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Origin of "-cord" ?
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PostPosted: Mon May 09, 2011 9:17 pm    Post subject: Origin of "-cord" ? Reply with quote
Anyone know the origin or meaning (if any) of the suffix "-cord" used on TLR cameras such as Rolleicord, Diacord, Minoltacord, Autocord, etc.

Or, is it simply that Rollei started it and the others just copied the name?


PostPosted: Mon May 09, 2011 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I suspect the origin is to 'record'.


PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 2:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
There may have been a law or regulation stipulating you had to wear
corduroy pants to use these cameras. I think we should go with Dave's
answer. Wink Smile Laughing


PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 5:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'll third Dave's answer, cuz that's what I was gonna say.

I'm curious why there is a distinction between -flex and -cord.


PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
-flex comes from reflex, because you have to have reversed reflexes with the TLR
-cord comes from the amount of wood you can buy for 10 years should you buy the -cord rather than the -flex. Now an obsolete measure, replaced by "a -cord": the Honda you can buy rather than the Civic, with the same price differential.

The -flex and -cord names stuck as everyone else copied them.


PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nesster wrote:
-flex comes from reflex, because you have to have reversed reflexes with the TLR
-cord comes from the amount of wood you can buy for 10 years should you buy the -cord rather than the -flex. Now an obsolete measure, replaced by "a -cord": the Honda you can buy rather than the Civic, with the same price differential.

The -flex and -cord names stuck as everyone else copied them.



Cute. Cool


PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
-reflex essentially means mirror. It means a mirror is being used in the camera to bend light. TLR, twin lens reflex. SLR, single lens reflex.

-cord is not 100% known, some say record. I dug this up from google
Wilhelmine Heideke suggested cord. "Co" from Cop (Rolleiscop, Heidescop cameras), "R" from Reinhold (her husband), "D" from Deco.


PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nesster wrote:
-flex comes from reflex, because you have to have reversed reflexes with the TLR
-cord comes from the amount of wood you can buy for 10 years should you buy the -cord rather than the -flex


Laughing


PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yeah, I like Nesster's answer the best too. But just to be clear, I understand where "flex" comes from. What I was trying to get across was why the change from "flex" to "cord." Perhaps "flex" is more classy, where "cord" is more pedstrian as in "just the facts, ma'am, we're here to record the scene." As opposed to the razzle-dazzle marketing zing-boom-bah of "-flex."


PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
Yeah, I like Nesster's answer the best too. But just to be clear, I understand where "flex" comes from. What I was trying to get across was why the change from "flex" to "cord." Perhaps "flex" is more classy, where "cord" is more pedstrian as in "just the facts, ma'am, we're here to record the scene." As opposed to the razzle-dazzle marketing zing-boom-bah of "-flex."


There's no "change" from "flex" to "cord", Rolleicords were "junior models".


PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
What I'm getting at is why the change in nomenclature from -flex to -cord from the "deluxe" to the "junior" models. Maybe I've made myself plain enough now?


PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
What I'm getting at is why the change in nomenclature from -flex to -cord from the "deluxe" to the "junior" models. Maybe I've made myself plain enough now?


Rolleiflex was a family of cameras and they also made another family concurrently (most of the time) called Rolleicord more modest in design, such as no Automat system, no automatic shutter cocking, knob wind rather than lever wind, etc. Like I said they were two different series of cameras, thus there was no change.


PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="Joosep]Wilhelmine Heideke suggested cord. "Co" from Cop (Rolleiscop, Heidescop cameras), "R" from Reinhold (her husband), "D" from Deco.[/quote]

That, plus the Record idea, do seem the most likely to me for the 'lesser' Rollei. Agfa for example sold a Billy Record as far back as the 30s.


PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, I don't know about the Record idea. Seems unlikely to me that F&H
would use a reference to such a pedestrian camera series by another
manufacturer as the Billy Record models.

The Wilhelmine Heideke suggestion seems more likely to me.


PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 12:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Joosep wrote:
Wilhelmine Heideke suggested cord. "Co" from Cop (Rolleiscop, Heidescop cameras), "R" from Reinhold (her husband), "D" from Deco.


Now that makes at least a modicum of sense.


PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have an art-deco Anscoflex, and an early Argoflex, and a later Minolta Autocord. So I guess 'cord' means GOOD. But my Yashicamat was good too. Do we have a canonical list of TLR names? Can we correlate suffix with quality?
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