I’ve tested a 50 year old Twin Lens Reflex camera, a two-eyed baby that takes 6×6cm negatives. Is it good? Yep. It’s good.
Everybody should dabble with medium format photography at some point. The considered approach a larger camera forces you to take, makes photography more interesting and exciting. I have just started playing with 120 film, and it’s great fun.
My Minolta Autocord is in great shape. The only downside to this camera is the focusing lever which is a bit stiff. Usable, but it should have been smoother. The meter is working well enough outside, but indoors I use my Canon G9 as a light meter.
You focus on a large ground glass that is visible when flipping up the lens hood. The view is a bit dim indoors, but outside it’s wonderful to be able to use both eyes when composing. The image is mirrored, so it’s hard to move and rotate the camera at first. I really like TLR viewfinders, they are like a 3D LCD with limitless resolution!
The meter is hidden under the Autocord logo, which flips up. The meter moves a needle on the left of the camera. You take the needle value and divide it between the shutter and the aperture (which have numbers assigned to different apertures/shutter speeds). Sounds complicated, but it took just a few shots to get the hang of it. The meter was strangely accurate outdoors. This is 50 year old selenium non-battery technology! I want a solar powered digital.
Focusing is done with a lever underneath the lens.
My first roll was a Kodak 400VC, which I think is a good match to the f3.5 lens on the autocord. I generally like fast film/higher iso to be able to shoot handheld. These photos were all taken with a tripod though.
I’m not sure what happened with the colours on this one, only that I really like it! The exposure was probably off, or maybe some flaring? Update: It was my scanner acting up. Art by accident
This lens is sharp! Probably f5.6 or f8. The colours are crazy punchy! No saturation added.
This was taken at f3.5 or 4, trying to get some bokeh going.
All these were scanned really fast on my Canon 8800F. The negatives should probably have been flattened a bit first, and they’re only scanned in 300dpi. With dust removal scantime was 2 minutes each frame on my imac G5.
All in all my first test run with the Autocord was pretty successful. All photos came out decently exposed and the sharpness was good. It’s essential to use the magnifying loupe when trying to get accurate focus when doing portrait stuff. My next project with the Minolta is to try some indoor flash stuff with some Fujifilm pro 160. The Autocord flash syncs at 1/500 sec, which is twice the speed of my 40D. Sweet camera!
Update
I ran a roll of positive film through the camera this easter (by accident – I thought it was C-41), and.. wow… The exposure and colours were just eye-popping. The meter on my LMX is definately in decent shape. Sadly my scanner isn’t really exploiting what’s in the slides, but here are some quickly scanned photos:
6 Comments
Any idea what these cameras are worth? I have a friend whose father left her one, an Autocord with Rokkor 3.5 lens. Been used professionally back in the 50s (maybe 60s too) by a famous Austrian. You’d think he’d have chosen a Rollie! Thanks for any info. Jon
Do a search on ebay and check the “completed listings” mark. You’ll see how much they’ve been going for and what shape they were in. I paid around £100 GBP for mine, which is mint and with a working light meter and flawless optics.
Heisann! Flott kamera! Har en autocord selv, men uten lysmåler. Fantastisk kamera! Det er en fyr på løkka som fikser gamle kameraer. Han er billig (350 spenn for opphengt fremtrekk på autocord, noe en bør huske!), så du kan jo evt. få smurt opp fokuseringen litt.
Ellers skal jeg fotografere på utdelingen til helgen, så jeg ser deg vel der? Jeg er han med Canonet QL17 G-III (I tillegg til 5D, da…).
Tvi-tvi. Heier på dere!
Halvor
Hi! When focus lever is stiff it is prone to break. Get a tech to clean and lubricate the helicoid mechanism and you will have a very fine camera. I have repaired several Autocords by bonding a stainless steel lever onto the broken end of the die cast (Zymak) focusing arm with epoxy. I use JB Weld for this, which contains finely-powered metal to strengthen the joint. It has been tested to around 3,000 lbs. per sq. inch. I reinforce this joint by drilling a hole in the remaining tab of the lever and screwing the two pieces together. This fix should last for the life of the camera. But you can avoid all this by having the helicoid cleaned and greased.
Thanks for your comments and repair tip. I found that the lever moved quite well after being exercised, so I think if I keep using it it will work fine. It’s a very nice camera, pity I don’t get the time to use it as much as I should.
bien belles photos!j’ai un minolta autocord CDS,et j’ai eu le même problème de levier de mise au point,il était complètement bloqué lorsque je l’ai acheté.
Pour débloquer le levier,je n’ai pas forcé!j’ai eu l’idée de mettre l’appareil sur un radiateur de chauffage (pas trop chaud!)pendant 30mn,et ainsi le levier s’est débloqué progressivement.Comme il était encore dure à manoeuvrer,j’ai démonté le viseur,(4 vis)pour avoir accès à une partie de l’hélicoïdale sur laquelle j’ai mis 2 ou 3 gouttes de dégrippant (huile fine).après plusieurs aller/retour,le levier est maintenant très souple! j’en ai profité pour changer le dépoli par un modèle avec stigmomètre acheté sur le site de Rick Oleson.