The genie in the double-reflex camera

Not long ago, I saw a young man holding a gray baby Rolls Royce in the exhibition hall of a tourist attraction, swinging from side to side to focus. Obviously, he is not skilled in the operation of this kind of double-mirror camera. He also carries a Leica M8 digital camera. He can feel that he is not taking pictures with this old film machine, but enjoying the surprised eyes cast by others. I really want to play a prank and ask him where he got the film. On second thought, why can't young people get the rare film of 127? Why can't he take pictures of indoor beauty with a film machine without auxiliary lighting? So I didn't bother him, just watching him proudly fiddling with that delicate and quite old toy in front of everyone.

If we take the time back to 80 years ago, in the alley of Venice, Italy, there was a well-dressed lady holding a baby Lulai to take pictures of her female companion, which would certainly attract a lot of envious eyes, because photography was still a game of nobles at that time, and Lulai, a subminiature baby, was a new type of double-mirror camera that just appeared. At that time, few people could get such a small camera, not only because of its high price, but also because it represented the most advanced photographic technology achievements at that time.

1928, Flanders Haidekker (Franco &; Heidecke) Company, later Lulai Company, introduced the Rolleiflex dual-lens reflex camera (note 1) which can take square photos with 17 film for the first time, and it was immediately loved by people. This rectangular box is much lighter than those wooden cameras that people remember. Square photos are especially suitable for taking portraits. Unique focusing and framing methods can help photographers get clear photos more easily. Lului Company soon changed the specification of 1 17 into a more popular specification of 120. In just three years, Lulai sold more than 30,000 double-mirror cameras, which was a remarkable achievement in the 1920s and 1930s.

193 1 year, three years after the prototype of lulai was put on the market, lulai company launched the first ultra-small baby lulai, using 127 film. From 1920 to 1930, there are more than 20 film specifications. Why did Lulai choose 127 specification? The main reason is that its 4X4 square specification is consistent with the 6X6 square specification of the mainstream model of Lulai. When designing, Baby Lulu only needs to reduce the size of each part of the camera in the same proportion, and you will get a new model with the same functional characteristics but different body sizes. This can not only reduce the time and difficulty of design, but also avoid any patent disputes. Therefore, Baby Lulu completely copied the model of Lulu 120, with almost no design difficulty, which made it available in a short time.

In the early 1930s, portable dual-reflex cameras that can focus accurately just began to appear, and even the prototype of Lulai was a little bulky. It is the urgent desire of camera manufacturers and users to miniaturize the dual-reflex camera with fixed body as much as possible. Baby Lulai looks like a little brother, which came into being under the background of the success of Lulai 120 model. Although there is no technological innovation in Baby Road, it is a great challenge for camera manufacturers at that time to simply reduce the original very precise camera mechanical system and optical imaging system by nearly 1/4.

Baobei Lulu uses the same high-quality chase lens as its 6X6 brothers. The imaging lens is Zeiss Jena Tessar 3,5-caliber 60mm or Zeiss Jena Tessar 2,8-caliber 60mm. The camera lens is Heidoscop Anastigmat 2, with an 8-caliber 60mm, and the shutter is also the best Compur brand at that time, 1- 1/300 seconds plus T &；; B's speed is exactly the same as that of Lulai's prototype.

After obtaining good performance, Baobei Lulai made a small technical improvement on the basis of 1933, which compressed the camera body volume again and reduced the weight of the whole machine. 1938, Baby Road comes to the stadium. The sport type adds a sport viewfinder and a focus knob for quick focusing. The shutter speed of 1/500 seconds is more suitable for shooting moving objects. From 193 1 to before World War II, Baobao Road introduced nine different models, some of which were only minor improvements, and most of these improvements followed the footsteps of Lulu brothers.

Baby Lulu inherited all the advantages of Lulu 120 model, and with its small and lovely figure, it was highly recognized by the market at the beginning of its listing, especially attracting the attention of many female photographers. What we show in figure 1 is a prototype of Baby Lulai, whose serial number is 127566 (Figure 2). The serial number of the first batch of Baby Lulu started from 127000. This machine is one of the first batch of 100 Baby Lulu manufactured by 193 1 year. Even according to today's concept, this machine is exquisite, especially when standing with my brother, which shows its small figure (Figure 3).

