At PhotoFusionART, we're working film photographers and repair specialists—not just resellers. Every camera is personally inspected, cleaned, and serviced before it ships, with a full CLA performed where needed. We test function, check for common faults, and only list gear we'd trust behind our own lens. Buy with confidence knowing your equipment has been cared for by people who actually shoot and repair these cameras. Questions before or after your purchase? We're always glad to help.

====== Super rare condition with great optics you will not find considering its age! =====

Seagull 4A — 6×6 Twin Lens Reflex | Haiou-31 75mm f/3.5 | 120 Film | Tested & Working

The most approachable way into medium format film there is. A real TLR with a real crank advance and a big bright waist-level finder, at a fraction of what the German and Japanese classics cost. Tested and working, ready to load and shoot.

📜 A Bit of History

The Seagull-4 series came out of the Shanghai Camera Factory in 1964, continuing an earlier Shanghai TLR that was quite possibly built on outdated Japanese tooling. The 4A followed toward the end of the decade, upgrading the line with a right-hand crank wind and automatic frame counter — the Rolleiflex pattern, openly and unapologetically. The nameplate in front of the finder hood carries 海鸥, Haiou, which simply means "seagull."

In 1960s and '70s China this was professional equipment. It carried a professional price, and Chinese photographers treated it accordingly. Outside China it picked up the nickname "the poor man's Rolleiflex," which undersells it — this is a camera with its own character, its own quirks, and a rendering that people seek out on purpose. It also has a distinction almost no other TLR can claim: the Seagull line stayed in production for roughly forty years, long after every Western and Japanese TLR factory had gone quiet.

✨ Key Features

📷 Haiou-31 75mm f/3.5 coated taking lens — sharp stopped down, with a gentler, softer character wide open and a bokeh that shooters genuinely like. It doesn't try to be clinical, and that's the point

👀 75mm f/2.8 viewing lens — brighter than the taking lens, so the ground glass stays easy to compose on

🔄 Crank film advance with automatic frame counter — the 4A's headline upgrade over the earlier Seagull 4; wind and shoot, no red window, no counting

🔲 6×6 square negatives on 120 film — twelve large frames per roll, with far more detail than 35mm can hold. 120 is still made and widely available

🔭 Folding waist-level finder with a built-in action finder for eye-level shooting and a flip-in magnifier for critical focus

📐 Depth-of-field scale built into the focusing knob — a genuinely clever touch, read your zone right where your hand already is

⏱️ Leaf shutter, B plus 1 second to 1/300 — quiet enough that people nearby often don't register it, with X flash sync via PC socket and a self-timer lever below the taking lens

🔘 Apertures f/3.5 to f/22 with sliding selectors flanking the lens

🔋 Fully mechanical, no battery — no meter, no electronics, nothing to replace. Use a handheld meter or a phone app and you're set

🔩 Threaded shutter release for a standard cable release, ¼" tripod socket, Rolleiflex-style back latch

📖 Two Things Worth Knowing

The shutter release doesn't lock. Once you've advanced the film, the camera is armed and a stray press fires it. The habit experienced Seagull owners adopt is simple: shoot, then leave it unwound, and only crank to the next frame when you've got something you want. Two rolls and it's automatic. 

Your PhotoFusionArt Quick Start Guide walks you through loading, the crank, and your first roll.

🔧 Condition & Testing

 Serial 20303283, Haiou-31 75mm f/3.5. Shutter fires accurately across speeds, focus knob smooth through full range, viewing screen and mirror bright, taking lens clear, crank and frame counter correct, self-timer function, leatherette condition is good.

📦 What's Included

Camera as pictured  plus the PhotoFusionArt Quick Start Guide. Double-boxed for shipping.