On my trip through my feed reader this morning I ran across a post by Jason Kottke talking about how he recently picked up a Kodak Duaflex II camera in hopes of taking some digital shots through the lenses of the old camera.
It just so happens I had sitting on my shelf as decoration (has a few cracks and dings that prevented me from trying to use it for its intended purposes) a Duaflex III. 4 minutes with the cardboard insert from an Amazon shipment for the sides of the hood and the last bits of a roll of gaffers tape and I have my own TTV ‘contraption’.
Operation is a bit awkward given I’m not using an SLR, but a smaller Nikon 995, and I need to spend some time looking for the right focus and zoom settings to get the best results, but it shows promise. Here’s one of my first test shots (no out of camera processing):
I only had the time to give it a try and see if I can focus it and if I’ve cut off any glare (pretty good). Hopefully I’ll have some time this week to take it out for some real use.
You realize, of course, that you’re shooting through the viewing lens, which on these cameras was crap compared to the film lens. (Sometimes crap period, but on the better TLRs, such as the Yashicas, the film lens was often pretty good, and on the Rollei and Mamiya TLRs it was excellent.)
This was probably a 620 rollfilm camera; if you can find some old 620 spools, you could transfer the film and backing from some rolls of 120 (which pro camera stores still stock) and actually use the Duaflex as a camera instead of a periscope.
Oh I realize that is what is being done…
And it is a 620 roll film camera. Though in this case the Duaflex isn’t in working order, one of the rivets that holds the mirror in place has popped and the plastic rim that holds the viewing lens in place is cracked and crumbling, so up until its newfound life as a filter to create noise and distortion it was just decoration on my shelf.
very cool! would you post more ttv photos if you have them? I purchased a duaflex III this weekend and am looking forward to doing som ttv photos, as well as using it for it’s intended purpose. I just ordered 120 film that is on a 620 spool from http://www.filmforclassics.com/ – I’m pumped and can’t wait to try it. there is a tutorial out there for modifying 120 film spools for your 620 camera if you’re interested. I’d post the link, but it’s on my other computer.
anyway, very cool – please post more duaflex III photos if you can.