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MPP Microflex in very good condition - a recent auction purchase.

MPP Microflex.jpg
 
Ian Grant said:
A big job lot of cameras, plate and film holders and more, it was at a camera fair and there was no room to go through all the box. There were 4 cameras.

This one had a strange homemade back that takes a 35mm slide, luckily I found the correct back was separate near the bottom of the box when I got home.

View attachment 413938

The camera is "Jasper Redfern Optician, Sheffield", he worked for Watson & Son in London, before setting up in Sheffield in 1895, his company went into voluntary liquidation in 1904.

The camera now has a new matching lens board, and a new ground glass screen, I found a more appropriate thumbscrew for the rise and fall. The carrying handle has parted, but will be easy to restitch. The bellows are in excellent condition for its age. I will give it light restoration, fit a TP shutter and appropriate lens.

The next tw cameras need a little work, a LAncaster 1/4 plate Instantograph, missing p its front standard, and a 9x12 ICA-Klappreflex Künstler Camera, missing its bits for fitting a lens. I'll pass this on . . .

View attachment 414014


And then there was a 4th camera, It was tightly packed and hard to look at, and what a surprise when I unpacked it. A Thornton Pickard All Weather Press CAmera, taking modern Half plate holders (so also 7x5).

View attachment 413937
Ian why do the English view cameras have the large round hole on the bottom???

Missing a lens board, this camera, is now ready to use, when I find an appropriate FL lens in a focus mount. The focal plane shutter was slow, sluggish, but with a little exercise it now works perfectly. I have a viewfinder for it somewhere.

Ian
Click to expand...
 
Ian why do the English view cameras have the large round hole on the bottom???

@Peter Schrager

Your question is listed in the Quote.

That's easy, two reasons, one to allow the camera to fold closed with a lens, and ofter a Between Lens Tornton Pickard shutter. Secondly, many cameras use a circular tripod ring, mostly rotatable, which you attach the legs to.

1766244542990.png


1766246743014.png


I should add the 2nd image was made today, the camera has been restored since the first.

Ian
 
Last edited:
Ian Grant said:
Ian why do the English view cameras have the large round hole on the bottom???

@Peter Schrager

Your question is listed in the Quote.

That's easy, two reasons, one to allow the camera to fold closed with a lens, and ofter a Between Lens Tornton Pickard shutter. Secondly, many cameras use a circular tripod ring, mostly rotatable, which you attach the legs to.
Click to expand...

What a disappointment - I had always thought it was because that's where the teapot goes!
😇😉
 
moggi1964 said:
MPP Microflex in very good condition - a recent auction purchase.

View attachment 414021
Click to expand...

Fab camera! Though the loading can be a pain, you either have to either reload immediately with film, or if you close it empty you have to through the full 12 frame count again before reopening.
The lens on mine is spectacular, hope you enjoy it!
 
tcolgate said:
Fab camera! Though the loading can be a pain, you either have to either reload immediately with film, or if you close it empty you have to through the full 12 frame count again before reopening.
The lens on mine is spectacular, hope you enjoy it!
Click to expand...

I have a NIB Prontor shutter for MPP TLRs.

The Microflex has film transport is often an issue, unlike the Microcord. But the Ross Xpres lenses are superb, from experience sharper than the CZJ and Opton Tessar, or Yashinon lenses.

I have 3 Focal Press books CAMERAS THE FACTS How They work WHAT they will do HOW do they compare.

All are late 1950s early 1960s, basically précis of the Focal Press Guides, and they are really useful.

ian
 
I picked up a little Minolta MC W Rokkor 28mm f2.8. I didn't get a smoking deal, but I supported a local shop.
I almost bought that SRT201 that a user was selling that contained this lens, but I had no use for the other gear. My g.a.s reduction effort moving forward is to resist buying 5 items to acquire 1 of the 5.
 
