Rolleiflex Medium Format cameras have been in extensively used in photojournalism since the 1940s. They are small, relatively light and can be preset (if needed) to an approximate focusing distance for quick snapping. Most importantly, since the TLRs have a waist level focusing screen, one can identify the subject without the latter knowing that you are taking a photo. That makes for candid shots.
I have used TLR cameras in street photography since the 1980s. While I have a number of them, my three favorites are a 1948 Rolleiflex, a 1966 Minolta Autocord III, and the Yashica 124 also from the 1960s. For studio portraiture, I use a Mamiya Professional with bellows and a Minolta Autocord CDS which has a light meter but is too bulky for hanging around my neck.
Here are the Rolleiflex, the Autocord CDS and the Autocord III. Note the modifications I have made for quick photo taking -- I have added longer plungers to the shutter button, replaced the hood on the CDS with a Yashica hood and internal fresnel for a brighter viewfinder, and made a hood on the III using three metal rings from old filters:
While all three of them have delightful lenses, the Autocords have an elliptic sliding focusing system with a knob under the lens compared to the left hand rotating knob on the Rolleiflex and Yashica. With some practice, one can hold the camera in the right hand, slide the focusing knob right or left with the middle finger for the perfect focus, then press the shutter with the index finger.
The concept was not new. In the 1950s and 60s, Meopta, a Czechoslovakian company, made a TLR called Flexaret that was widely used during the Soviet days. It was the first TLR to use the sliding focusing mechanism. But the aluminum bodied camera did not have professional features nor the endurance for heavy use.
Here is a close-up to the Autocord sliding focusing design:
So, I do not need my left hand to go through these steps and take a photo. Unless I am holding the leach of my dog with my left arm!
And that is what I did last weekend. I knew the downtown was getting ready for an open air art show and my dog needs his daily early morning walk. So, there I went trying to control a 106 pound Akita who pulls like a pony on the first day of spring, and hoping to snap a few photos with my Autocord III.
It was soon after sunrise when we got there. The tall trees around the town square filtered the early rays making me choose an aperture of 3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/60th second.
The photo at the top of this page is what a medium format film delivers – the wide opened lens blurred the background smoothly and the subject, a cowboy taking a break is in focus surrounded by a tonal range progression that fits his pensive mood. I did crop the photo, especially the top of the chair on the left to give contournal contrast to the smooth lines. Also the top of the trees were amorphous and distracting.
A few minutes later, I notice a man helping a Western dressed woman unfold a blanket. With my dog pulling enough to un-steady my camera holding, I tried to capture that movement. The man is at the front and left of the woman, his legs showing, but most of his body and face are covered under that blanket. Interestingly, the folds of the blanket give a resemblance of a funny face almost where the head of the man is supposed to be. Here is the ghostly illusion I noticed when I printed the photo:
Here is the full photo, this time with an almost Sonnar like background swirl!
I like the movement in this photo, as the woman and the water fountain in the background give the contrast of immobility.
As with all mechanical cameras, taking a photo makes the photographer one with the tool. Now add to that a massive Akita on his first morning walk not eager to stop walking, and a TLR that had to be held in one hand to focus, click the shutter and rewind the film!
But when I look at the photos, I know why I still love the challenge of TLR photography and the joy of having my fourth dog in the past 40 years dragging me in the streets!
October 9, 2021
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2021
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