6X6 Focal Length

[Arthurwg]

I've been quite successful with my Zero Image 6x9 camera, which I shoot at the 6x9 setting. But now I want a dedicated 6x6 camera. The 6x9 has a focal length of 60mm, which seems to work well for me. But looking at 6x6 cameras, I see they are mostly very wide angle, 20mm or 25mm. That seems too wide for my needs, and would require getting very close to my subject. I also see more distortion than I'm comfortable with at that FL. Yes, I know I can shoot 6x6 with the Zero Image 6x9. Maybe that's the way I should go. Any thoughts?

 

[MattKing]

Stay with the 60mm focal length unless you want something wider.
The film is still only ~60 mm tall, so if you like how the results look to you in that orientation, you should like the results in the other orientation.

 

[Luckless]

[I'm biased towards rather long lenses typically, so 20mm feels horribly wide even on 35mm cameras, let alone a 6x6 medium format.]

How do you like to use a camera, and what style of camera body do you typically go for? Might help narrow down suggestions or ideas.

 

[summicron1]

seems to me you have answered your own question -- the Zero Image is a fine camera, just use that.

That said, I have a Zero Image 2000 which is 25mm -- really like the images i get from that too.

Another thing you could do is by a 2 1/4 speed graphic, take the lens out of the lens board and install a pinhole. Then you'd have infinitely variable focal lengths.

 

[DWThomas]

summicron1's suggestion is a cool idea, I began my pinhole efforts in this millennium with a homebrew lens board and a pinhole on a 4x5 press camera. That made it easy to test and make adjustments to check optimization. My second effort was a pinhole body cap for my Bronica SQ-A, which is a 6x6 (cm), but there the physical construction of the camera body held me to about 90mm (or longer). My last two cameras are fairly wide angle, and were I building a 6x6 from scratch I would likely target around 40mm or so, but there really is no obvious "correct" answer!

The wider you go, the more fall-off occurs toward the edges, but if the camera, particularly the pinhole plate, is well made, a diagonal field of view upwards of 100º is not all that bad. Feel free to wander through my PBase galleries to see some actual cameras and results. (Sometimes I think maybe I enjoy building the cameras more than using them! )

 

[Arthurwg]

Another thing you could do is by a 2 1/4 speed graphic, take the lens out of the lens board and install a pinhole. Then you'd have infinitely variable focal lengths.

Problem with that is the pinhole diameter relates directly to focal length. To do it that way you would really need a pinhole turret, with perhaps three pinholes for various bellows extensions.

 

[Jim Jones]

For us who make our own pinhole camera accessories for a Speed Graphic, mounting a filter ring in a lens board lets us use a variety of pinholes and zone plates. These pinholes can each be mounted in additional filter rings with the filter glass removed, or mounted in a disc that is retained by another glassless filter ring.

 

[ciniframe]

I’d make my own from a Holga. Remove the lens and shutter block and fashion a wood block to hold the pinhole with a cover for a shutter. Focal length is whatever you like. How about 38mm (A pinhole version of the Hasselblad SWC if you will.)
Yes, I know there was a readymade pinhole version of the Holga but don’t know what pinhole distance it was.

 

[Nick Dvoracek]

Anything longer than 30mm for 6x6 is very rare in a commercially avialable camera, but you can build a reliable camera yourself out of cardboard. See several plans at. https://pinholica.blogspot.com/p/camera-designs.html

 

[wiltw]

The same FL that works for 6x9 will work for 6x6...what you capture in the viertical is identical...what you capture in the horizontal is simply 50% wider on 6x9 than it is on 6x6!

 

[redrockcoulee]

Vermeer has a 34mm focal length.. But most seem to be in the low 20 focal length