In October of 1951, Graflex Inc. acquired the tools, dies, inventory and rights to manufacture the Ciro 35 and Ciro-flex cameras from Ciro Cameras Inc., of Delaware Ohio. Graflex did not buy the company, which continued to operate as a small manufacturing company working on castings and stampings, and so forth. Graflex was aware of the popularity of 35mm and twin-lens reflex cameras, and saw this as a quick way to enter the growing amateur market. Cameras continued to be shipped from Ohio, under the Graflex name, while production facilities in Rochester were prepared.
Ciro Cameras had been making the Ciro-flex twin-lens reflex camera since 1941, first in Detroit, Michigan, and, from 1947, in Delaware, Ohio. This camera has a simple design and is sturdy, the body being constructed of welded steel sheeting.
The Ohio History Connection - Ohio’s Camera website provides this information: “Ciro Cameras was founded in 1941 by a former Ford engineer and French immigrant, Rodolphe Stahl, in Detroit, Michigan. The new company was approached by Sears and Roebuck to create a TLR camera for sale in their stores. Stahl produced the Marvel-flex for Sears and simultaneously released the nearly identical Ciro-flex through his own company. Dubbed the “working man’s Rolleiflex,” the Ciro-flex benefited from US production during WWII, affordability, and aesthetic simplicity. If not for the stuttering flow of exportation from Germany during and after the war Ciro-flex may never have existed.”
“Ciro Cameras relocated to Delaware, Ohio, in 1947. This move was prompted by Stahl because he felt that the rural atmosphere and the nearby college made Delaware, OH an ideal place to live. The camera company moved into a former chicken processing warehouse at 425 S. Sandusky, and continued its growth. At the company’s peak, Ciro Cameras employed 136 Ohioans and produced 100 cameras per day.”
The Camera Wiki website provides this information about the first Ciro-flex: “The earliest model A's were built in Detroit, Michigan, (the factory was at 112 E. Atwater) and ‘ciro-flex’ appears uncapitalized on the nameplate. Post-WWII production resumed with the models B (with an Alphax shutter) and C (Rapax shutter).”
Ciro Cameras made six models, designated A through F, equipped with differing taking lenses and shutters. The viewing lens of each model was a coated 85mm f3.2 Wollensak Anastigmat. The 1946 Instruction Manual stated that the taking lens used was the Wollensak Velostigmat, while the 1948 Instruction Manual stated that the taking lens was the Wollensak Anastigmat, and so it appears that a switch was made during 1947 or 1948 (somewhere between serial numbers 55827 and 82966.)
Model A was discontinued when the move was made from Michigan to Ohio. Models B and C were added in 1942 with some mechanical improvements Model B had a self-cocking, Alphax shutter with limited range of shutter speeds, and Model C had the more capable Rapax shutter The first models that incorporated flash synchronization, D (Alphax Synchromatic shutter) and E (Rapax Synchromatic shutter), were added to production in 1948. Model F, with the Fully Synchromatic Rapax shutter, was added in 1950.
2. Figures from US Patent 2,495,355, awarded to Rodolphe Stahl on January 24, 1950.
Stahl Rodolphe applied for an U. S. patent on an improved focusing device for twin-lens reflex cameras on August 30, 1946, and Patent Number 2495355 was granted on January 24, 1950.
Accessories for the Ciro-flex included the Ciro-flash gun, Ciro-pod tripod, a genuine cowhide Everready case, Ciro cable releases in 7 and 12 inch lengths, and a very nice pressed-steel dual lens cap, which sported the ‘Ciro-flex’ name. A compact sunshade and filter holder was designed to use Series V filters, and the lenses accepted other 32mm diameter slip-on filter adapters and lens shades.
3. Ciro-flex Everready Case
4. Ciro-flex E with Lens Cap.
Ciro-Flex Models, Ciro Cameras, 1941 – 1950.
A 85mm f3.5 Velostigmat Automatic Alphax, 1/10th to 1/200thsecond, T & B.
B 85mm f3.5 Velostigmat Automatic Alphax, 1/10th to 1/200thsecond, T & B.
C 85mm f3.5 Velostigmat Set & Release Rapax, 1 to 1/400thsecond, T & B.
