Pentacon six Tl love

cuthbert · Jun 12, 2016

baachitraka said:
Yes. 180mm is too big for 35mm. If you mount it on tripod then size does not matter.

I will never change the stock ground glass. It may be dim for indoor but it is very sharp and bright for outdoors.

Attached picture will give an idea about the size.

For more stability on tripod I am using,

http://www.enjoyyourcamera.com/images/product_images/popup_images/10882465_0.jpg

So hand held portrait with a Praktica VLC3 plus the Sonnar is a bad idea?

Quoting Wedge Antilles: "Look at the size of that thing!"

kobaltus said:
P6 system does not have macro lens, but biometar 80 mm with tubes or macro bellows is very good combination for close ups. Biometar is classical xenotar design like micro nikkor 55mm f 3,5.

Both lenses are excellent at all distances.

If I remember correctly the minimum focusing distance of the Biometar is 1 mt, so it looks hard to use as macro, perhaps the Volna 80mm would be a better choice?

baachitraka · Jun 12, 2016

;-) Not a bad idea but less practical.

kobaltus · Jun 12, 2016

cuthbert said:
So hand held portrait with a Praktica VLC3 plus the Sonnar is a bad idea?

Quoting Wedge Antilles: "Look at the size of that thing!"

If I remember correctly the minimum focusing distance of the Biometar is 1 mt, so it looks hard to use as macro, perhaps the Volna 80mm would be a better choice?

If you want to start some bodybuilding project, sonnar 180mm with praktica is very good starting point. Sometimes I put my sonnar also on nikkormat.

Sonnar 180 has unique character, which can not be obtain with any other lens .

And about macro. I do not have volna, but I read about leaking problems with this lens under 1m distance.

Factory made macro belows and macro rings are very good, and Biometar 80 is realy sharp close up. And it has unique bokeh also.

benjiboy · Jun 16, 2016

kobaltus said:
If you want to start some bodybuilding project, sonnar 180mm with praktica is very good starting point. Sometimes I put my sonnar also on nikkormat.

Sonnar 180 has unique character, which can not be obtain with any other lens .

And about macro. I do not have volna, but I read about leaking problems with this lens under 1m distance.

Factory made macro belows and macro rings are very good, and Biometar 80 is realy sharp close up. And it has unique bokeh also.

The 180mm f2.8 Zeiss Olympia Sonnar was designed for the 1936 Berlin olympic games.

benjiboy · Jun 16, 2016

kobaltus said:
If you want to start some bodybuilding project, sonnar 180mm with praktica is very good starting point. Sometimes I put my sonnar also on nikkormat.

Sonnar 180 has unique character, which can not be obtain with any other lens .

And about macro. I do not have volna, but I read about leaking problems with this lens under 1m distance.

Factory made macro belows and macro rings are very good, and Biometar 80 is realy sharp close up. And it has unique bokeh also.

The 180mm f2.8 Zeiss Olympia Sonnar was originally designed for the 1936 Berlin olympic games.

onre · Jul 18, 2016

Here's a bit more serious attempt with the 50 mm Flektogon.

Trask · Jul 19, 2016

Kind of an interesting thread -- I've learned things about Pentacon Six cameras and various assault rifles that I didn't know. The obvious denouement here has to be pictures of assault rifles taken with Pentacon Six cameras!

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 19, 2016

The Pentacon 6 was my first medium format camera--I bought one used in Poland in 1989 and accumulated 4 lenses for it. The 50mm Flektogon was the best.

It was better for street photography in Cracow than my Canon New F-1 at that time, because it was familiar, and I could just blend in like any other student. I ended up using the Canon mostly for microfilming books and research materials to bring back home. While there were shortages and long lines in the shops, 30m rolls of high-contrast copy film (but not conventional pictorial film) were plentiful in a normal photography store, and I could have it processed at a small lab, which could also give me some reusable 35mm film canisters, which I loaded in the dark in the bathroom, measuring the length of film with two pieces of masking tape on the wall. In the Pentacon, I usually shot Agfachrome 100 purchased from black market traders who hung out in an alleyway near the second-hand camera shop on the market square.

As with most Pentagon 6s, the film transport became unreliable. I traded the system for lighting gear when I got back to the US.

Brett Rogers · Jul 23, 2016

guangong said:
I received a pentagon 6 and lenses as a gift from the dresden factory in 1974. Frustrated with its mechanical problems such as overlaping frames I traded all for a 400mm telyt r lens. Yes，socialism was the fundamental problem with quality. The same result even with unravelling cuban cigars. At zeiss competent people were replaced by party people. Some older zeiss management even commited suicide from frustration. And do not be fooled by bernie. Democratic socialism is a contradiction or，as in some countries，where socialists have not yet been able to gain complete control. Once all decisions are determined by the elite the democratic no longer is needed to describe socialism except in names such as german democratic republic and democratic peoples republic of korea.

I find myself wondering how you account for the spectacular quality of the Zeiss product pre-war, when these were also produced under a (self described!) socialist regime...it seems contradictory to your case above. On the other hand, you could just be full of shit. I suspect the latter, personally.

Nokton48 · Jul 24, 2016

I went all in for these cameras ten+ years ago. Was a regular on the Kiev Delphi forum.
Had an unbelievable amount of fun (and spent an unbelievable amount of money!) but eventually sold it all off and moved on. Man Oh Man what a wild ride it was.

