I have had, so far as one can have, a love affair with my simple Edixa Prismaflex.
I bought this camera and two other non-functional Edixas off of ebay for $1 each from the U.K. and by mixing and matching parts and pieces and cleaning and greasing and oiling - put together one working Edixa Prismaflex.
Edixa Prismaflex by
berangberang, on Flickr
The Prismaflex was the price leader for Wirgin, stripped of any fancy stuff like a removeable prism, or slow shutter speeds. It competed head to head with the East German Praktica and undercut the Japanese SLRs. Inside it is terrifically simple although I still haven't figured out how the instant return mirror is worked (there is a rube goldberg-esque linkage of cams and levers probably the result of working around Japanese patents). But it works!
The camera has a big, bright, viewfinder though it lacks a fresnel screen. The eyepiece is also too small, has too little eye relief, you have to jam the camera into your face to see all four corners of the screen simultaneously - that may be the worst part of this camera.
Shutter speeds are from 1/30 to 1/500. The shutter has a revolving dial and can be cocked without advancing the film. You may also advance the film with a lever, or rewind it with a
knob. None of those silly cranks that hurt your fingers on this camera.
I used this camera primarily with Kodak Elite Chrome and Lomography's X-pro chrome, which was also Elite Chrome. Until both of those disappeared.
I'm trying Agfa Precisa now, but it's a pain to get in the U.S.
Untitled by
berangberang, on Flickr
soft by
berangberang, on Flickr
texas by
berangberang, on Flickr
There was an internal reflection cause by light reflecting off of the inside of the film gate ^^^^ solved with some flat black model paint.
oreston1 by
berangberang, on Flickr
oreston2 by
berangberang, on Flickr
stone by
berangberang, on Flickr
rod by
berangberang, on Flickr
sushi by
berangberang, on Flickr
bottle by
berangberang, on Flickr
cassaron2 by
berangberang, on Flickr
barton springs by
berangberang, on Flickr
foot scratch by
berangberang, on Flickr
vespa by
berangberang, on Flickr
cardboard by
berangberang, on Flickr
It's hard to explain why it is satisfying to use this camera. There is really nothing special about it aside from its simplicity. Although I do like how smoothly it operates (although loudly) and how solid it feels. I've used it primarily with an Oreston or Yashinon lens. I don't know if I would recommend it to other people because I don't think the average photographer would fall in love with it. Perhaps if you like Zenits or Prakticas it might be worth it to try the West German flavor of the same family of cheap SLRs, although in my experience the Edixa outshines both of them.
