My Camera & I: A Present from Slovakia

Finally, today i received a surprise at my doorstep which i have long forgotten about...well since my birthday is coming, i thought i should self celebrate it with some little gifts this month...

It has been 3 weeks since i last bought it off ebay from seller cupog. I remembered that i didnt ask him too much question about the item, especially when he told me that the copy he will sell me is like mint...if Cupog says its mint, it is!

I must comment that Cupog is a very reputable seller, especially for its Pentacon Six and Flexaret TLR..and if you are looking for assurance in the item purchased, he is the one to look for...
Apart from the trust-able good quality products that he is selling, he quote a fairly reasonable price for his items. I bet i would get it more expensive locally in a lousier condition...

The case was in a much better condition that i thought it would be given its age...

The lens was clean and the belar 80 f3.5 lens has a reputation of soft coating...which might do well for portraits...that i must try.

Im a TLR lover which my dear readers would have known from the past few entries...
While everyone is chasing after a Rolleiflex, i strayed and took the chance to check out other finest TLR that i could still find in the market.
Flexaret was quite an interesting TLR when i started studying on them. While comments and pictures can be found on the internet, there is nothing more accurate than trying them out. So given a good copy that i can still find at an affordable rate, i chose the last series of TLR cameras made by Meopta, the Flexaret VII. It is a fully mechanical camera with an all metal body.

While fiddling with the camera, i realised that it has some advanced features mirroring Rolleiflex models. For example, you can set the light value on a mechanical ring, which sets a series combinations of shutter speeds and diapgragms. When you decide that you need to stop down the lens, there is no need to choose the speed any more.

There is always a unique operating function in each TLR which i call them their "character" and It didnt took me too long to figure out that the round button by the side of the camera was the shutter trigger button. Its more for doing a double exposure since the winder would auto clock the shutter when you advance the film.