Any other folder camera shooters here?

SocialKonstruct · Oct 17, 2020

Just got one of these lovely beasts http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Ikonta_521/16 today for dirt cheap. Anyone else use these?

Alan9940 · Oct 17, 2020

Don't use that specific one, but I do have a Zeiss Super Ikonta III and a 6x9 Zeiss Mess Ikonta. Both are great cameras that I really enjoy using. Good luck with your new baby!

SocialKonstruct · Oct 17, 2020

I heard that these medium format cameras are very nice due to pocket size and high quality negative resulting from usage!

wyofilm · Oct 17, 2020

I think a good number of people on this forum shoot with folders. I use an Agfa Isolette II (6x6) and a Voightlander Bessa II (6x9).

SocialKonstruct · Oct 17, 2020

I may have to joke and say it's like carrying an origami Hasselblad in my jacket LoL!

davidsyd · Oct 18, 2020

I have Zeiss Ikonta 6 x 9 and Agfa 6 x 6 Isollete .

summicron1 · Oct 18, 2020

I ave several, including a Super Ikonta A, B and C, all amazing shooters.

I was very surprised at the quality I am getting from a Kodak Six-16 from 1932, however. YOu can check out my experience at my blog on the matter:

https://charlestrentelman.blogspot.com/2020/10/original-kodak-six-16-shooting-present.html

In general, folders are super high quality and give really wonderful images ... kind of sad tat most home shooters just got contact prints.

xya · Oct 18, 2020

I've had quite some and still use a few on a regular basis. if you want some more information, I have shared my findings http://www.120folder.com/

narsuitus · Oct 18, 2020

SocialKonstruct said:
Any other folder camera shooters here?

I shoot with an Ansco Standard Speedex 90mm f/4.5 6x6cm folder and an Ansco Viking 105mm f/6.3 6x9cm folder.

Ansco 6X6 Folder by Narsuitus, on Flickr

6x9cm cameras by Narsuitus, on Flickr

Agulliver · Oct 18, 2020

I learned photography in the late 70s on a Zeiss-Ikon Iknota 520/16 which belonged to my father....and I use it to this day. It has been with me to Cornwall, Malta, Crete, Madeira, Sicily (summit of Mt. Etna) and to the local jazz club. Wonderful and practical camera which does fit in my pocket.

I have a couple of older folders in the 6x9 format, plus an 1899 Folding Pocket Kodak. They see less use but all get used. The Kodak went to Madeira and Crete with me

Hawkeye · Oct 18, 2020

I use:

Voigtlander Perkeo I 6x6
Agfa Isollete 6x6
Voigtlander Vito II 35mm
Kodak Retina IIIc 35mm

I often sneak one into my wife's purse when she is not looking so I don't have to carry it....

guangong · Oct 18, 2020

SocialKonstruct said:
I may have to joke and say it's like carrying an origami Hasselblad in my jacket LoL!

I wish I had said that!
I have used Super Ikonta B since early 1970s. Sturdy, best designed rangefinder, most rigid lens support, pocketable. All others folders take second place. Currently supplemented by Fuji GF 670 and Makina 67, but they are not so pocketable as Super Ikonta. Fuji’s super quiet shutter can be an annoyance.

guangong · Oct 18, 2020

Oh, forgot Retinas and Contessa. Definition of folder could be stretched to include Rollei 35.

Donald Qualls · Oct 18, 2020

I'd have to count (and haven't turned up all my stored cameras since restarting my darkroom), but I probably have a dozen or more folding cameras, from 35mm (Balda Jubilette, Wela Weltini) to 6x4.5 (Daiichi Zenobia, Wirgin Auta with masks, Ensign Commando -- captive masks -- on the way), to 6x6 (Speedex Jr., Super Ikonta B 532/16, Ensign Commando on the way), 6x9 (Wirgin Auta without masks, Voigtlander Rollfilmkamera), 9x12 cm (Zeiss/Ica Ideal plate cameras, one of each, and a dozen plate holders with film sheaths), and 4x5 (Anniversary Speed Graphic with working focal plane shutter).

