So, I guess we can safely say 6x9 format was popular because they could be contact printed and be big enough for the family album! Looking back now I have a family members album stored away which has many of these contacts in! Makes sense as I guess enlargements were more expensive, yet the contacts from a 6x9 were large enough to look back on. Thanks to everyone for pointing this out you awesome bunch of film nuts x
Here in Italy it was usually the 6x9 contact printing. I have many photos of my family in this size with the white and serrated edges. With the continuous increase in prices I think we will have to rediscover the aesthetic value of these little ones!
"Let's not sugar coat things" "If I screw up, I screw up" This is why I watch this channel, it's honest and very informative, plus I love the humour. Keep it going Roger, love it.
When I was a child in the 50's my father bought me an Agfa Clack. Basically a cheap box camera which took 6x9 negatives in common with many other box type cameras. The advantage being you got back a reasonable size contact print print from your local chemists, without the additional enlargement costs.
As mentioned by Remca below 6x9 was popular because it produced a reasonable size contact print. If you have some snapshots from the 50s in your family collection many of them will be 6x9 prints. Made everything simple and cheap - a corner shop chemist could process and print pictures for you quickly and relatively cheaply.
Both my 6x9 cameras were considered "prefessional" cameras at the time they were released, but I have older point & shoot style consumer cameras with bigger negatives that take older out of production film, so it's tough to say for sure. I know for the longest time, contact print photo postcards were very popular, so those larger medium formats probably had a lot to do with that.
6:40 I always thought it was popular because compared to plates or sheet film in 9x12 the 6x9 on a rollfilm was quite an advance without giving up to much negative size. And we need to remember that back in the day contact prints where quite common instead of actual enlargements. But these are just my thoughts and guesses.
That's pretty close. 6x9 is actually the same proportion as a 35mm frame (24x36). Also, yes, it has to do with contact printing. A small negative needs to be enlarged, something that is time consuming since they can only be processed one at a time. On the other hand, contact printing large rollfilm negatives is really fast since you can do an entire roll in one go. Kodak used to have contact printing "greenhouses" where they would print hundreds of negatives at a time. On slow paper, that's not a problem.
I have basically the same camera. However, mine is the Ansco Viking folding 6x9. Looks identical to the Agfa Record. I replaced the bellows on mine. Takes great nostalgic looking photos. Same Agnar lens.
I've got several 6x9 cameras -- a Moskva 5 (coupled rangefinder), Wirgin Auta, Brownie Bullseye and Agfa Shur-Shot Jr. and a *1927 Voigtlander Rollfilmkamera.* I've also got a 6x9 roll film back for my RB67 and Century Graphic, and another for my 4x5 cameras. I first shot that format in a cardboard box camera around 1968. Two words about "why 6x9": contact prints. Most consumer film processing before 1950 (and a significant fraction after, in the case of medium format) was delivered to the customer as contact prints, and 6x9 gave a big enough contact print to see well. 127 gave much smaller prints, and if you had a half-frame 127 (like a Vollenda or Baby Ikonta) you pretty much had to pay extra for enlargements. By 1960, with 4x4 127 getting popular, 828 and 35 mm making inroads with consumers, enlargements became the norm, so there was less and less reason for Joe and Judy Average to keep using the bulky old 6x9 cameras... Not hard to get through a roll with only 8 frames on 6x9, though, and you can make *immense* prints and not see grain, or crop down to the equivalent of a 35 mm frame, just pull a detail out of the scene... I hate the simple-minded double exposure locks on a lot of those 1950s cameras -- honestly, I'd rather have none (probably half my cameras don't have it anyway). There is, however, a way to override the interlock on folders like that Agfa Record: If you find you've gotten locked out (or want to make an intentional double exposure), just cock the shutter (again) and release from the little tab on the shutter itself (or, if there's a socket, put a cable release into the shutter -- not the release on the top plate). Meanwhile, as you say, just a matter of getting used to the camera, remembering to manually cock the shutter before trying to make an exposure. BTW, general rule on round shutters like that one: don't change shutter speed into the highest speed after cocking; you'll be working against a "booster spring" and could damage something (like bending the camera's front standard or twisting the shutter in its mount) due to the effort required.
Thanks for the tips! "release from the little tab on the shutter itself" damn of course! Doh! Yes it makes sense re contact prints as I now realise I have a family album with that size prints inside, and you can see them well s a family album. Case solved!