The outbreak of World War II dragged all camera manufacturers in Germany into the war, and Lulai Company also suffered serious losses. At the end of the war, 40% of the Lulai camera production line was destroyed. The new model of Baby Lulai is only available in 1957, which is the postwar version of Baby Lulai that we often see (Figure 4).

Most of the post-war baby Lulai are decorated with gray-green leather and gray paint, which is obviously different from all the black decorations before the war. The new camera does not completely continue the original traditional design, but adopts several unique new technologies. The new viewfinder adopts a folding top cover with four sides connected together. When the top cover is opened, the four sides will stand up, and the top cover can be closed by grasping the two sides of the wall and pressing backwards (Figure 5). This small improvement overcomes the shortcoming that the four walls of the original viewfinder are out of sync and it is often necessary to manually open a certain wall. This improvement is also the first application of all road-to-road dual-reflex cameras, and some subsequent 120 models also adopt this top cover design.

The new top cover design also includes an automatic locking function. After the top cover is closed, the camera shutter is locked, and the camera cannot press the shutter when the viewfinder is closed. This function is to prevent the shutter from shooting by mistake, but it also leads some people who are not familiar with this function to mistakenly think that the camera shutter is faulty when testing the camera without opening the viewfinder. The camera shown above was bought by the author in an antique camera shop in Luxembourg at the price of a defective camera. It's just the local price, not the leak detection, which makes me feel less guilty. The shutter button of the camera is set in the lower right corner of the camera body (Figure 6), so that the right index finger of the camera can easily press the button after opening the viewfinder.

The post-war version of Baby Lulai continues the high standard of camera accessories. Its imaging lenses are all made of high-quality Schneider Xenar 3, 5-caliber 60mm lens, equipped with Heidosmat 2, 8-caliber 60mm viewfinder lens (Figure 7), the shutter is synchronous CompurMXV, the speed is 1- 1/500 seconds, and the door is B. The flash is synchronized and equipped with a self-timer Both lenses have bayonets, and different accessories such as filters can be assembled. This machine can also take a page of film instead of the back of a page.

The postwar version of Baby Road has a 4X4 frame, and the viewfinder is much smaller than the standard road, which greatly reduces the advantages of dual-lens reflection on the viewfinder. In order to make up for this deficiency, it has placed a fairly large magnifying glass in the viewfinder, which is about the size of the viewfinder magnifying glass of a 6X6 camera and is square (Figure 8). Seen from above, it can cover the whole viewfinder, and even the corners are very clear, which greatly facilitates accurate focusing and can complete focusing and framing at one time.

In the mid-1950 s, Lulai was able to put a built-in exposure meter in the camera, but the size of Baby Lulai was too small, so this camera was not equipped with a built-in exposure meter. The designer specially designed an external exposure meter connected to the hood for it. This small device named Rolleilux is very exquisite, and it is usually folded and stored in a small leather case connected to the camera belt (Figure 9). When in use, screw it into the bayonet of the camera imaging lens, pull out the exposure meter, open the protective cover of the selenium photocell for photometry (figure 10), and shoot directly after adjusting the aperture speed.

The new baby Lulai adopted the very advanced exposure value lock ring design at that time. When accurate exposure value is obtained by photometry, release the lock ring (Figure 1 1), and the camera will automatically lock the relationship between aperture and speed. Photographers only need to adjust the focal length and speed according to the distance and depth of field of the subject. Once the exposure value is locked, the corresponding exposure value number will be displayed on the other side of the camera lens. At this time, the exposure compensation value can be determined according to different shooting scenes, film speed and illumination brightness through the exposure compensation table on the back of the fuselage (Figure 12). Although it is a little troublesome, it is a very thoughtful design in the era when the electronic control exposure system has not been realized!

The post-war version of Baby Lulai's holster has also been carefully designed, and the color of this holster is the same as the gray-green holster of the camera (Figure 13). The front and back parts of the holster are made of leather and lined with flannel, which can effectively protect the camera. The joints of the front and rear parts of the holster and the whole base are made of plastic, which can prevent the holster from breaking after being opened and closed many times. The damage of leather case is a common problem of many pure leather camera cases, and Lulai skillfully solved this problem through the combination of leather and plastic. Another unique feature of this camera holster is that the camera is fixed by the bayonet of the base, and shooting can be completed by opening the front cover of the holster. It is also convenient to open the back cover when viewing the exposure meter. Even if the holster is completely opened before and after, the camera will not fall (Figure 14). Leather covers with such comprehensive functions are rare even today.

