Since my experience with the Yashica 44LM, found here, I have been on the lookout for a ’proper’ 120 film TLR but have been put off by how expensive a decent one is currently. Then a few weeks ago I came across the Flexora, a basic but working TLR. The Flexora was produced by the Lipca company of Germany during the 1950’s and is one in a long line of iterations of affordable alternative TLR’s, if the internet is to be believed.
When I received mine on initial examination it appeared to be in good working condition with leather case and lens caps. However, and there is always one of those with a camera of this age, there were a few issues.
First up, the focussing in the viewfinder was off. Focussing is achieved by swinging the armature , located underneath the ‘taking’ lens, from left to right which takes you from 1 meter to infinity. On mine it didn’t matter where the armature was it would only focus closeup. Time to get the screwdrivers out and take took off the viewfinder hood which, which is held on by four small screws, this revealed the source of the problem. The mirror had come out of its holder and so was out of position. With it back in place the camera now focussed correctly. ☺️
Second issue was the Pronor S shutter. They range from 1 second to a blazingly fast 1/300th . Putting a test film through the camera revealed that mine seemed to range from about 2 and a bit seconds to 1/100th. You’ll also notice the interesting f stops the Flexcora has, f3.5-25. Of course you can choose inbetween values if you so desire. Nice!
My particular Flexora has a Ennar 3.5f 7.5cm lens which apparently make it a Flexcora II🧐
The film door latch concerned me initially, it didn’t seem very secure. However I needn’t have been concerned at all, particularly as I had it housed in its rather attractive leather case. The screw thread secures it into its case but can also be used to secure it to a tripod.
The Build quality is clearly not the same as my Yashica 44 but its not far away.
One of the things I like with these TLR’s is the large bright screens, perhaps a reminder of my advancing age/eyesight. The one on the Flexcora doesn’t disappoint, it’s a real joy to look through. Of course you can choose not to use it and ‘shoot from the hip,’ by using the usefull pull up frame viewer.
The film wind on dial has to be pulled out so that the film holder can be taken out and loaded.
The hood of the viewfinder has this ‘depth of view’ table which you can use to work out what will be in focus at any given aperture.
Magnifier comes as standard.
One of the reasons for my interest in a TLR that uses 120 film was that a while back I came to have a small amount of expired film, mentioned here . So what better reason could I have in acquiring the Flexcora! Not only that but one that would naturally overexpose expired film.
Yes, August 1965!
You can just see some rust on the film spool, later that would be significant.
Taking the film loader out and loading it was straight forward, putting it back and making sure the door closed securely was a little more complicated but achieved.
Now all I needed was a special location to try this film/camera combination out. I was in North Wales last week and found myself on the filming location for the Prisoner, considered a 1960’s cult classic of British tv by some, Portmeirion. Wow! As I looked around the many brightly coloured buildings and beautiful blue sky I wondered how black and white film would do justice to such an amazing location.
I planned to develop the film, today, using the same procedure as I would when developing Ilford HP5+.
11ish Minutes in Fomadon R09 developer
30 Seconds Ilford Stop
7 1/2 Minutes Ilford Rapid Fix
5 Minutes Wash
1 Minute Rinse Aid
Remember I mentioned the rust around the film spool? Well, when I rolled the film out inside the changing bag to take the film off the backing paper I couldn’t. Something had happened, perhaps some dampness or maybe just the age of the film, but I could not pull the backing paper off the film. So with no real options open, I simply loaded the film with its backing paper onto a film reel and put it inside the developing tank.
I then mixed up a fresh batch of my chemicals, just in case the backing paper contaminated them, and proceeded as detailed above. As I opened the film developing tank the film backing paper pulled away to reveal 12 images🥳🥳
The next challenge was to scan the negatives on my Epson V370 which doesn’t support 120 film in its film carrier.🤔I scanned them as I would a document and then did a curves adjustment by inverting the black and white points. This is what I got.
Sadly, evidence of the backing paper is very evident.
All the images were taken at f25 and 1/100th second except the last image.
I forgot to wind the film on in the next two images which make for ‘interesting’ double exposures.
The Ennar 3.5f 7.5cm lens demonstrates is ability for sharpness from about 5 feet through 12 feet with focus falling off rapidly either end set at f 25
I really like the image above.
It will take some time to remove all the mess of these images, maybe another post another time about how I do that!
For the last image I focused at 1 Meter
I am delighted that the camera worked and all images developed. Testimony to the endurance of the Verichrome Pan which clearly had experienced some extreme conditions.
The camera was a real joy to use and caused some considerable discussion when using it .
So I now have not only a 120 film TLR but one that natively supports expired film out of the box. Awesome!
arhphotographic 