Ciro-Flex camera

[Niner]

I got this $25 camera recently. It uses 120 film and is built like a tank. The one I have was built sometime between 1941 and about the end of WWII. It's simple. No light meter. No self timer. But... it has a depth of field scale linked to the focus adjustment knob. It also has a distance scale as an alternative to using the big top focus screen with a magnifying circle to assist focus. Or you can use the square opening in the pop up sides to frame your shot.

I'll attach a few photos. Here is a link to the how to use it manual.

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ciro-flex/ciroflex.pdf

[Niner]

So I shot a roll of film in my back yard...with a couple of shots in the house. I think I could have focused better and....maybe picked some better F stop choices. The light reading I got from using my Pentax K1000 worked out ok. I had bought a couple of light meters off ebay. But... one taking a battery skitters around with the battery but the readings make no sense. Another... A GE that works off of selenium also looks like it is working....but isn't. Oh well another total of $22 down the old drain. When one is in ones second childhood money is no object.

The photo adventure today was mostly a disappointment. And the major reason was that I played hell again getting the undeveloped film on the developing reel. I managed to scratch up about half of the shots before I got the reel full. That...and I managed to get my fingers on the emulsion side in a couple of them and screwed them up by leaving some evidence of it.

However.... this camera has more potential for some good sharp shots over the simpler Brownie.

And... if you aren't careful you can make some double exposures that can turn out interesting. Open up the last photo, the palm, in the attached photos.

The 120 film is Tmax 100. It has excellent grain to it. And... I have one more roll left. I'm going to practice up on loading some film on the reel before I give it one more try.

[Niner]

Got another reel. I have been using a plastic reel that adjusts for either 120 or 35 film. The film should load from the outside edge of the reel and work inward. The film slips under the guide ears on either side of the reel opening and then is pulled forward under some ball bearing catches for a about an inch and a half . Then all you do is work the sides forward and back on the axis of the reel spindle. The film loads itself. Simple. I can do it in the light with not much of a hitch. In the dark, in a changing bag, it's not nearly so simple. The film won't track or binds or fall out of the grooves or gets twisted up with the paper backing or ... any number of things.

So I got a conventional old time aluminum reel. The film clips to the center spool and then wraps into the spiral coils on out to the reel edge. In the light.... works fine.

We'll see.

[DuncaninFrance]

I used to use a plastic one for both 35mm and 120 with no problems. I did load it in my darkroom rather than in a bag which made it much easier.

[Niner]

I think the biggest problem is the film is coming off of a spindle and is bent in a tighter spiral than the developing reel it's going on to. And there's the question of if it is better to pull all the paper backing off to start with or remove it as you put the film on the reel. Once the negatives are developed and hung to dry they become straight and are easy to put on a reel......but that's after the fact that the film no longer is needed on the reel.

One bit of advice goes, for the expanding reel, is that you bow the film from the edges from back about six or eight inches from the end before you try to load it. That straightens out the spiral enough to feed the coiled film onto the reel....... if you can find the reel starting places and get both sides of the negative into the proper tracks and then advance the film. And the front edge of the film needs to remain relatively unbowed so as to fill the tracks on both sides.

I know it's not impossible.....just my skill level is not very good. I have no problem...so far ...with the 35mm film. And...I have loaded one roll of 120 without much of a problem before......but that was a lucky thing.