Using the lovely Kodak Six-16

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StepheKoontz

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I have a duo-620 with the uncoated kodak anastigmat and full speeds shutter. It's a REALLY good camera!
 

MattKing

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Because they were the only people who made it. If you bought a 620 camera, you had to use Kodak film.
And as a result, there are a small number of non-Kodak 620 cameras out there.
There are some slight advantages to 620 - a smaller spool - but I think people need to realize that when 620 was introduced there were lots of different film formats, and lots of different attempts to promote different cameras and the films they used.
Before he passed away, I was talking to my Dad about the resurgence in interest in 620, and the prices people were paying for 620 spools. He joked that at those prices he could have had a much wealthier retirement if he had just started saving the used 620 spools that were around his desk and office!
And the North Vancouver Kodak lab didn't even develop 120 or 620 or 616 or 116 or any of those larger roll film formats - those films were sent to Toronto or Rochester.
 

mshchem

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I guess I knew this, you nearly give away (not cameras) the razor to sell the blades. Another dumb question, did Kodak only use metal spools for 620? I'm fascinated with real photo post cards. I don't collect but am amazed at some of the prints I've seen. I have my Grandfather's Kodak 3A. I don't know where he got the money to buy it.

I wish there was a way to resurrect that format.

We worry about ink reactions from backing paper today. Think about the hundred million Azo, Kruxo, Cyco, etc. contact postcard paper that was back printed, packaged and shipped in wooden boxcars all over the country!
 

MattKing

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Another dumb question, did Kodak only use metal spools for 620?
Don't know. The thicker spools used for some other sizes actually used wood and metal.
 

Donald Qualls

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Because 120 was an open standard. By pushing 620, they ensured that your camera would always have rolls labeled "Kodak" in them.

And this worked -- until GAF and Agfa film started to show up in 620. There was never (could not be) a patent or trademark on the 620 spool and the film was identical to 120 except for a few digits in the print on the box and backing. So when other companies decided Kodak was selling enough 620 film to notice, they jumped into the stream too.

did Kodak only use metal spools for 620?

As far as I know, the first time 620 spools appeared in any other material than brass or steel was when Film Photography Project needed to produce them and (presumably for cost reasons) selected plastic for their respooled products (though B&H and Freestyle have sold respooled film for years, I think they always used metal spools, possibly recovered ones from photo labs -- seems to me Kodak used to buy them back for many years, and when that program stopped, there were probably thousands of labs suddenly stuck with a big box of spools in the back room). And, of course, if you developed your own film when you could still buy factory-rolled 620, you got a new spool with every roll.

Before 120 switched to plastic spools (1970s? 1980s?) all paper backed film came on spools with metal flanges, though sometimes the core was a short length of wood with the metal slipped and pinned on.That's 828, 235 (35mm with 24x36 frame and paper backing), 127, a number of oddball formats, three or four that got merged into 127 or 120, 116/616, 122, 124, and on up to 4" and 5" wide roll film for the bigger pre-WWI folding cameras. There was an entire industry within the photo industry, just making spools.

Fortunately, the old Kodak spools last almost forever (I've got one that's rusty, but I guess it must have gotten damp or been exposed to stop bath). We should still be able to shoot 620 cameras for as long as 120 film is produced.
 
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I recently returned my dad's 1932 Kodak Six-16 to use. Rather than fill out this whole thing I'll just post a link to the blog I did.

Short answer-- it's a really lovely camera capable of excellent work within its limitations. If you have one sitting around I strongly urge you to give it a whirl. Spacers to use 120 film cost about $10. That and trim the 120 spool with some nail clippers and you're in business:

https://charlestrentelman.blogspot.com/2020/10/original-kodak-six-16-shooting-present.html

View attachment 257087

Sample pic
View attachment 257088

Here's a scan of a darkroom-made print. These are really nice negatives to work with:
View attachment 257113

Very lovely images from the folder. I approve!
 
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