Recently I have REALLY missed the 180mm F2.8 Zeiss Sonnar, so I bought a decent Zebra model and adapted it to my Plaubel Makiflexes. Works for close-ups only but I love the way it renders. Here are the lens and a couple of recent 6x9cm test photos.

The 180mm F2.8 Sonnar and the 30mm Arsat Fisheye are the two main reasons many enter into the P6 system.

My good friend "Mr. Pentacon Six" has a absolutely fantastic website here: www.pentaconsix.com

Another REALLY good site was: www.kievaholic.com

2016-01-01 14.22.12 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Makiflex 180mm Sonnar Foma 200 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Makiflex 180 Sonnar FOMA by Nokton48, on Flickr

Pioneer · Jul 25, 2016

The 180/2.8 Sonnar is certainly a gorgeous lens but the Flektogon 50 is a regular on my Arax 60 and Pentacon Six. I know that 220 film is running out now but I keep using the Pentacon more frequently because of its ability to use 220 film.

Not too long after I bought my Pentacon I had it overhauled and it is now worth far more than the market will allow. Another one of those cameras that will stay in the stable for occasional use for the rest of my life.

I have a couple of old Leica LTM cameras that are like that as well.

Dali · Jul 25, 2016

Pioneer,has the P. Six a specific pressure plate setting for 220 film?

anfenglin · Jul 25, 2016

The older but more reliable Praktisix has one.

flavio81 · Jul 25, 2016

I had the Praktisix II, bought it with some problems with the film wind that could never be repaired (despite my camera technician being able to repair almost anything). At the end I had to sell it.

anfenglin · Jul 27, 2016

Yeah, even the famed repair people, specialised in East German gear over here in East Germany won't touch it. Apparently it is a fragile machine with lots to go wrong. Mine is bent and beaten but works like a charm. It is a little bit light-leaky sometimes but at least it cost next to nothing.

Nokton48 · Jul 30, 2016

It uses an archaic "spindle with cutting blades" to punch through the film emulsion, and by that method pull the film stock through the camera. The problem is the springs may not punch through some thicker modern films. I have a friend who took an Exakta 66 loaded with Kodak Ektachrome, and the Exakta could not punch through the thick Ektachrome stock. So all his Pix from trip to Alaska were ruined :/

Pentacon Sixes can be reliable (but it is a gamble). I used to shoot wedding "specialty photos" with them. See here:

http://hassydan.tripod.com/

pentaxpete · Jun 23, 2018

I bought a Pentacon Six ( NOT the TTL version) in 1971=== I used it a lot -- even for a few Weddings BUT teh 1/20th Sec flash sync speed was no use. I took it abroad to Japan in 1973 using a British 'Cooke 6 inch' lens I had adapted -- I was given the infamous Radio-Active Kodak Ektar 178mm f2.5 aerial lens and had a cheap adapter made --- I used it a lot for Front of House Portraits for Theatrical Groups -- now i used it recently and every shot taken at 1/125th second was vastly Over-Exposed -- a coupe taken at slow speed 1/30th were OK -- is it a 'Fault' with the P6 1/125th second ????
I did a VIDEO on my YouTube about the Camera -- you can see it here ----

Marco Gilardetti · Jun 26, 2018

The Pentacon Six has been my third mid-format camera, after an Agfa Isolette as a kid and a Kiev 66 as a young chap. I have to say that the Kiev 66 was a funny camera, but very rough mechanically. When finally the shutter jammed, I opened it and I remember a group of gears completely covered in rust, which implies the material with which they were made.

The Pentacon Six seemed much more precisely built and made up of much better materials, although perhaps a bit old-styled even for its times. Right after the Berlin Wall fell down, all of a sudden street markets were flooded by sellers from the east block carrying over all the sorts of cameras and lenses we could imagine, at unbelievable prices that even a student like I was could afford. I had a lot of fun experimenting with those Carl Zeiss Jena lenses, many of which bore names (Sonnar...) we could only dream about until then. (And please take note, as part of the thread went political: we could dream about mid-format cameras of the west, but cameras of the east we could afford... Clear enough?).

Unfortunately in those years I was very busy with university etc. so I didn't take as many pictures as I'd like, and later I traded the Pentacon Six and the lenses for the Mamiya C330 Professional that I still own. However, I will always have fond memories of the Pentacon Six and of those "hunts" at street markets.

moto-uno · Jun 26, 2018

moto-uno · Jun 26, 2018

^ From my new to me Pentacon 6 TL with some Provia 100 F . My lusting after a Pentax 67 ii ( staggeringly more expensive )
is over . This was with the 120mm lens , hand held . They're quite satisfying cameras with a nice build quality . Peter

moto-uno · Sep 1, 2019

This is in response to "pentaxpete's" remark about the 1/125 speed . After a bit of research , that is the speed at which the shutter starts to suffer most from old lubricant . Started on mine some months after getting it. Followed a video posted on Flickr by a Milos fellow (Pentagon six group) and it's worked fine since . Recently got the 300mm lens for it , having a lot of fun with this camera . The extension tubes for close up are a treat to use and cheap . Peter

Pentacon six Tl love

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