Snagged this at a flea market for $5 circa late 1970s. The shutter was non-operational and the intention was to use the lens on a home-brew enlarger. He was able to clean and repair the shutter, so Ye Olde Photographer left it together. Put a roll through it back when but don't remember being too impressed. Recently discovered info indicates this is a Flexaret III, the only one to have a crank. The model was made in Czechoslovakia around 1948.

Somewhere along the way YOP believes he replaced the reflex mirror and added a fresnel sheet over the ground glass to improve the viewfinder function. (If he did, it needs it again!)

The camera takes twelve 6x6 cm frames on 120 film.
Shutter: Prontor II T(ime), B(ulb), 1 to 1/200 second, plus self-timer and flash sync.
Viewing lens: Meopta Anastigmat 80mm f/3.5
Taking lens: Meopta Mirar 80mm f/3.5; Aperture f/3.5 to f/22
Folding viewfinder has magnifier and panel to raise for an open frame sports finder.

01 August 2008 - Well! We got this turkey out, went to open it to see how dirty the inside was, discovered film backing paper staring back! Quickly slammed the back shut and wound the film through. It was Kodak Plus-X 125, so YOP ran it through some HC110 1+63 and found eight images. The background density was way higher than normal, and the grain looked a bit funky, but they are images. The project documented dates the shots as 1981! Two examples are next to the shots of the camera on the first row.

We then put in the most recent 125PX and did a trek through Valley Forge National Historical Park to see what the old beast would do today. Ye Olde Photographer was actually fairly impressed. Film was developed in Kodak HC110, 1+63 dilution. Problem is after 27 years of disuse, the slow shutter speeds hang -- given YOP's other choices today, he's not sure whether he wants to take the trouble to clean it up. Enh, maybe some cold winter afternoon.

21 November 2009: In response to an inquiry, and noting there do not seem to be any manuals on-line for this camera, some photos with call-outs and some verbose captions have been added to this gallery. A crude "mini-manual," as it were. Bear in mind this information has been determined empirically, and that there were apparently several variations on this camera during its production run. The camera is totally manual.