D 85mm f3.5 Anastigmat Alphax Synchromatic, 1/10th to 1/200th, T & B. With M-F
E 85mm f3.5 Anastigmat Rapax Synchromatic No.1, 1 to 1/400th, T & B, With M-F
F 83mm f3.2 Raptar Rapax Synchromatic, 1 to 1/400th, T & B. With M-M-FX.
Automatic Alphax shutters, with a more limited range of shutter speeds, were cocked and released in one motion of the single lever. The Rapax shutters, with shutter speeds from one second to 1/400th second, were set with one lever and released with another. The Ciro-flex never had a body-mounted shutter release.
Models A, B, and C were not fitted with built-in flash synchronization, while Models D, E and F were. Models A, B and C could be used with a flash, either using the B (Bulb) setting (Opening the shutter, setting off the flash, closing the shutter) or by fitting a solenoid to release the shutter while at the same time triggering the flash.
Models D, E and F had an ASA bayonet flash sync connector fitted to the left side of the camera body. The Alphax and Rapax Synchromatic shutters, designated M-F, permitted the use of Class F flashbulbs (5 millisecond delay) in synchronization with all shutter speeds, while restricting the use of Class M flash bulbs (20 millisecond delay) with the shutter speed of 1/25th or slower. As a reminder of this restriction, shutter speeds 1/25th and slower are marked with red on the shutter.
5. Fully Synchromatic Rapax Shutter on a Ciro-flex F. A second, PC, flash sync has been added to this camera.
The Rapax Fully Synchromatic Rapax shutter on the Model F was adjustable to fire Class F, Class M and electronic flash units at any shutter speed. In 1950, Ciro Cameras promoted the Ciro-flex Model F as the only twin-lens reflex on the market that could be used interchangeably with flash bulbs and ‘speedlight’ electronic flash, without the use of accessory synchronizers. Synchronization adjustments were made with a simple lever (Time Delay Indicator) to select the proper time delay. Class M flash bulbs (20 ms) were synchronized with the quicker shutter speeds (1/100th, 1/200th and 1/400th, marked in black) by selecting the white M. To synchronize Class M bulbs at other shutter speeds (marked in red), the red M was selected. Class F bulbs (5ms) were synchronized by selecting the red F. To synchronize electronic flash, the X setting was used. There was also an OFF setting for disconnecting the flash sync circuit.
6. Ciro-flash mounted on a Ciro-flex F.
Ciro Cameras made the Ciro-flash gun for use with the Ciro-flex, Models D, E or F, which had a unique fitting to attach it to the camera. The Ciro-flash came with an adapter so that it could be used with either the medium Edison screw-mount or smaller bayonet-mount flash bulbs. The Ciro-flash held three D-Cell batteries, and had an outlet for an extension flash unit.
7. Ciro 35 S with Graflash, Original Box and Everready Case.
The Camera Corp of America, of Chicago, started in 1938 as the Candid Camera Corp. of America. From 1949 to 1950, they made the Cee-Ay 35, a 35mm camera equipped with an f4.5 or f3.5 Wollensak Anastigmat. They sold their design and tools to Ciro Cameras Inc. sometime in 1949. Ciro Cameras made minor changes to the Cee-Ay 35 and rebranded it the Ciro 35. The Ciro 35R was fitted with an f4.5 Anastigmat, and the Ciro 35S was fitted with an f3.5 lens.
Graflex continued the production of the Ciro 35 after purchasing its design and tools in 1950. The Ciro 35T, with an f2.8 Anastigmat, appears to have been added to production after the move to Rochester, NY. The Ciro 35 camera would continue to be made by Graflex until September 1954. It was substantially redesigned to become the Graphic 35 camera.
8. 1938 Rolleicord II and c.1942 Ciro-flex C
Franke and Heidecke - Rolleiflex
Many camera manufacturing companies noticed the success that Rolleiflex was having with their innovative twin lens reflex cameras, and developed their own versions. Rolleiflex had developed the TLR in 1929 as an evolution from the Rolleidoscop Stereo Camera, which used roll film rather than glass plates or sheet film, and which had a third lens between the stereo pair that projected the image onto a ground glass on the top of the camera by reflecting the image from a 45-degree mirror. 300,000 Rolleiflex TLR cameras had been sold by 1938.
