Pentacon Six stuff - what are you shooting with?

TheToadMen · Oct 21, 2016

I was curious what kind of Pentacon Six equipment is still in use by APUG members?

I had never heard of the Pentacon Six mount, until I bought me a nice, modern Petzvar lens (= Petzval design lens) from the Kickstarter project by Denys Ivanichek early 2015.
I decided to get me this lens with the P6 mount and Denys was so kind to find me a decent Kiev 88CM camera body to mount it on. So far so good.

Later I "accidentally" got me a Kiev 60 a without lens. So I started reading about the P6 mount and was impressed by the quality of the old Soviet lenses. GAS was coming up real soon.

So I decided to get me some "real" P6 lens cheap to test the Kiev 60 with. It became two lenses and I recently bought me a "MIR 38B f3.5/65mm" and a standard "CZJ AUS JENA BIOMETAR M 80 MM 1:2.8" (both still in the mail). I also fancied a 50 mm Flektogon, but couldn't find one for a decent price.

There will be better P6 lenses out there, but this is it for now. I hope both lenses will arrive soon so I can start shooting. It will be a fun experiment.

If you have some nice experiences with Pentacon Six, please share your gear, photographs and stories with us. It will be a nice read for winter is coming.

BMbikerider · Oct 21, 2016

I had a Pentacon 6 some 20 or so years ago but the perrenial problem of the film transport kept cropping up - a polite way of faying it was a regular failure. The Russian clone, the Kiev 60 was possibly even worse with overlapped frames and torn film. Most lenses were very good, the ones made by Zeiss that is, but there were some real dogs out there.

mweintraub · Oct 21, 2016

Kiev 60 (Had Kiev 88CM for a short time) with Vega 90mm 2.8
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrdat/4195656145

One of my favorite shots: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrdat/3466428157/

piu58 · Oct 21, 2016

I had some P6 but stayed with a Kiev 60. I have a bunch of lenses for it, from Carl Zeiß Jena 50mm, 80mm, 120mm, 180mm and russina lenses: 30mm Fisheye, 45mm and 150mm. The 150 is my most loved lens.
For the use of tele lenses I had to collimate the screen. There are screws fort that in every corner.

anfenglin · Oct 22, 2016

I have an old Praktisix, the model which the Pentacon Six is based on and a Kiev 60 MLU which I had serviced at Arax in the Ukraine.
Both are wonderful cameras, my favorite lenses are the 50mm Flektogon and the Volna / Arsat 80mm 2.8. I'm somewhat underwhelmed by the Biometar 80mm and the 180mm Sonnar needs further testing.

TheToadMen · Oct 22, 2016

anfenglin said:
... my favorite lenses are the 50mm Flektogon and the Volna / Arsat 80mm 2.8. I'm somewhat underwhelmed by the Biometar 80mm and the 180mm Sonnar needs further testing.

What don't you like about the Biometar 80?

Furthermore, someone told me that for portrait: "the lenses that really stand out are the Biometar 120/2.8 and Sonnar 180/2.8."

onre · Oct 22, 2016

I use 80 and 120 mm Biometars and a 50 mm Flektogon, which are all great performers. The only time I've seen the frame spacing problem was when the film was loaded incorrectly. Great system, I like it a lot. I believe it'll be the only medium-format system I'll ever have.

Slixtiesix · Oct 22, 2016

TheToadMen said:
Furthermore, someone told me that for portrait: "the lenses that really stand out are the Biometar 120/2.8 and Sonnar 180/2.8."

Absolutely!

pentaxpete · Oct 22, 2016

I bought a Pentacon Six in 1971 new - it was about £ 119 -- then a Camera Club friend gave me a Thornton Pickard Special Ruby Reflex with a 6 inch Cooke and two ex=RAF Aerial Lenses -- one was the famous Radio-Active 178mm f2.5 Kodak Aero-Ektar -- so I had a mount made ( cheaply ! ) and got some P6 extension bellows and tubes and i can focus the aerial lenses. I did a lot of Portraits with the Aero=Ektar for local Operatic Societies ( until DIGITAL came in and everyone was a 'Photographer' and did all the Portraits for FREE ! )

Pentacon by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Actor taken on Kodak Aero-Ektar lens

Lee by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Japan. Mother and baby taken on 6 inch COOKE lens

Japan: Mother and Child by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

BMbikerider · Oct 22, 2016

The big, nay HUGE advantage in my personal view was the film was wound on in a horozontal plane, (like 25mm) whilst most other medium format reflexes used the virtical advance. This meant with the Pentacon and it's clones, the negatives could be viewed normally when enlarging them rather than sideways on as per Bronica/Mamiya/Rollie/Hasselblad etc etc

anfenglin · Oct 22, 2016

TheToadMen said:
What don't you like about the Biometar 80?

