Princeflex
The Princeflex was a Japanese 6x6 TLR made by a company called Toyo Seiki (Tōyō Seiki Kōgaku, 東洋精機光学) or simply Prince Camera (プリンスカメラ). It had nothing to see with the 1937 Prince Flex made by Neumann & Heilemann. (See the Prince page for a discussion of the various cameras with that name.)
The original Princeflex had knob advance with a red window. Focusing was by a knob on the left side, sliding the whole front plate. There was an accessory shoe on the left. The shutter release was at the bottom left of the front plate, with a release lock. It had Luminar 80/3.5 lenses and a TSK shutter B-1-200 (TSK probably for Toyo Seiki Kogaku). It could take 4.5x6 pictures with a mask. In this page at yume_camera, there is a picture of what is probably a prototype (s/n 1001), marked TOYOSEIKI OPT.CO.LTD. under the Princeflex name plate.
There is a Princeflex II mentioned here at Japan Family Camera, it probably added automatic advance with an exposure counter but no double exposure prevention.
The Prince Junior was probably a cheaper version of the model II, with J-Luminar 80/3.5 viewing and taking lenses and a Ceres B-1-300 shutter (McKeown also mentions a Rectus shutter). The Prince Junior pictured in McKeown has a lettering different from the ones linked below, and it also seems to have a different body.
It is possible that the Elbowflex was the same camera, indeed they look very similar and clearly share parts.
Links
- Prince Junior at tlr-cameras.com, with a discussion of the various Prince cameras
- Prince Junior at Japan Family Camera
- Princeflex table at Japan Family Camera
- Prince Flex and Princeflex at yume_camera
