The projected image of Super-Slides was considerably larger in image area, 38 x 38mm compared to the 34 x 23mm of a regular 35mm slide. This was the height of the slide film era and Frank Rizzatti at Burleigh-Brooks in New York had come up with the innovation of Super-Slides, which used the same slide film 2”x2” mounts but gave an image 85% larger. When Franke & Heidecke introduced the updated version of their pre-war Rolleiflex Sports 4×4 in September 1957 it created a sensation. The Father of the Sawyer’s Mark IV would be the Rolleiflex 4×4, commonly referred to as the Baby Rollei. version of my camera, and the Walz Automat. You can see it in the image above in comparison with the Topcon Jr. This smaller Rollei was one of the first high quality cameras to use the 127 film format, and the first TLR with a crank advance lever.
The Grandfather of the Sawyer’s Mark IV was the Rolleiflex Sports 4×4 which was released in 1931. Image courtesy of Mike Novak The Rise and Fall of Super-Slides and 127 Film Cameras Left to right: Rolleiflex Sport 4×4, Topcon Primo Jr. The waist level finder is such a joy to use, focusing a breeze, and when shooting portraits the pop-up magnifier allows me to always nail focus even at fully open aperture. Even though it’s tiny compared to a Rolleiflex it exudes the same degree of quality, the machining and design of the dials, knobs and lenses and satisfying metallic snick when opening the waist level finder gives the reassurance of working with something really special. Made entirely from metal and glass and covered in leather, there’s an instant feeling that this is a precision instrument, made long before the idea of designed obsolescence, just as much a joy to behold as it is to shoot. Unusually the Junior version was of better quality and had more features than its progenitor. Tokyo Kogaku designated the camera the Primo Jr., which positioned it as the “Junior” version of their successful 120 TLR the Topcon Primoflex. The cameras were distributed in Japan by Osawa Shokai, owner of the Primo brand, and in the United States by Beseler. was made in a variety configurations – metered, unmetered, grey-finished, and like mine, rebadged as the Sawyer’s Mark IV for the Sawyer’s company in Portland, Oregon, famous for production of the Viewmaster stereo viewing system.
My version of the camera, the Sawyer’s Mark IV , is a rebadged version the Topcon Primo Jr., manufactured in Japan by Tokyo Kogaku (the company later called Topcon). I know, I know I can hear the purists screaming at me and leaving comments that photography is supposed to be about images, not about gear, but a camera that brings me joy inspires me to shoot more often, so that’s a good thing right?
The Sawyer’s Mark IV has everything I want in a film camera – gorgeous looks, high functionality, a fascinating back story, and most importantly, a great lens. Made in 19, the Sawyer’s Mark IV is a TLR based on the Rolleiflex Sports, and it’s a real gem. Yet it possesses most of the Rolleiflex’s features at a fraction of the size and price. The Sawyer’s Mark IV, on the other hand, is a camera that most people wouldn’t recognize. With its stacked twin lens reflex design and striking style, the Rolleiflex is one of the most recognizable of all 20 th Century camera designs.
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