Automatic TLR

pluggedincitizen · Nov 11, 2014

Hey guys! I'm looking to buy my first TLR (so I have very little knowledge of them) and I'm just wondering, when a TLR is said to be 'automatic', what exactly does that mean?

baachitraka · Nov 11, 2014

It means, that it does not require to align the start arrow to the red dot when loading film. There is mechanism to sense the thickness and automatically stops at first frame.

Ian Grant · Nov 11, 2014

You have to align the film all TLR's. except the eraly ones with a red window to read the numbers.

There's only been one automatic TLR the Rollei Magic and I'd steer well clear of them, unlikely to be reliable now.

The Rolleiflex Automats weren't automatic but the two wheels controlling Aperture & Shutter Speed could be locked set to a chosen EV, so if you closed the aperture it set a slower shutter speed & vice versa.

Ian

Nick Merritt · Nov 11, 2014

Which cameras are you referring to specifically as being "automatic"? That may help us.

baachitraka · Nov 11, 2014

I would have hated a TLR that do everything automatically.

snapguy · Nov 11, 2014

Not

The Rolleiflex Automat is about semi-automatic film transport, shutter cocking and frame numbers. It is not automatic in the modern sense with auto focus, auto exposure and air conditioning. I had an Automat from the early 1950s which I acquired in 1956 and it was everything I would ever want in a TLR. I now have a slightly newer Rolleiflex, from 1954, which has the EV system. You change the f stop and it automatically changes the shutter speed whether you want it to change it or not. There's an extra step you have to take to have it not do that. Very annoying. Fabulous cameras, though.

hsandler · Nov 11, 2014

Automat in the rolleiflex line, meant it would automatically sense the a
start of the film, so you didn't have to align the start mark before closing the back on a fresh roll. Auto or matic in the Minolta Autocord sense or the Yashica-mat sense meant the camera "automatically" cocked the shutter when you cranked the film forward to the next frame. On some other TLRs like the Rolleicords or Diacords you have to separately cock the shutter. There were only a few TLRs with automatic exposure.

cowanw · Nov 11, 2014

Pop a reflex viewer on a Contax 645 and there you go.
Edit, Doh that isn't a TLR

flavio81 · Nov 11, 2014

pluggedincitizen said:
Hey guys! I'm looking to buy my first TLR (so I have very little knowledge of them) and I'm just wondering, when a TLR is said to be 'automatic', what exactly does that mean?

On 50s and 60s marketing literature and in the context of TLRs, "automatic" meant that the lever that advanced the film ALSO cocked the shutter. Example: Rolleiflex, Mamiya C33.

As opposite to requiring to cock the shutter as a separate step, besides advancing the film. Example: Rolleicord, Mamiya C2, C22.

BobMarvin · Nov 11, 2014

"You have to align the film all TLR's" EXCEPT with Rolleiflex models from the original 1937 Automat through the 3.5 or 2.8F.

Automatic TLR

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