The Ansco Ansoflex

[Niner]

The Ansco Anscoflex is a "pseudo" TLR 620 film box camera made 1953 to 1956. A sort of Kodak Brownie Hawkeye pretending to be a more sophisticated camera. . There is one shutter speed... allegedly 1/60 of a second with an F stop of 11. The best thing about the camera is the it is easy to slide up the view hood and you are ready to go quickly. Simple up and down with no buttons to press and jack in the box thing with springy sides and top like most true TLR cameras. Like the better cameras of this sort the image is seen with right and left view reversed which is somewhat annoying relative to SLR 35mm cameras . However, the view is really bright and aiming this camera in bright sunlight is far better than the few true TLR cameras I own. And since there is nothing to adjust fine focus is unnecessary but it is easy to frame the shot. I like the way the film advances by a ratchet turn of about two quarter turns between exposures...but you have to keep your eye on the numbers moving in the red window or you could advance too far.

I put in a roll of Acros 100 and shot up a burst of twelve to see what one I got recently would produce. And... well...for what it is as a snapshot camera from the day when people didn't mind driving around in cars without air condition nor power steering, power brakes, power seat, power windows, and shifting gears required a three on a tree and a clutch... it's ok.