of a better term) and no apparent way to adjust it out, not even in the primitive Exa way of just bending the linkage until play is removed.


Tokinon 2.8/45 lens. by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Lens was quite fiddly. It is a front element focus Tessar (I think? the rear element is pretty thick if it's only a single element). Somebody had absolutely wrenched the front off, pulling one of the stop screws out. But I got it cleaned up and put back together.

Frustratingly this lens also won't fit on my Exakta-Canon adapter. But it will fit on an Exakta extension tube, which can then be fitted to the adapter! So I took some close up photos with the thing.


Tokinon 2.8/45 test by Berang Berang, on Flickr


tokinon 2.8/45 test by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Not too bad for what is either a three or four element lens shot wide open!

Sparkly boke' quality:


tokinon 2.8/45 boke by Berang Berang, on Flickr

I'll be running a roll through as soon as time permits.
 
I'm going to take a break from RFF for a little while, but I thought I would update this before then. After the various minor repairs and cleaning above, I loaded a roll of Ektar and went out for an afternoon of putting the Firstflex through its paces. I looked high and low online for examples of photos taken with this camera or its lens, and found just a couple of underexposed low-res shots on flickr. In the entire world, that seemed to be it. So I was curious what I would get.

The lens is pretty much what you'd expect for a Japanese made 2.8/45 on any typical fixed lens RF coming out of the country at the time. Decently sharp from f/5.6 down, but noticeably soft in the corners at larger apertures. Plenty of contrast, and some slightly swirly boke' complete the package.


there by Berang Berang, on Flickr


dog line by Berang Berang, on Flickr


rust in the sky by Berang Berang, on Flickr


saab by Berang Berang, on Flickr


pole by Berang Berang, on Flickr


Tokinon Test by Berang Berang, on Flickr


Tokinon 2.8/45 boke' by Berang Berang, on Flickr


cycling by Berang Berang, on Flickr

There is a slight light leak coming from the bottom of the camera, I'll have to figure that out, then I'll probably shoot another roll of film.

The fixed shutter speed limits one's creativity with DOF somewhat, but I guess that just makes it bit more straightforward to shoot with since you really only have to think about the f/stop when exposing. It's a pretty fun experience, though the lack of strap lugs is rather annoying (what's left of the everready case I trust even less than my hands for carrying).
 
Thanks for the update... Nice project refurbishing this rig, and the results look pretty nice. :)
 
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