Folder madness...

Yeah, there's something irresistible about 6x9, isn't there? Same proportions as the 35mm frame, interestingly.

My first folder was a Wirgin Auta---on paper a rather basic prewar German 6x9 folder, with a triplet and a three-speed-plus-B shutter, but you know how some cameras just *have* *it*? I almost never go to Europe without that camera, and at home I not uncommonly find myself taking it out by preference over a nominally much "better" camera, just because it seems like The Right Camera.

There's something about folders that encourages this kind of romantic nonsense, I suspect.

-NT

ntenny said:

There's something about folders that encourages this kind of romantic nonsense, I suspect.

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I think you are right. I was using the Bessa RF to take photos along the River Thames at (a very) low tide. It was very muddy & sticky and I thought 'cr*p, what if I drop it, it will disappear forever'. I doubt if I would have felt the same about a relatively easily replaceable digi although the relative cost differences are huge (obviously I would have been pissed as hell).

So thinking about it, I have more of an emotional attachment to it perhaps (than I should) and that encourages this kind of romantic nonsense

Well it is certainly madness! I've got around a dozen folders, most for novelty sake, but a few are really nice and good shooters including a matching black and brown art-deco Vigilant 616 (I have good VP film for them), a pre-war German Kodak that is so silky smooth to operate, I just enjoy opening and closing it, a Bessa II with Skopar and today on my desk is a Bessa III. No need what-so-ever for this camera, but ohhh was I excited to pick it up in the mail room today! It really is puurrrdy!
Here are a few of my baby's..

and here is my Nagel-Werk, Kodak with Compuuuurrrrrrr.

I've got a little Agfa Isolette I that I picked up for about 50¢ at a little antique shop. They had all their cameras on clearance and I bought up a couple of them. Three out of five didn't work so they went to eBay for parts, but the two that worked really work. For one of my projects in class, we had to use an "alternative" camera and while most people shot a Holga or Diana, I shot the Isolette and got some BEAUTIFUL 6x6 imagery out of it.

Great camera and they can be had for very little money.

Enjoy them!

Just got myself an Ensign Selfix:
Old British folder
Mark

BetterSense said:

I'm depressed and unsure what to do about my folder situation. I have a fine-working Isolette I but the bellows is shot. I love the camera but a new bellows from cert6 costs $70 and for $85 I can buy a completely refurbed Isolette I from the same source. And if I'm going to spend $85, why spend it on a basic camera with basic lens and shutter and zone focusing? So basically it's just sitting there gathering dust.

The key for me is that an Isolette I fits in my back jeans pocket. I have to shop for other cameras over the internet and it's hard to tell size. What's a cheap <$150 folder that compares well with the Isolette I but is absolutely no bigger or pokier? I would just buy another one but the bellows is probably just as bad on any other used example.

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I got a quote just a few weeks back from the British company "Camera Bellows". They quoted me £30 for an Isolette. I don't know what the shipping costs to wherever you are would make it up to, but still quite a bit cheaper, probably.
Alternatively you can make your own,thre are lots of instructions specifically for the Isolette on the net.

I ended up just buying a restored Isolette II from cert6. So far I'm pretty happy with it.

Sirius Glass said:

I may case the 6x6 folder is exactly the same size as the 645 folder ...
because they are the same camera! The 6x6 does not use a mask and the viewfinder is set for 6x6 and when a 645 the mask is inserted and the viewfinder is set to 645.

Dyrbr

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This isn't always the case, is it? I know certo6 calls the Super Ikonta B "the Brunhilde" so it must be larger than normal, but I had previously bought a 6x4.5 Zenobia (non-working, since returned) which I think really is this format permanently, while some have removable masks. I am certain the Zenobia was much smaller than my Ikonta B.

I only bought my Ikonta a couple weeks ago, and am not really a collector (never more than one type of camera--only one SLR, one auto P&S, one zone-focus P&S, one half-frame, etc) so I don't think I'll ever get another. But I'm really loving it so far, and looking forward to shooting more. I am nervous because after months of looking I never found the right deal for myself with certo6 and this one, despite its size, felt so perfect with the rangefinder & Tessar lens. But of course, no guarantees on its condition like a certo6 camera. I know it's working, I shot a roll, but...it wasn't some $25 thrift-store find like some of the ones posted here, which brings on my nervousness!

The 6x9s are currently of no interest to me. Partly because of weight/size of camera, but partly because I'm not doing this for landscapes/still lifes nor am I on any quest for a large grainless version of my normal 35mm street/documentary shooting. I just think the squares are fun .