About a year ago, I bought a Flexaret Automat twin lens reflex camera. I had wanted a medium format camera other than my Diana F+ and had been curious about TLR cameras for a while.
I had a bit of a rough start with the Flexaret, ruining a roll of film just trying to load it and then taking some terrible pictures as I learned how to use it. But by the end of that roll, I started feeling comfortable with it and was optimistic about the next roll.
FMC Tower 
Veolia Energy 
Black and White Sunset
I went out and took a couple of pictures but then it stopped advancing. I’ve fiddled with it a few times trying to figure out what went wrong but haven’t been able to get it to work.
I finally gave up trying to fix it. I looked into finding a place to repair it but that turned out to be prohibitively expensive so I decided to buy a different medium format camera instead. I did some research and settled on the Pentacon Six TL. It’s not a TLR but I was intrigued enough to buy one back in May.
Unlike the Flexaret, my first roll was fairly successful.
Veolia Energy and Roberts Center for Pediatric Research 
FMC Tower 
FMC Tower 
Neighborhood View 
Clouds 
Our Neighborhood in Wood 
Mug, Vase, and Love 
Wedding in Rittenhouse Square 
Metropolitan Bakery
However, the second roll had issues with pictures overlapping. I had sent the roll to Richard Photo Lab. They contacted me about the problem, sent me photos of the negatives so I could see what had happened, and said they could scan them but it would take additional effort (and an additional $5 which I was willing to pay).
They were able to make fairly distinct scans. My experience with Richard Photo Lab, although limited, has been overwhelmingly positive.
Thanks to the size of the 120mm film, I was able to make some additional crops and still have decent looking pictures. The last picture on the roll (Schuylkill Boardwalk), perhaps not unsurprisingly, did not have any overlap.
July 6, 2019 Farmers Market 
July 6, 2019 Farmers Market – Cropped 
July 6, 2019 Farmers Market 
July 6, 2019 Farmers Market – Cropped 
FMC Clouds 
FMC Clouds – Cropped 
Schuylkill Tree 
Schuylkill Tree – Cropped 
New Mural and Roberts Center 
New Mural and Roberts Center – Cropped 
Schuylkill Boardwalk 
Schuylkill Boardwalk – Cropped 
New Mural 
New Mural – Cropped 
Train Tracks and Philly Skyline 
Train Tracks and Philly Skyline – Cropped 
Philly Sunset 
Philly Sunset – Cropped 
Schuylkill Boardwalk
I didn’t have any problems with the first roll overlapping so I’m hoping that was just a one time issue maybe due to not getting the film loaded tightly enough.
I do want to shoot another roll soon to see if the problem persists. And I think I am going to bring my Flexaret home from work (where it’s serving as a fancy bookend) and try again to get it to function.
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