In its heyday, Baby Road has attracted many imitators, especially Japanese camera manufacturers have launched many imitations based on Baby Road, and famous brands such as Ricoh (Rocohmatic and Super 44), Minolta (Miniflex), Olympus (Eyeflex) and Primo Jr have also joined the imitation craze, so that the imitation models of this specification have become a separate collection series, which shows Baby Road. From 1957 to 1969, the postwar version of Baby Lulai sold more than 60,000 sets, most of which were gray-green leather, and only a few thousand sets were black leather. Now from the collection point of view, the black post-war version of the baby Lulai is rare and has a high collection value.

Unfortunately, the glory of Xiao Lu did not last. 1969 was discontinued, and no new models appeared since then. Speaking of baby Lulai, it's a bit untimely. From the birth of 193 1 to the rebirth of 1957 after the war, it only took more than ten years to come to an end. To our deep regret, this perfect work of art cannot continue its splendor. In fact, since the 1950s, double reflex cameras have been severely impacted by SLR cameras. Single-lens reflex camera is more clear and convenient to view, and it can change the lens, ignore the difference in close range, and change the viewing direction according to the scene, which is the functional defect of constantly hitting the double-reflex camera. However, these are not enough to make the dual-reflex camera lose all the markets immediately. After all, there are still so many fans who like to shoot, and they are used to the operation of Lu Lai's double reflex camera. The real reason for ending the baby's life is actually the decline of 127.

From the birth of 19 12 127 film to the end of 1960, over the past 50 years, more than 30 camera brands and hundreds of models have been born, including folding, square box, paraxial, stereo, SLR and double reflex. Although the early stage occupied the advantage of small format and satisfied the trend of camera body miniaturization, on the one hand, it could not meet the requirements of further compressing the camera body like 135 film, on the other hand, it was far smaller than the specifications of 120 film, and it could not meet people's increasing requirements for film quality, so it was in a very embarrassing position. With the gradual standardization of 135 and 120 films, camera designers don't want to lose the opportunity to catch up with the trend since 1960s. They lost interest in 127 film camera, and 127 film, like most other films, finally came to an end. Baby Lulai and many cameras using 127 film were forced to run out of ammunition and food, and the result can be imagined.

Today, when we have already entered the 2 1 century, digital cameras have occupied almost all fields of the film camera market. However, people are still full of respect for those traditional technologies that have changed the world and still miss those things that will lose their use value. A few people still stubbornly insist on collecting, using and researching 127 film cameras. They searched the internet for scarce 127 movies. They edit film, develop and enlarge it, transform it, repair cameras and even change them. They exchanged information about 127 film cameras across national boundaries. In their hands, Baby Lulai is by no means a beautiful ornament on the treasure chest at home, but a camera treasure that will never lose its shooting function.

Note 1: The prototype of Lulai used 1 17 film, which was manufactured by Kodak Company for Brownie camera in 1900. Its reel is smaller than the 120 film used in the later Lulai standard model, and the two cannot be used universally.

The camera pictures used in this article are all from my collection and cannot be quoted without permission. Offenders will be prosecuted.

Title:

Figure 1: 193 1 baby Lulai prototype.

Figure 2: serial number on the front of the fuselage.

Figure 3: Comparison between the prototype from Baby Road and the later standard model from Road Road.

Figure 4: The gray postwar version of Xiao Lulai.

Figure 5: Exquisite top cover design.

Figure 6: Easy-to-operate camera shutter button.

Figure 7: Two shots of the post-war baby Lu Lai.

Figure 8: Magnifier that can cover the full screen of the viewfinder.

Figure 9: Rolleilux exposure meter in a small leather case.

Photo 10: Rolleilux exposure meter is installed on the lens and is in working condition after being turned on.

Figure 1 1: The aperture adjusting ring of exposure value can be locked.

Figure 12: exposure compensation table for the back of fuselage.

Figure 13: Stamped leather and plastic holster.

Photo 14. When shooting, the front and rear parts of the holster can be opened and the holster will not fall off.