I've just won one on eBay and came to RUclips to see who has anything on them. So chuffed you're using one mate, always really informative and inspiring, can't wait for it to arrive!
Someone's probably mentioned this, but looking through my parent's old photos, it seems that in those days it was common to get back a set of individual contact prints when you got your film developed; hence, 6x9 and 6x6 and even 6x45 were great sizes for this.
I started with Medium Format like 20 years ago and was blown away with the negatives. Then I started shooting 35mm, and it is fun, but I am returning to my roots shooting 6x6, 6x9. Love that giant negative. It's amazing to be able to shoot the Record at F32... Especially the beach scenes on a tripod. In focus the entire beach... fun. very satisfying to come home and make a giant print of it.
I was given an Agfa Isolette 1 by a dear friend that gave me a start with medium format 6x6. Cracking little folding camera and 70 years on it still works
As well as being used for contact prints, 6x9 gave the detail and aspect ratio for making formal group photos (like school classes, sport teams, wedding groups and so on).
They were popular because of the resolution, amateur pictures often needed cropping and you could for example print several separate portraits out of one family photo. My family used an Agfa Billy with Prontor II for nearly 40 years up to the late 60s. Most often they would put on a back plate with a 4x4 frame, so they could squeeze more pictures out of one roll, and 6x9 was used only for groups or occasions such as weddings and funerals.
I still use the following 6x9cm cameras for landscapes, panoramics, and vacation photography: Holga 120WPC wide pinhole camera (wide-angle) Zero Image pinhole camera (wide-angle) Ansco Viking folder with fixed 105mm f/6.3 lens (normal lens) Holga 120 Panoramic Camera with fixed 90mm f/8 lens (normal lens) Fuji GSW690 III rangefinder with fixed 65mm f/5.6 lens (wide-angle) I also use these 6x9cm medium format film cameras when I do not need to carry my 4x5 inch large format film cameras. Since I no longer have access to an enlarger that can handle these large negatives, I use a flat-bed scanner to digitize the images on the developed film.
What I remember is that 6x9 was popular because was so portable, compared to sheet. The negative was still large enough to be useful. 35mm needed expensive enlargements done by a shop or big investments in a darkroom. Pictures for family use were always smaller than today. My friend had 6x9 and I had 6x6. We used a small box with a built-in lightbulb for contacts. Simply shift the lever and count for exposure time. A small string of red Christmas lights was used for illumination in a closet. A tiny table was enough to hold the exposure box and 3 soup dishes for development and the small stack of paper. We never came to a conclusion which format was better. His produced “big” pictures, but mine offered 4 exposures more to finish the day and up close sharper. We didn’t know about the difference in focal lenses and of course carrying a second roll with you was an unheard of luxury.
Je n'utilise pas de la mousse pour mes réparations mais plutôt de la feutrine adhésive que l'on trouve dans les magasins d'artisanat. L'avantage de la feutrine est qu'elle ne sèche jamais et ne se désintègre pas. Pour les joints dans les portes, j'utilise de la laine de cotton no.4 moyenne. Sinon, la mousse est trouvable sur presque tous les sites de vente (amazon, ebay, aliexpress) sous le nom "camera seal foam". C'est de la mousse 2mm d'épais.
J'ai acheté mes joints de 2 mm sur ebay il y a des années. Ils sont venus dans une feuille de format enveloppe. Pas cher et j'ai scellé plusieurs de mes caméras avec succès.
I have 3 folders. Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 6X6, Super Fujica Six 6X6 and an Agfa Record III 6X9. The only difference between the Record II and Record III is the Record III has a built in rangefinder, uncoupled of course. I use the Record III for lanscapes and group shots. Same lens as your Record III but the shutter is the the Pronto SV which has a max shutter speed of 400. I took a photo of a group of 75 people 3 weeks ago with Ektar and the Record III and sold 83 prints. Love that camera!
With the film loaded upside down, he'd have been inadvertently using the 6x4.5 framing track, so almost every millimeter of the exposed part of the film has overlapping images -- like double exposures but with half the image before and half the image after, plus the intended one. A contact print from the entire strip might look cool, though...
The first camera I shoot with in my entire life was an Japanese brand called Welmy that belonged to my father that look very alike this you showed... Miss these negatives. Need to send to a revision to see if it still usable... thanks for the memories!
I feel like i'm way too late with this comment but on my Record II, you can bypass the double exposure lock by using a cable release in the mount thats on the lens, saved one of my frames already!