Ian Grant said:
The Microflex has film transport is often an issue, unlike the Microcord. But the Ross Xpres lenses are superb, from experience sharper than the CZJ and Opton Tessar, or Yashinon lenses.
Click to expand...
My first TLR was a Microcord Mk1. Great lens (mine was another Ross Xpres), but the film loading is via a red window, and there's insufficient internal flocking to prevent light bouncing around the end of the film. It was a great intro, but I ended up donating it to a fellow MPP owners club member. As I understand it the Microcord Mk2 is probably the best option, with no red window loading and a more reliable film transport.
 
mshchem said:
Is that the stuff that I refer to as "squirrel turd coffee "?
Click to expand...

I think you're thinking of Kopi Luwak, which is coffee beans that have been through the digestive tract of a civet cat. The most expensive coffee on Earth, last I checked, and no, I'm not paying for it.
 
Received like it had just left the factory, in 1969.
Resistance was futile. So, I caved in... again...
I'm such a push-over for a Linhof!
PSX_20251222_143350.jpg
 
tcolgate said:
My first TLR was a Microcord Mk1. Great lens (mine was another Ross Xpres), but the film loading is via a red window, and there's insufficient internal flocking to prevent light bouncing around the end of the film. It was a great intro, but I ended up donating it to a fellow MPP owners club member. As I understand it the Microcord Mk2 is probably the best option, with no red window loading and a more reliable film transport.
Click to expand...

I'd assumed the Microflex used the same Ross Xpres as the Microcord, which it replaced in 1958. In fact, the Micronar taking lens and the viewing lens were made by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson.

The 3 Focal Press books I mentioned - "CAMERAS THE FACTS How They work WHAT they will do HOW do they compare." are interesting. I have 1957, 1960 (printed 1959) and 1963/4. In the first, there are no Japanese cameras, and quite a few MF folding cameras, as well as TLR & MF SLRs.

The 1960 copy shows no MF folding cameras and an explosion of 35mm cameras, including SLRs from Germany and Japan, and TLRs including from Minolta & Yashica> The 1963/4 copy shows way better 35mm cameras, usually with meters, an far more Japanese SLRs and MF cameras.

Ross Ensign ceased making cameras in 1961, but they must have been in trouble by 1957/8. My collection of BJP Almanacs shows Japanese rangefinder & SLR cameras being imported into the UK from around 1957.

Ian
 
MARTIE said:
Received like it had just left the factory, in 1969.
Resistance was futile. So, I caved in... again...
I'm such a push-over for a Linhof!
View attachment 414168
Click to expand...

They were definitely channeling Sinar on that one. It reminds me of a Norma with axis tilts.

I like the head its on. Is that a 2-way head? (pan and tilt, leaving roll to the camera's monorail clamp.)
 
abruzzi said:
They were definitely channeling Sinar on that one. It reminds me of a Norma with axis tilts.

I like the head its on. Is that a 2-way head? (pan and tilt, leaving roll to the camera's monorail clamp.)
Click to expand...

Oh Yeah, you mean this... (images courtesy of makeitinthedarkroom)

The Linhof Kardan Bi System is simply a masterpiece in design and engineering.
The Linhof 2-way pan-tilt head sits atop a Linhof Deluxe Studio Stand SGS.


social-cat-instagram_makeitinthedarkroom_1.jpg
PSX_20251222_171557.jpg
 
MARTIE said:
Oh Yeah, you mean this... (images courtesy of makeitinthedarkroom)

The Linhof Kardan Bi System is simply a masterpiece in design and engineering.
The Linhof 2-way pan-tilt head sits atop a Linhof Deluxe Studio Stand SGS.


View attachment 414175View attachment 414176
Click to expand...

Wow! That is a beautiful pair of cameras. I really need to sell my Normas, but every time I pull them out they are just so beautifully engineered. I've been tempted by a Kardan Bi more times than I can count, but there is simply no space for it here.
 
250mm chrome C Hasselblad lens from Roberts.
"As-Is" with very minor interior haze...cheap!
Shutter speeds sound good.
Decent cosmetics.
Score! 👍
 
tcolgate said:
Fab camera! Though the loading can be a pain, you either have to either reload immediately with film, or if you close it empty you have to through the full 12 frame count again before reopening.
The lens on mine is spectacular, hope you enjoy it!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I have read a lot about the loading quirks so will be extra careful and patient.
 
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