This is part 1 of a 2 part series. I had planned to make this a single post, but at some point, I realized it was going to be just way too long. So in this part, I’ll cover the history of 127 film and 4x4 cameras in general. In the next part I’ll break down the differences between the two, what the shooting experience of each is like, and give my thoughts on which one to purchase.

Its difficult to choose between these 2 babies. They both are cute and cuddly. They weigh almost nothing. And they each don’t cost that much at first, but over time care and feeding can get expensive. Which baby would you choose to take home?

Okay, okay, all bad “baby” puns aside, we’re here to talk about two very similar 127 film format cameras that product 4cm x 4cm images. One is from Germany, while the other is from Japan. I’ll break down the pros and cons of each, and also give you a history lesson along the way.

First, let’s discuss the 127 film format.

120 roll film on the left, 127 roll film on the right

127 is a roll film format for introduced by Kodak in 1912 along with its mini “Vest Pocket Kodak” folding camera. At the time Kodak was enjoying the popularity of 120 roll film, and was looking for a way to get more people into shooting roll film that might otherwise think that 120 cameras were “too big”.

The film itself is 46 mm wide, which puts it right between 35 mm and 120 films in terms of size. The image format normally used is a square 4 cm × 4 cm. However, rectangular 4 cm × 3 cm and 4 cm × 6 cm are also standard sizes depending on the camera used.

127 enjoyed immense popularity until its usage began to decline from the 1960s onwards due to the emergence and popularity of cartridge-based films. More on that later.

In 1932, Franke & Heidecke introduced the Rolleiflex Sports 4×4. This smaller Rollei was one of the first high quality cameras to use 127 film, and also the first TLR (“Twin Lens Reflex”) with a crank advance lever to wind the film. This camera was a good seller for Franke & Heidecke and spawned features which ended up being on the larger 120 film Rolleiflex, which went on to be the company’s top camera for many years and what they are known best for. The Sports 4x4 was produced up until WWII wreaked havoc on the German factory, and it ceased sometime around 1943 or 1944 depending on how you interpret serial#’s and different sources.

New Rolleiflex 4x4 on the left, next to its larger sibling the Rolleiflex 2.8D

As Germany began to rebuild and its manufacturing came back, Franke & Heidecke revived the format in 1957 with the new Rolleiflex 4x4. This new version created a sensation at the time as it was a smaller, cheaper 127 film version of the bigger 120 Rolleiflex. This was the height of the slide film craze where families took images on vacations and at family gatherings, and then showed them on slide projectors to anyone that they could corner in their basements. Also, at this time the larger “Super Slide” was invented, which allowed users to view enormous 2” x 2” slides as compared to standard 35mm slides on the same projector. 127 film was perfect for this application, so it suddenly became hugely popular, as did the Rollei 4x4.

1958 Sears Catalog - Rolleiflex 4x4 was $149.50 USD, which is about $1600 USD in today’s money. Note that it was more expensive than the Rolleicord Va, which was and is an astounding 120 format camera. The 2.8D is $349.50 USD, which in today’s money is almost $3700 USD.

So popular, in fact, that over the next two years no less than 7 different “baby” 127 TLR’s were introduced by various companies to take advantage of the craze that the Baby Rollei started. Most of these cameras had their own look and feel separate from that of the Rollei, with the exception of the Yashica 44.

Yashica 44 on left compared to the Rolleiflex 4x4 on right. To say the Yashica is “similar” is an understatement.

1959 Sears Catalog — The Yashica 44 was less than 1/2 the price of the Rolleiflex 4x4 when introduced. Note the price cuts on Rollei gear due to competition from Yashica and other brands.

The Yashica 44 was a blatant copy of the Rollei. Yes, there were some differences regarding film advance and controls, but just looking at the two side-by-side you can see that the Yashica engineers and marketers weren’t shy about ripping off the design of the Rollei. Same size, shape, and look. Even the same grey body color and grey leatherette. Their advertising went right after Rollei as well, comparing their model to the Rollei and pointing out that theirs was much cheaper.

This impacted Rollei sales so much that the following year they had to reduce prices to compete, and, more importantly, filed a lawsuit in the USA against Yashica. There isn’t a lot of info about the suit available, but it appears to have been a Trade Dress suit. There was a settlement reached in 1960, whereby Yashica agreed to no longer make their version in the same grey paint and leatherette.

The popularity of 127, 4x4 cameras, and Super Slides was short-lived, however.

It was about to be eclipsed by 35mm.

The 35mm film format came out in the 1930’s, however the Contax and Leica cameras needed to shoot it were expensive, and financially of reach for most modest income families. After WWII, when Japanese optics factories that made products for the Japanese military during the war turned to camera production, this began to change. These good quality, cheap cameras made 35mm more popular and very affordable. The writing was on the wall. More and more families were choosing to shoot their holidays on 35mm cameras.

Ironically, the biggest nail in 127’s coffin came from Kodak. Kodak spent a lot of money advertising their Kodachrome film in the late 1950’s, touting it as the “best” and “sharpest” slide film on the market that gave the “truest colors”. And it wasn’t available in 127. If consumers wanted the best film for their slides, they needed to shoot 35mm*. Because Kodak made the decision to make Kodachrome in 35mm and not 127, they effectively killed the format that they originally invented in 1912.

By the early 1960’s the premium 4x4 127 camera market had nearly dried up. In fact, there were some manufacturers who were offering free 4x4 TLR’s (left over inventory) as part of a promotion when purchasing a 35mm camera from them.

There were still 127 film cameras being made in the 60’s and 70’s, but with a few exceptions, most were cheap “toy” cameras that didn’t offer the same quality that the 4x4 TLR’s did in the late 1950’s.

Kodak eventually ceased production of 127 film in 1995. By that time many other manufacturers had stopped production as well. Today 127 film is still available from B&H, Freestyle, etc at a premium cost. Most of it is cut and re-spooled 120 film and therefor includes the extra cost of labor to do so. Shanghai Film Company in China also offers “new” 127 B&W GP3 film, but quality can be hit or miss. I have several rolls at home that have the backing paper rolled on backwards so that the beginning of the roll says “end”, and the end says “start”. This can be a real problem when using a red window to load and set the first image at #1 on the backing paper!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed Part 1! Part 2 will follow shortly with more images of both cameras, what its like to shoot with them, and my thoughts on which one you should consider if you are looking to get into shooting 4x4 cameras.

Thanks for reading!

Jeremy

*NOTE – Kodachrome was also available in 120 format, and was also extremely popular in that size. However, 120 format for the most part, was not the choice for your average American family for a vacation and “everyday” camera. 120 cameras were larger in comparison, and 120 film was much less economical when compared to 35mm.