Help if you can...

[Andrew Snyder]

So I've recently found a Tower Reflex TLR camera in my attic and got inspired to shoot with it and bought 4 rolls of Ilford black and white 120 film. I'm completely new to medium format and this TLR as well. I've figured everything out i.e. the shutterspeed, apeture, focusing, shutter cocking, etc. The few things I'm concerned with are these two buttons:

The button on the right will make the film counter go to a red circle or, when pressed in addition with the button in the center of the film winding knob, it will cause the counter to go to "S" which I would assume stands for START? Here's the thing, I loaded the first roll, with needless to say, not enough info on the cam. Cause I went to shoot the first shot, and then wind it, and the counter didn't advance so I basically botched the first roll and pulled it out of there. Now I accept it as a lesson because I've got to learn the camera some how but I'd like to not completely ruin another roll. I hadn't set the counter to S for the first roll cause I didn't know how. I'm going to be loading my second roll sometime soon and hope that the counter advances but if anyone has any info on TLR cams like this and weird loading/winding info that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ksmattfish]

...but I'd like to not completely ruin another roll.

Roll the ruined roll back up, and use it to practice loading the camera, until you have it figured out.

Tower is a brand name for marketing cameras here in the states when it wasn't a good idea to use German and Japanese brand names. At least 5 different companies made Tower TLR cameras at different times. Can you give more info as to which Tower TLR model it is? Maybe we can find a manual online for the original brand name.

 

[ksmattfish]

From what I can see in the photo, I'm guessing it's an Airesflex YIII.

http://nikomat.homeip.net/priv/camera/mednikkor/aires/aires-e.html