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6x6 SLR's?


I received a Pentacon Six as a gift from the factory in early 1970s. Even then not a reliable camera. As I remember, Kowa and most other 66 SLR cameras had reliability problems. The exception was Hasselblad, which explains why it was the instrument of choice beginning with 500c. Up to then the Rolleiflex was supreme, for the same reason. If I were buying a used camera for everyday use in 66, and not for collecting or curiosity, for 66 SLR I would go with a Hasselblad or Pentax. I prefer Hassy, but that’s a question of taste.
My Fuji GF670 folder shoots both 66 and 66, doesn’t seem that heavy but compact for carrying. For reasonably priced folder I would stick with a Post war later model Super Ikonta B.
 
Horatio said:
You can still buy used Pentacons.
Click to expand...

The Pentacon 6, the Praktisix it's forunner and the Russian Kiev were all from the same design (with differences). They all seemed to have the same faults which happened with the wind on giving uneven spacing between frames or sometimes serious overlapping. Also there was a lever on top of the body but I am not sure what it was for, however if it was knocked or moved out of sequence to other operations it jammed the shutter/wind on. They can be fixed but it takes a good engineer to do so and get it right.

There was one other with a similar design - the Exacta 66 or was it the Exacta 6x6, I cannot remember. It was a better made and finished camera, which looked quite sleek and business like. I have only seen one (around 1996 or so) and was seriously tempted to buy it because of the plethora of very good and reasonably priced lenses made by Zeiss in Eastern Germany or even the Russian versions. I believe they had cured the wind on and shutter jamming problems, but I chose to stand back and let someone else experiment.
 
Pentacon Six
Pentax 67
Kowa 6 (three versions)
Pilot 6
Super Pilot
KW Reflex Box
Great Wall DF (at least four versions)
Pentax 645 (two versions)
Exakta 66
Various Graflexes (including 6x9)
Reflex-Korelle

Off the top of my head, without mentioning the Russian stuff.
 
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