In 1933, Franke and Heidecke introduced the Rolleicord camera, a TLR that was simpler in construction than the increasingly more sophisticated Rolleiflex, and so could be sold at a lower price. The Ciro-flex TLR appears to have been modeled after the Rolleicord of 1937 – 1938, as these cameras share many features. Film advance was by knob rather than by the rapid winding crank of the Rolleiflex Automat. The fold-up viewing hood could be converted into an eye-level, direct-view frame-finder. A depth-of-field scale was mounted over each camera’s focusing knob. The shutter of both had rim-set shutter speeds, and were released by lever, or by release cable screwed into the shutter body. Both had f3.5 triplet (three-element) taking lenses, the Zeiss Triotar on the Rolleicord and the Wollensak Velostigmat on the Ciro-flex. The Triotar had a 75 mm focal length, while the Velostigmat was 85 mm, and this would have allowed the Velostigmat to perform well even if it were cheaper to manufacture, since the image was formed by a more central area of the lens’s coverage. Originally, neither shutter was provided with flash synchronization. In 1941, the Rolleicord sold for $76.00 (model I) - $98.50 (model II), while the Ciro-flex Model A sold for $42.50. The Rolleiflex Automat sold for $175.00 in 1941.
Graflex Inc. purchased Ciro Cameras Inc., in October 1950, and “sponsored” the Ciro-flex camera from 1951 to 1952. The camera was then redesigned and became the Graflex 22, which was in production beginning November 1952. The Graflex Ciro-flex cameras were made in several models, as before, but the models were eventually equipped with different lenses and shutters than were used by Ciro Cameras. The camera itself was essentially the same as the original Ciro-flex.
The Ciro-flex cameras made before the company was purchased by Graflex were equipped with a Wollensak 85mm, f3.5 Velostigmat or Anastigmat lens (coated, at least by 1946) in Alphax or Rapax shutters. According to the July 1952, Ninth Edition of Graphic Graflex Photography, Graflex installed Graftar or Optar lenses in Century or Graphex shutters on the Ciro-flex, although I have yet to see a Ciro-flex camera with any of these lenses or shutters. In an April 1952 brochure, Graflex states that the Models D and E Ciro-flex were fitted with the Wollensak Anastigmat, and not the Graftar, and it appears that the Anastigmat actually continued to be utilized. The Graftar and Optar lenses in Century and Graphex shutters did make their appearance with the Graflex 22 camera in November 1952. All of these lenses and shutters were still made by Wollensak.
Ciro-flex D with Wollensak Anastigmat in Alphax Synchromatic Shutter.
Perhaps the best way to understand this list is that it represents what Graflex intended to do with the Ciro-flex line in 1951, and what they actually accomplished with the Graflex 22 the next year.
Ciro-Flex Models made under Graflex Inc., October 1951 – October 1952.
As of the 1952 Ninth Edition of Graphic Graflex Photography:
B 85mm f3.5 Graftar Century, 1/10th to 1/200th second, T & B.
C 85mm f3.5 Graftar Graphex 1 to 1/400thsecond, T & B.
D 85mm 3.5 Graftar Century, 1/10th to 1/200th, T & B. With M & F Sync,
E 85mm f3.5 Graftar Graphex, 1 to 1/400th, T & B. With M & F Sync.
F 83mm f3.2 Optar Graphex, 1 to 1/400th, T & B. With M-F-X sync.
The M & F automatic flash synchronization would synchronize Class F (SM and SF) flash bulbs at all shutter speeds, and Class M (GE 5, 11, 22; Sylvania 25, 0 & 40) at 1/25th second or slower (Shutter speed marking in red).
The Graphex Full Synchromatic M-F-X shutter synchronization was adjustable for all classes of flash bulbs and electronic flash, at all shutter speeds, by selecting the appropriate setting.
The Graflex serial number book does not list the Ciro-flex or Ciro 35 cameras, and so it seems reasonable to think that they continued to be made at the facility in Delaware, Ohio.
The Graflex 22 was manufactured in Rochester, New York, and was available to the public in November 1952.
The Graflex 22 serial numbers are listed in the Graflex serial number book, beginning with 600,001, lot number 48121 of 5000 cameras, dated August 29, 1952. The last Graflex 22 listed is number 629,600, in a lot of 200 cameras, dated September 4, 1956. It appears from the listing that 29,600 Graflex 22 cameras were made, in three models.
