Old Non SLR, Non DSLR Cameras

Sandpatch

Senior Member
Found this in a random box the other day, a Kodak Reflex II. Did a little research and found that it was made between 1948 and 1954, that it takes 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" negative size (620) Film and that it could shoot up to 1/300 Sec.. It was a quality camera. I'm guessing that one lens is for taking the picture and the other lens is for looking through? Of course, you peer straight down into the collapsible box on top to see.

Kodak Reflex II- for upload.jpg
 

WayneF

Senior Member
I guess 1950 must be like the Civil War sometimes. :)

Yes, the top lens is for the viewfinder. It is called twin lens reflex, and they were popular (Rolleflex, Yashica, Mamiya, etc). The design makes interchangeable lens difficult. :)

620 and 120 film are the same film, but the spools are different. If you have a couple of 620 spools (for takeup too), then you can (in the dark room) respool 120 film onto a 620 spool.
 

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
Found this in a random box the other day, a Kodak Reflex II. Did a little research and found that it was made between 1948 and 1954, that it takes 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" negative size (620) Film and that it could shoot up to 1/300 Sec.. It was a quality camera. I'm guessing that one lens is for taking the picture and the other lens is for looking through? Of course, you peer straight down into the collapsible box on top to see.

View attachment 99550

Yes, as someone else mentioned that's what is called a twin lens reflex, or TLR camera. Same basic idea as an SLR, inasmuch as the viewfinder consists of a lens similar to the one that will take the picture, but with its image bounced off of a mirror the word “reflex” refers to the mirror) and focused above on a focusing screen just as in an SLR.

The difference between a TLR and an SLR, of course, is that an SLR uses the same lens for the viewfinder that is also used to take the picture while a TLR uses a separate, but similar lens, focus-coupled to the primary lens.
 

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
I guess 1950 must be like the Civil War sometimes. :)

Yes, the top lens is for the viewfinder. It is called twin lens reflex, and they were popular (Rolleflex, Yashica, Mamiya, etc).
The design makes interchangeable lens difficult. :)

620 and 120 film are the same film, but the spools are different. If you have a couple of 620 spools (for takeup too), then you can (in the dark room) respool 120 film onto a 620 spool.

Not so much difficult as expensive. On the few TLRs I've ever seen that had interchangeable lenses, the lenses, for obvious reasons, came in pairs. You'd have an interchangeable assembly that consisted of the two lenses, and their focusing mechanisms linked together. Since this assembly consisted of two lenses instead of one, along with the mechanism to link them together; it would obviously be more costly than a comparable lens for an SLR.
 
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