I do like its size, it really is very short, I just find it is ok, it sort of like a Ford Mondeo, which is "some car", the 80mm Biometar I find to be "a lens".
Nothing more, nothing less. I like the 80mm as a focal length, I just prefer the Volna / Arsat over the Biometar, the Volna gives great 3D-pop and it renders the picture very nicely.
The 50mm Flektogon is just spectacular, it is contrasty and sharp, although I find it to be quite heavy and cumbersome, then again, it is an old design.
The wide angle was developed by Zeiss Jena by fitting a negative and a positive lens in front of a normal lens design. These tend to be quite large, that is why the lens is very wide on the front.
The 35mm Flektogon for 35mm film is built the same way.
If you're interested in the Kievs and you are somwehat talented in repairing and modding stuff, I can recommend pages such as the kievaholics and such, some problems can be worked on, using manuals one can find on those pages.
I used to have two Kiev 60s years ago and they both died on me. I really liked them but I was still a student, so now, having a proper job, I decided to get on again and have it serviced ad Arax, so I know, i have properly working one.
Also, it's black now

MrBrowning · Oct 22, 2016

I purchased a used Arax/Kiev 60 of the bay not to long ago. It came with the 50mm Flektogon, 80mm & 120mm Biometars. I really like this camera and now want a second body. I just need to pick up the 180mm and 300mm Zeiss lenses and I'll have a nice little kit.

Also I picked up a 3 different projection lenses recently and the adapters to be able to use them on the Arax/Kiev. Its just waiting for the adapters to arrive.

GarageBoy · Oct 22, 2016

There's always slapping an adapter on it and putting them on a Pentax 645 body

Nokton48 · Oct 22, 2016

A friend of mine has a website you should check out. His name is "Mr. Pentacon Six"
Recently I sold him two Rodenstock Imagon lenses I had modified to P6.
His full report is on the site. Enjoy! It's a treasure trove of Kiev?P6 information.
Absolutely excellent source of info

www.pentaconsix.com

Chrismat · Oct 22, 2016

I've been wanting to use those P6 lenses for a while now, so a few weeks ago I purchased an Arax 60 and a Sonnar 180 2.8. What I like about the Arax 60 is the added mlu function. I've been happy with the camera and lens so far and yesterday I received in the mail an Arsat C 80mm 2.8. Today I shot a test roll of Acros with the Arasat, and will process the film tomorrow.

Nokton48 · Oct 22, 2016

They can be good tools. The two lenses that pull most people into the P6/Kiev system IMO, are the 180mm Sonnar, and the 30mm Arsat Fisheye. There is also a Kiev forum on Delphiforums.com. Now merely a ghost of it's former self. But Man, is there a lot of good stuff in the archives. I rode the wave back then. What a wild ride it was. Truly a blast.

MrBrowning · Oct 22, 2016

Nokton48 said:
A friend of mine has a website you should check out. His name is "Mr. Pentacon Six"
Recently I sold him two Rodenstock Imagon lenses I had modified to P6.
His full report is on the site. Enjoy! It's a treasure trove of Kiev?P6 information.
Absolutely excellent source of info

www.pentaconsix.com

That's a great site!

MrBrowning · Oct 22, 2016

TheToadMen said:
I was curious what kind of Pentacon Six equipment is still in use by APUG members?

I had never heard of the Pentacon Six mount, until I bought me a nice, modern Petzvar lens (= Petzval design lens) from the Kickstarter project by Denys Ivanichek early 2015.
I decided to get me this lens with the P6 mount and Denys was so kind to find me a decent Kiev 88CM camera body to mount it on. So far so good.

That lens looks really interesting! Wish I had of seen the kickstarter back then. I would have had a reason to buy a P6 camera sooner.

Nokton48 · Oct 22, 2016

Another good source of Kiev info is www.kievaholic.com

Brings back a lot of memories.............

Pentacon Six stuff - what are you shooting with?

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