Could only Voidtlander use 120 AND 620?

[summicron1]

Here's a question -- I've got an old Bessa here that uses both 120 and 620 film -- the adjustment is really very simple, with spindles that adapt automatically for the small and large key holes. The film chamber, made for 120, obviously doesn't need to change, only the keys that hold the supply and take-up, and the way the key that winds the film adjusts automatically is both simple and ingenious.

I know Kodak made cameras that could only use 620 so people would have to buy Kodak 620 film, but why did other makers not make cameras that could use both, just to make life easier? All it seems to take is the adjustable spring-loaded keys this Bessa has.

Very puzzling.

obviously, i meant to write voigtlander up there. d'oh!

 

[Darkroom317]

Which Bessa is this. Because I got one a while ago and when I got it, it had a 620 spool in it. However, 120 fits and is what I have been using.

 

[elekm]

The first Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex (the so-called coffee can model) allowed for the use of 120 or 620 film. It is fitted with two frame counters, depending on which film was loaded into the camera.

Some simpler 120 cameras didn't have posts for the fresh film spool, so it didn't matter what kind of film was loaded. I thought that I recalled seeing a camera with spring-loaded posts with a small central post for 620 and the thicker post for 120.

 

[R.Gould]

Ensign selfix 12/20 and 16/30 are designed to take either 620 or 120, as were the selfix 820, I have bought both a 12/20 and a 16/20 complete with 620 spools in the take up chamber, and Mike, the Ensign selfix models have spring loaded posts with a small post for 620 and thicker post for 120, perhaps they were the cameras you were thinking of ?
Richard

 

[maderik]

Add the Universal Uniflex I and Uniflex II and Argus Argoflex E TLRs to the list of supporting both 120 and 620 spools.

 

[ntenny]

The Pho-Tak Foldex 20 takes both, and for a while seemed to be kind of popular as a platform for respooling 120 film onto 620 spools.

-NT

 

[summicron1]

Which Bessa is this. Because I got one a while ago and when I got it, it had a 620 spool in it. However, 120 fits and is what I have been using.

not sure, doesn't have a model number in it. just "bessa" on the leather, with a 4.5 voigtar lens. it's pre-war, dual format with two viewfinders. wish i had the mask to make it into a 4.5 by 6 cm. format.

nice camera overall, very good quality.

 

[JPD]

The first Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex (the so-called coffee can model) allowed for the use of 120 or 620 film. It is fitted with two frame counters, depending on which film was loaded into the camera.

I've seen many people claiming that, but I still haven't found the instructions for that model or any proof that it was made for 620 as well. Do you have that camera? Do both counters go to 12, or does one go to 16 (for a 6x4,5 insert?).

 

[Nathan Riehl]

The Ilford Envoy takes both.

 

[Andy38]

The Super Ikonta's 530 (4,5 X 6; not the 531), 530/2 (6 X 9) and the older (first model) 531/2 (6 X 9) also take both.

(Some Rolleiflex's Original take both 620 and 117; the Original can't take 120).