On my 6x9 and 6x6 folders you could trigger the shutter at the end of the "transmission" from the shutter button to the lens. On the lens housing there is some sort of coupling which can be triggered, maybe a bit odd but possible. So you don't need to waste a frame.
Oh great camera! I bought one like this any years ago. I did a deep cleaning of the mechanism. There was fungus on the lens, I cleaned it. I really love this camera! Use the shutter release cable and you won't lose frames ))
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss In my camera, the fungus was between the lenses. It was necessary to disassemble the entire lens and then calibrate the sharpness. I had to make a matte glass and adjust the sharpness. Now the camera is in perfect condition!
I bought a Moskva-4 6x9 about two years ago. It's my favorite medium format camera. The lens is one of the sharpest that I own and the 6x9 negatives are so sharp that they rival my Canon EOS RP images. What's best is that the Moskva fits in my pocket, so it goes with me everywhere. I can't say the same for my RP.
I have a Fujica G690 and my understanding is that it was designed for high end event photography, such as the expo 1970 where you get your portrait taken at super high resolution. I can confirm it does wonders for portrait photography.
6x9 - I have a GW690 and the story I've read is that it was used by Japanese tour bus operators to take the familiar shots of all the people on the bus in a posed group shot. They used short length Fuji film with 4 frames, then rushed to get the film developed and printed to sell to the people on the bus before their trip ended. You should find a GW690, aka "Texas Leica", and do a review. It's a great camera with a cracking (fixed) lens.
hello Roger thank you for this video, how do you make a paper print with a 6x9 negative?is it possible on the durst M605 enlarger? how did you do it? thank you
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss I tried that once, and the person insisted on asking a bunch of questions about the camera, and I forgot to close the shutter, wasting a sheet of film.
@@kenblair2538 I've not had that yet as I'm paranoid I've left it open offer focusing! So I check, and again and sometimes again with the dark slide in. No doubt it will happen sometime 😂
You can fire the shutter of the Agfa Billy and Record models with the small lever on top of the lens if you've tripped the mechanism that prevents double exposure. A bit fiddly, but it does the job. The downside of folding cameras is that the bellows are often damaged. My Agfa Record III (it has an uncoupled rangefinder, so while it is build in, you still have to manually set the focus on the lens) had two tiny holes in it that were extremely hard to find (they were in folded corners and the light needed a specific angle to make them visible). And the lenses are not that great (mine has the better Agfa Solinar lens, but is still soft in the corners even when stopped down; I did own a Record II with the Agnar lens and didn't like the results).
Blows my mid when I use the Fuji GSW690 and Kodak Ektachrome E100 reversal .So massive you dont need to print lol. Scanning and printing to A3 is glorious. As you say 6x9 is great fun and enjoyable.
SFLB - hello mate ....got that Mamiya Press 23 producing these large negs .....heavy - but a bit more versatile - I got the ground screen - so I can tilt shift for close up - and then swap the film holder back in - ....miss the Bronica SQA terribly ...
On old cameras like that the shutter speeds are not constantly variable. When you look inside, they set the speed in discrete steps through the use of levers that either change the tension on the spring or activate a bit of clockwork mechanism. So setting it "in between" speeds won't work and in some cases can even cause problems. The easiest way is to just adjust the aperture accordingly.
6x9 format was popular at the time, because people would make prints themselves at home and at this size of negative there was no immediate need for an enlarger - a contact sheet was good enough for casual pics.
Very nice video, especially to see the things that go wrong and how you resolve them. Thanks for your time and efforts! Off topic but curious, how has the covid situation affected you? Best wishes!
I had the same 6x9 camera to give the format a go and loved it. Being the same aspect ratio as 35mm interested me, but faffing about with the external Watarmeter was a pain, so back onto the popular auction site. From the same auction site I purchased a Fuji GW690...mint from Japan. I absolutely love this first version (with removable lens hood) and is now my go to landscape camera, and beyond any one second exposure, I'll use the 'cap it' trick, works a treat. Love the 6x9 format. I THINK??? the first camera to use the format was a Kodak???
You can probably get round the double exposure "protection" by taking the shot using the wee actuator arm on the lens body ... or for an organised 'tog like yourself: use a shutter release cable. Rory
I own several Agfa cameras. I started the medium film format with an AGFA Isolette. I'm always surprised by the sharp and crisp images these cameras deliver. AGFA cameras are easy and cheap to get on EBAY. Always a great start for beginners.
