 Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:30 am Post subject: Surprisingly good Tower Reflex 30 TLR |
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Mos6502 wrote:
I bought this Sears Tower Reflex off of ebay because it was cheap and I couldn't find much out about them. I do know that it is about the same as the Photina Reflex III just rebranded for Sears. But despite the prices the Photina versions bring - the opinions I found online seemed to indicate the cameras were of indifferent quality and not particularly good picture takers.
On first glance the camera looks very good and feels very good in the hand. It also has many nice, useful touches like a back latch that can't be unlocked unless you hold down the button next to it, or the the indicator next to the viewfinder that tells whether the film has been advanced or not. But when you take a little closer look at the camera there is some interesting engineering of dubious quality, the extensive use of castings for parts that'd normally be stamped or forged is interesting - but not exactly a mark of quality. That and the front focusing ISCO triplet lead me to believe that the camera might not produce such good results.
But luckily the results were very good indeed:
 SAAB by berangberang, on Flickr
 Chevrolet by berangberang, on Flickr
 Tree by berangberang, on Flickr
 Honda Accord by berangberang, on Flickr
 Honda by berangberang, on Flickr
 Volkswagen Oval Window by berangberang, on Flickr
 Vespa by berangberang, on Flickr
I was surprised how sharp and crisp the results from this camera are. Having used a number of "bargain" TLRs in the past I wasn't really expecting too much from this camera so I was pleasantly surprised.
I've have to compare it against my similar Super Ricohflex and see how it holds up. I remember being impressed by the ricohflex's lens too, but much less so by its build quality and handling. |
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