The Superheadz Blackbird Fly TLR, also known as the BBF, was launched in 2008. It was developed by Powershovel, a company that offers playful toy cameras for experimental photographers under the Superheadz brand. It was available in a variety of colors, including orange, red, blue, black, white and yellow.
The BBF has lenses, but does not work like a typical two-lens reflex camera with a ground glass screen. Focusing is done via a distance scale. The lens through which you look through the waist-length viewfinder does not change.
The camera offers aperture values of f/7 for cloudy weather and f/11 for sunny conditions. Exposure times of 1/125 second and long exposure mode (bulb) are available. In bulb mode, the shutter can remain open for as long as you like.
The BBF is equipped with a 33 mm wide-angle lens. The distance is set using estimated values: 0.8, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 10 meters and infinity. Special features of the BBF include the ability to create multiple exposures and connect an external flash.
Films and formats of the Blackbird Fly TLR
The Blackbird Fly TLR uses standard 35mm film. What is special about this camera is the system with interchangeable masks. These masks are inserted into the camera before the film is inserted and enable shots to be taken in three different formats: the normal 35mm format (24 x 36 mm), a square format (24 x 24 mm) and a large square format (36 x 36 mm).
Of course, you can use normal 35mm film, which fortunately is still offered by some manufacturers. With the Kodak Portra 160*, you can take beautiful color pictures with this camera. However, for black and white images, the Kodak T-Max 400* is the preferred choice. Other producers worth mentioning include Adox, Rollei and Foma.