If you mess up the sequence with winding arming and shooting, you don't have to miss a frame. Look at the side of your lens+shutter assembly, the button on top of the camera just actuates a lever on the side of the shutter. You can manually actuate the lever, bypassing the multiple exposure lockout as well! At least that's how it works on my ercona.
I have a lot of 6x9 cameras from the simple Kodak Bullet ti the Fuji G690 ... I thing the big ass negative made for sharp prints due to the minimal enlargement, especially with the simple Kodak cameras!!!
6x9 cm negs were the best option for making cheap but good contact prints. That's why we have 6x9 on Brownies, Agfas and so on.. It was the best solution for a poor man.
Hello Boss, How are you doing ? I actually own the same camera, But I never confident enough to use it. I got trouble figure out the focus zone. I cant estimate how far from myself to the subject . Is there any tip or advice you would give me ? Many Thanks !
Shoot it at infinite for scapes. You'll get good focus. Or use the distance scale on the top right of the camera. Email me if you like and I'll explain
Nice video. I enjoyed it. Regarding the format, contact prints are one possibly solution to the 6x9 format, but 6x9 has the same aspect ratio as 35mm film (24x36mm) which is 1:1.5. And this is convenient for 4x6 inch prints, which were (is) popular at least in the U.S. 4x6" 8x12" are 1.5 aspect ratio prints. Just a guess. I have my father's old Foldex 6x9 camera from the 1950's that is similar to yours but maybe a "cheaper" model as it has less features but works similarly. I also have a very nice Fuji GW690III which is a gorgeous and more modern 6x9 rangefinder. Back to your Agfa Record and my father's Foldex, I suppose these were "consumer" cameras targeted to the person who wanted a step up from a plastic Kodak Brownie but in the medium format realm. My sense is that pros in the 1940's through 1960's were using Graflex 2x3 or 4x5 as they were good hand-held as well as studio cameras.
I suspect that 6x9 was popular actually with older shooters who liked it because it was like 105 film format, which was the first really popular film size outside of the pro world as it was used in the first folders released very early in the 20th Century. But it may also have been popular as it was the same ratio as the already popular 135 film format (though obviously larger.)
Sorry if this was asked before, but what’s the rangefinder you have attached? I have a very similar camera (a Franka, which looks the same as yours; would not be surprised if Franka made them fit Agfa EDIT: no, that you cannot cock the sitter without advancing is different), but using it is a real pain as I cannot really guess distances. That kind of rangefinder would come in super handy!!!
As usual a very interesting and entertaining video Roger. I have a home made 6x9 pinhole camera that I made from an old Agfa Clack and love the negative size. I would love to get a 6x9 proper camera to exploit the format a bit more but they are getting a bit pricey on E BAY ( some asking 3 figures for one) especially when getting a good problem free model that age is very hit and miss. I know that Roger Hicks in his Medium an Large format handbook, even back in the '1990's when the book was published doesn't rate folding cameras due to inaccuracies with the bellows locking mechanisms and dubious lens quality on what was, after all, mass produced equuipment. However looking at what you achieved with yours if the right camera came along at a reasonaable price I certainly would be tempted
have now got myself one of these and even with a rangefinder my first film is very disappointing with very soft images (unlike the lovely crisp images that you produced) and exposure is all over the place (I put that down to my lightmeter which is nearly as old as the camera) but never mind will give it another go and hopefully will get better. The rangefinder is tiny and is taking a bit of getting used to.
Great video! 😊👍🏻 I guess the main reason for the 6x9 size film was that you could easy make contact prints at home without enlarging. The better lenses for these Agfas was the Apotar, which is a triplet like the Agnar, but with better glass (I belive). Or the Solinar, which is a four-element Tessar type. Keep it up! 👍🏻
In the 1930's, when photography become popular with the general public, contact prints from 6 x 9 negatives were common and more affordable for most. Find some old picture albums and you'll find that they are full of 6 x 9 contact prints. Also the negatives were often cut up into individual images and stored in glassine envelopes. I have boxes and boxes and boxes of old prints and negatives from that era, my grandfather was a photographer back then. I told myself I would start to go through all that stuff when I retired, but that was 10 years ago...
