Sunday, March 24, 2013

Week #10 - The Duaflex IV and Tri-X

Designed, marketed and built (in Toronto, Canada) about 60 years ago by the Eastman Kodak Photographic company, this little Pseudo-TLR gained great popularity for its simple operation, light weight, pleasing design, and elegant looks.  Even the single element Meniscus lens is remarkably sharp!
Well getting a chance to shoot this camera for the 52-Rolls, 52-Weeks, 52-Cameras project, was a real treat.  The camera did what I expected it to do, and actually a bit more.  It took photos, but it is how the camera helped me create these wonderful images.  The film was a little overkill in bright daylight, being Kodak Tri-X 400ASA film, so I had to do a little finessing with it.  That Finessing was using a Wratten Gelatin #25 Cokin A filter over the lens so that I could control the amount of light entering the lens.
Sure enough, using the filter, and stand developing in Rodinal 1+100 it was the best choice to use!
The images, well, lets just say that they are remarkable in their own right.

So, without further adieu, here they are.  The photos (at least some of) from Week #10 using a Kodak Duaflex IV.

Kodak DUAFLEX iV Pseudo-TLR (Snapshot Camera)
Kodet ƒ12.7 75mm Meniscus Lens
1/60s Single Leaf Shutter
Kodak 620 Roll film






Until next time, keep those shutters firing!

6 comments:

  1. Some fine images. I have one of the Duaflexes. I think it is the II. I was surprised at the quality of image it is capable of making.

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  2. Thanks Ted. I'm quite happy with this little Duaflex. The nice thing about the II is that you (more often than not) got the Kodar lens instead of the Kodet lens, so you could focus, and use 3 different waterstop aperture settings.
    Unfortunately, I only have the iV without all the fancy controls. But it's not the camera, but the photographer..

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  3. These are some lovely images. I am interested in how you source your 620 film? Do you re-spool 120 onto a 620 spool? Thanks. Jerry

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    1. I cross spool my 120 onto a 620 spool. That said, though. I do have some 620 films.
      I just recently purchased 4 rolls from a friend of mine in Texas..

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  4. I know this is an old article. However I'm guessing you're still maintaining this blog, so... I have the same camera, but haven't shot a roll through it yet. Your images look great, how much post processing and sharpening did you do post scan? I'm guessing at least a curves adj and some smart sharpen, no? Thanks for an interesting blog. Let me know when you can.

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    1. Actually, John, little to none. A little bit of curves, yes, just to balance the tonal range, but as for sharpening? none. The lenses on these old cameras are quite good. For a Meniscus lens, it's quite solid.
      I used a closeup filter for the one image that is .. well.. close up, hence why there's bokeh and an out of focus field, where as the others are basically 4' to infinity..

      I try to shoot my box cameras and simple cameras regularly as there's something quite relaxing of just focusing on the composition/framing and not worrying about aperture, shutter speed, focus and iSO speeds..

      Appreciate the comments! Speaking of the fact that this is an older post, I'm planning on revamping my posts and seeing if I can breathe a bit more life into my blog. I kind of let it stagnate a little longer than I intended.

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