If all my non-folding cameras vanished tomorrow, the only capability I'd lose is subminiature, interchanging lenses below 4x5, and significant movements in large format.

EDIT: Oh, forgot the Baby Ikonta, 3x4 on 127.

Dan Daniel · Oct 18, 2020

A Super Fujica 6 is keeping me busy these days. A Voigtlander Baby Bessa 46 is my standard knapsack 'just in case' camera. Once they are set up and working, great cameras. And the process of using them is pleasant. Not as slow as view camera work, but certainly slower than the autofocus Fujis and such

Not my photo, but the Fujica-

ic-racer · Oct 18, 2020

I wanted interchangeable lenses, electronic release for low light hand-held photography and a rangefinder. I just got a nice little meter to fit on the top too.

relistan · Oct 18, 2020

I regularly shoot with a 1950s Balda Mess-Baldix. I've got the one with the Enna Ennagon lens (3.5/75mm). The Prontor-SVS shutter is fast enough (1/300) to be usable with 400 speed film even in bright sun, and I find the camera super nice to carry around because it's so small. I have a few other 120 format cameras, but this one is the easiest to carry! It has a double-exposure prevention system that I also appreciate.

DWThomas · Oct 18, 2020

I use a Voigtländer Perkeo II (6x6) and an Ercona II (6x9) on a fairly regular basis -- fine machines! There are a few pictures from them in my gallery here.

R.Gould · Oct 18, 2020

I must have 20, at least, of these little beauty's and use them a lot, includes several Ensign's,Voightlanders, including Vitessa, perkeo, couple of Franka's couple of balda Super Baldessa's, Retina's, over the course of time they do get used, althoiugh not so much this last year as pretty much everything that I would use them for, (lots of low light work, heritage work Ect) has not happened due to the dreaded Covid

grat · Oct 18, 2020

Just acquired a Bessa I in good condition along with an obscure version of an Askania rangefinder. Working on the first roll of film.

John Wiegerink · Oct 18, 2020

narsuitus said:
I shoot with an Ansco Standard Speedex 90mm f/4.5 6x6cm folder and an Ansco Viking 105mm f/6.3 6x9cm folder.

Ansco 6X6 Folder by Narsuitus, on Flickr

6x9cm cameras by Narsuitus, on Flickr

I have the Ansco Titan, which is like your Ansco you have pictured. Pretty much the same camera, but the Titan has a very colorful shutter faceplate. I had to replace my bellows since corner pin holes made it unusable. Most of the ansco cameras from the early 50's had this problem. I have other folders that do a better job in the picture department so the Titan has a spot on the shelf for now. Johnw

Ariston · Oct 18, 2020

I have a 532/16 Super Ikonta and its baby sister, the 35mm Contessa. They are beautiful cameras, but my Mamiya Six folder is a better performer. And it shoots 6x6 or 6x4.5.

narsuitus · Oct 18, 2020

John Wiegerink said:
I have the Ansco Titan, which is like your Ansco you have pictured. Pretty much the same camera, but the Titan has a very colorful shutter faceplate.

Thanks for the info on the Titan.

It looks like all that color on the shutter faceplate is a depth-of-field scale. I wish I had one.

I also notice one other difference is the Titan has an additional shutter speed of 1/400 second. The top shutter speed on my Speedex is 1/250 second.

Sirius Glass · Oct 18, 2020

I used a Certo Dolly Super Sport with a Zeiss lens for several years. It did not have a range finder but the lens was very very sharp.

xya · Oct 18, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
I used a Dolly Super Sport with a Zeiss lens for several years. It did not have a range finder but the lens was very very sharp.

there is a rangefinder version, and it's my favorite indeed http://www.120folder.com/certo_ssd.htm and my second most used is a 6x4.5, a pearl III http://www.120folder.com/pearl_iii.htm

Any other folder camera shooters here?

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