Eurofolder madness

[Jim_in_Kyiv]

Now that Ukraine is thawing out, I'm getting ready to start the Spring shooting season, and of course, flea market hunting. My target this time - a 6x9 cm folder. I had a Bessa I in the States and really liked, and especially liked the format. Over here, we've got the Moskva series, and I'm thinking of either a Moskva 2 or 4, but there are enough pre WWII (sorry, Zhenya, pre-Great patriotic War) cameras floating around (mostly German) that I could end up finding something interesting. Any suggestions on what to keep an eye out for? I'm familiar with Voigtlander, and already fell for a Zeiss 207/1 (9x12), but want to keep to 6x9 this time.

 

[Kevin Roach]

I had both a bessa I and a Agfa Billy. I liked the Billy better. It had a flip up finder but I removed the finder from an old ansco that was trashed and it fit perfectly on the agfa. The Agfa was a little bit smaller but felt much smaller than the bessa. Plus it felt heavier and more substantial than the bessa. BUT Agfa is known for weak bellows, send it to jurgen for a new bellows and cla.

If you weren't stuck on a 6x9 I'd suggest a voigtlander perkeo. Nice little 6x6 camera. Or an Iskra.

 

[Jim_in_Kyiv]

If you weren't stuck on a 6x9 I'd suggest a voigtlander perkeo. Nice little 6x6 camera. Or an Iskra.

I was thinking of the Iskra, but decided that I wanted a 6x9 again. What I'd really like is someone to carry around about 30kg of equipment for me, so I can choose 10x8 on down at will. I figure the 6x9 is the largest that I can put into a (big) pocket and carry around all day, and I do like the shape. Funny, but I never look at 35mm that way.

 

[SteveH]

I have two Balda 6x9 folders....One of them currently works, the other does not. Im not even certain of the specific models - the inoperible one seems like a Jwella - but the view finder and winders are different. The one currently working looks like no other Balda I've seen to date. Regardless, they are both VERY sturdy (I bought it for my girlfriend...I instructed her to use it as a self-defense weapon if necessary). The older one has a rodenstock lens which is quite sharp; although the Pronto shutter has a limited range of speeds (1/25, 1/50, 1/100, B & T).
In my search for info, I have amassed some helpful links:

http://www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/standard.html
http://miss_stephe.tripod.com/shuttercla.htm
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/
http://translate.google.com/transla...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
http://www.goodwinphotoinc.com/Large_Format/Lenses___Shutters/lenses___shutters.html
http://www.dmarr.com/shutters/index.html
http://www.daniel.mitchell.name/cameras/klio/klio.html

Hope that helps,

 

[argus]

Old folders are great fun: sunny 16, guestimating distance to subject, etc.
To make a good picture with those, is almost pure luck. The average is 1 or 2 usable exposures per film in my case.

I have a 6x9 Bessa I: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

If you want to buy and old older, be sure that the lens is OK and the shutter is fully functional, it might help a lot.
I always use HP5+ at EI200 in cameras alike.

G

 

[Jim_in_Kyiv]

I used to take my Bessa I down through some of the areas that SteveH knows - the Atlantic coast in Delaware and Maryland has some great sites for shooting, and I wasn't too worried about sand/ salt air with the old beast. Ilford SFX 200 worked really well, but I've got 18 rolls of Tech Pan waiting to meet daylight so I won't notice the lack of IR film in town before I go abroad next time.

I found that the beast(s) like to sit on tripods, and have other cameras do all the work regarding exposure settings. Then good shots came down to, well, my vision not being crap that day. So I also had one or two useable exposures per film.