Our photography correspondent writes:

This time I’m singling out a type of camera that, while instantly recognizable and quite common in the days of film, was never ubiquitous. Most people preferred other kinds. But those who used them were very firmly attached to them and had definitely chosen them over whatever else might be on the market. This type found a particular home, among professional photographers, with those who specialized in portraits and fashion shoots.

This design is called the twin-lens reflex (TLR if you’re advertising to sell or buy one in the cost-per-word section of the photo magazine). “Reflex,” when used about cameras, means that there’s a mirror involved somewhere. “Twin lens” is obviously appropriate. But why twin lenses? It’s not a stereo or a panorama camera, a kind that takes two pictures at once. Well, the short answer is you need one lens to keep an eye on what the other is doing.

Two of the things you need to do in photography are point the camera (so it takes a picture of your chosen subject) and focus. The TLR uses a viewing lens almost identical to the picture-taking lens, which produces an image just like the one on the film on a piece of ground glass. A mirror throws it upwards, so you look down on the top of the camera to see it. (It’s reversed right-to-left, which is surprisingly easy to get used to.) The image is the same size as the one formed on the film and when it’s in focus (there’s a little magnifier to help) the image on the film will be also.

It is remarkable how different it is seeing a scene laid out as a picture, as opposed to looking at a live scene through a viewfinder like the Agfa’s. I’ve found it leads to a subtly different kind of photograph. I can understand how it can help when the formal composition of a portrait is important. I can also believe that fashion photography would benefit, though there I speak from almost complete ignorance. The TLR would not, however, be your choice for trying to capture the flick of a model’s hair by taking a series of pictures quickly: winding the next shot takes a few seconds, and there are only twelve pictures per roll of film. (Think of that next time you’re worried about how fast you’re filling up your memory card.) But it can be used very successfully for situations that aren’t static or controlled; a TLR was Vivian Meier’s camera of choice.

All the comments from last time about controls and adjustments apply here: this is an entirely manual camera. But it takes much larger pictures than 35mm cameras, 6x6cm square, more than four times in area. You can blow up your prints to larger sizes; there are other advantages. (You also run out of film more quickly.)

Of course the photographer determines the picture, not the camera. You won’t automatically produce Vivian Meier’s work (for instance) just by using a Rolleiflex. But there is a subtle connection between you and the camera you work best with. Are you, perhaps, a twin-lens person?

Here are just a couple of example pictures.  There are more in our Rolleiflex gallery, and we’ll add to it as we go along.