History
Double-lens cameras were first developed around 1870, due to the realization that having a second lens alongside the taking lens would mean that one could focus without having to keep swapping the ground glass screen for the plate, reducing the time required for taking a picture. This sort of approach was still used as late as the 1960s, as the monstrous Koni-Omegaflex testifies.
The TLR camera was thus an evolution. Using a reflex mirror to allow viewing from above also enabled the camera to be held much more steadily than if it were to be held in the hand. The same principle of course applied to SLR cameras, but early SLR cameras caused delays and inconvenience through the need to move the mirror out of the focal plane to allow light to pass to the plate behind it. When this process was automated, the movement of the mirror could cause shake in the camera and blur the image. The London Stereoscopic Co's "Carlton" model is claimed to have been the first off-the-shelf TLR camera, dating from 1885.
The major step forward to mass marketing of the TLR came with the Rolleiflex in 1929. The Rolleiflex was widely imitated and copied and most mass-market TLR cameras owe much to its design.
TLRs are still manufactured in Germany by DHW Fototechnik, the successor of Franke & Heidecke in three versions.
Read more about this topic: Twin-lens Reflex Camera
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