A twin lens reflex camera from 1958 that uses 127 film
The twin lens reflex, or TLR is a style of camera design that is worthy of that overused term iconic. The form is instantly recognisable, even to a nonenthusiast, and its association with prominent press and fashion photographers immediately invokes a mid-20th-century feel. As the name suggests, there are two lenses, mounted one above the other, the lower lens being used to take the photo, and the upper used for focusing. The two lenses are linked, so when the top one is focused while the image is being viewed on a waist-level screen, the bottom lens follows suit. Unlike a single lens reflex (SLR) what you see in the viewfinder is not identical to what the camera sees, but unless you’re shooting at very close range, this isn’t a practical problem.
Most TLRs use 120 roll film, which is still widely available, but a few use the smaller 127 format. As a result these cameras are scaled-down versions of the more common size, with perhaps the best known being the Baby Rolleiflex, first made in the 1930s. The ‘44’ in the Yashica’s and similar cameras’ name refers to the negative size which is 4cm x 4cm, the actual film being 46mm wide. This 4x4 size was also used to make ‘Superslides’ which were briefly popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This format allowed a standard 35mm slide projector to show large 40mm square transparencies giving an image with almost twice the conventional area.
The Yashica 44 appeared in 1958, and was quite an expensive piece of kit, said to cost more than its full-sized equivalent. While the original Yashica 44 sported a full range of shutter speeds and had a crank lever film advance, the 44A had reduced specifications with a price-tag to match. I got mine from eBay more than ten years ago, and used it a few times, but it had lain unused