Model 200 had an 85mm, f3.5 Graftar lens in the self-cocking Century shutter, which had shutter speeds from 1/10th to 1/200th second, plus Time and Bulb. The Model 400 used the same taking lens, in the more capable Graphex shutter, which had shutter speed from one second to 1/400th second, plus Time and Bulb. And the Model 400F had the slightly faster 83mm, f3.2 Optar lens, in the Graphex Full Synchromatic shutter, which could be adjusted to synchronize Class F, Class M, and electronic flash at any shutter speed.
The Graflex 22 was essentially the same camera as the Ciro-flex, now available in a ‘Silver Gray’ or black finish, with the addition of an Ektalite (Fresnel) field lens under the viewing screen. Another significant addition was the hot-shoe ‘wired accessory clip’ to the left side of the camera. The hot-shoe was designed to be used with the Graflash flash gun, which could be simply slid into position without needing to deal with sync cords. The BC Graflash incorporated a condenser inside, and used the compact 22 ½ volt battery (Eveready No. 412) to charge the condenser. The PL Graflash had no condenser and used two ordinary, penlight AA batteries. Both Graflash units accepted bayonet-based midget flash bulbs such as the GE #5.
The Graflex 22 could also be used with the standard Graflite flash guns, and so gain a great deal of flexibility in choice of flash bulbs, and the ability to use multiple flash guns. A sync cord (the ‘Universal Shoe Cord’ or, ‘Cat #2723 Unicord’) was available that slid into the hot-shoe and could be plugged into the Graflite.
Beside the Graflash units, accessories included a specialized lens shade that would accept Series V filters, the gray leather Eveready case, and a choice of two, ‘All Metal’ tripods (Senior and Junior sized). The pressed-steel dual lens cap was also continued, now sporting the ‘Graflex 22’ name.
10. Graflex 22 Model 200 with lens shade and Graflash.
Graflex 22 Cameras, in production from November 1952 to November 1956
200 85mm 3.5 Graftar Century, 1/10th to 1/200th, T & B. With X-F-M Sync,
400 85mm f3.5 Graftar Graphex, 1 to 1/400th, T & B. With X-F-M Sync.
400F 83mm f3.2 Optar Graphex, 1 to 1/400th, T & B. With M-M-F-X sync.
The Century and Graphex X-F-M shutters synchronized zero delay electronic flash when the black-colored shutter speed were set, 5 millisecond delay Class F SM and SF flashbulbs when the green-colored shutter speed were set, and 20 millisecond delay Class M flashbulbs with the red-colored shutter speeds.
The Graphex Full Synchromatic shutter on Model 400F could be set to properly synchronize with various flash sources. When the shutter was set at ‘F-X’, electronic flash could be used at any shutter speed, and Class F flash bulbs would synchronize at the red-colored shutter speeds. Class F bulbs could be used at the faster shutter speeds by setting the edge of the indicator lever just touching the red-colored M. Class M flash bulbs would synchronize with the slower red-colored shutter speeds when the indicator lever was set at the red M, and with the faster black-colored shutter speeds when the lever was set at the black M. Intermediate delays could be set. The lever could also be set at the ‘Off’ position, disconnecting the flash sync, however, if this were done with a bulb in place the bulb would fire. Also, it was necessary to move the lever from Off to a sync setting prior to cocking the shutter. The Graflex 22 400F was discontinued in 1954 due to insufficient sales.
Graflex 22 Model 200 with fitted case, CAT 8013, and lens hood.
By the middle of the decade, Japanese-made twin-lens reflex cameras were available in the U. S., had more features, and were less expensive than the Ciro-flex. It appears that Graflex recognized that they had been out-competed, and discontinued production of the Graflex 22 in 1956.
By 1958, Graflex was selling the Japanese-made Kalloflex Automat K-2, which was described as: “A top quality twin-lens reflex. Features unique coaxial winding and focusing arrangement for lightning-fast shots. Makes standard 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ pictures on 120 roll film. Accessory mask for framing super slides (42mm x 42mm). all controls visible from above… click stops on diaphragm… XFM shutter to 1/500 second… outstanding Prominar 75mm f3.5 lens.” The shutter synchronized with electronic flash, Class F and Class M flash bulbs at any shutter speed. The Kalloflex also had some Rolleiflex-like features, such as a winding crank to advance the film and cock the shutter, automatically spacing the exposures on the film, and preventing double exposures, and the lenses were fitted with bayonet mounts to accept filters.
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1941 Ciro-flex Advertisement.