Love the 6x9 negatives of my Fuji GW690III and GSW690. The resolution and tonal quality is incredible. Somehow I'm spoiled by that and don't like to shoot 35mm film anymore 😅
I have a Kodak Vigilant from the same era that belonged to my father in law. It's very similar. Unfortunately, the bellows is cracked along one of the corners, so the one roll I shot in it was unusable. I should just slap some black tape on there and try again, but 620 film is hard to find. I may just respool a roll of 120.
6x9 was the most standard size from 1901 until about the 1950s or so when 35mm took over. They were big negatives because contact printing was the standard procedure. If you wanted enlargements it cost extra.
It shows you've been doing this RUclips thing for some time now, you're a natural at this :) I am trying to find the Rollei range finder on the Bay but was successful. Is it just how it's called? Cheers
I think back in the early 1950s there were films of ISO 10, 50 and 100, the faster films that we know of not having been developed yet. So 6X9 medium format is the same ratio as 35mm film but obviously much bigger. This bigger shot would have allowed for finer detail in those old slow grainy films of yesteryear. So my thoughts are that 6X9 would have been used more for portrait and or fine photography, more so than for quick snaps of this and that. Photography back then was pretty expensive relative to peoples earnings so a lot of care and forethought would have gone into each and every shot.
For got sake, Roger, its pronounced record, not record :D I reckoned that the end of the messed up film with the vw camper almost looked like a deliberate effort, like you see in those seaside shops sometimes.
In the not too distant past, few people owned cameras and even fewer owned enlargers. The larger negative had a reasonable contact print size. May I also point out that to get a reasonable quality negative out of these cameras some solid knowledge of basics of photography is required. As you correctly stated, Roger these are not exactly point and shoot. Great shots BTW.
Why 6x9 Format ? Well as an Impoverished Schoolboy in 1951 on 2 shillings and Sixpence a week Pocket Money none of us at the East Ham Grammar School Photographic Society could afford an 'Enlarger' so we all did 'Contact Prints' on Kodak 'Velox' Chloride paper and processed in Home-Made Developer and Fix as shown by our Chemistry Master . It was a BIG EVENT when the School splashed out on a 'GNOME UNIVERSAL ' enlarger with a lens with f8 and f16 stops only ( very DIM to Focus !! ) and it was put into a cupboard in the Physics Lab and i used it to make my First Enlargement Half Plate size of My Mum in the Garden -- I took it home WET between two sheets of Graph Paper- it STILL HAS the GEEN LINES on it to this day!
So, I guess we can safely say 6x9 format was popular because they could be contact printed and be big enough for the family album! Looking back now I have a family members album stored away which has many of these contacts in! Makes sense as I guess enlargements were more expensive, yet the contacts from a 6x9 were large enough to look back on. Thanks to everyone for pointing this out you awesome bunch of film nuts x
Was thinking about selling my GW680 because it eats film like candy but now I need to try this 😆
My family album - going back to 1900 ish Russia - has many 6x9 contacts printed on decorated edge paper.
Yes, my old family negatives from the 1930s through the 1940s are 6x9. It seems contact prints were more common back then.
Yes, absolutely. I have some old family pictures at home. The photos are super sharp and contrasty, no need to print them bigger.
Here in Italy it was usually the 6x9 contact printing. I have many photos of my family in this size with the white and serrated edges. With the continuous increase in prices I think we will have to rediscover the aesthetic value of these little ones!
"Let's not sugar coat things" "If I screw up, I screw up" This is why I watch this channel, it's honest and very informative, plus I love the humour. Keep it going Roger, love it.
When I was a child in the 50's my father bought me an Agfa Clack. Basically a cheap box camera which took 6x9 negatives in common with many other box type cameras. The advantage being you got back a reasonable size contact print print from your local chemists, without the additional enlargement costs.
As mentioned by Remca below 6x9 was popular because it produced a reasonable size contact print. If you have some snapshots from the 50s in your family collection many of them will be 6x9 prints. Made everything simple and cheap - a corner shop chemist could process and print pictures for you quickly and relatively cheaply.
Both my 6x9 cameras were considered "prefessional" cameras at the time they were released, but I have older point & shoot style consumer cameras with bigger negatives that take older out of production film, so it's tough to say for sure. I know for the longest time, contact print photo postcards were very popular, so those larger medium formats probably had a lot to do with that.
Roger, at 15:51 that photograph became my newest SFLAB photograph, Bravo.☺
Cheers Carmine. Shame I didn't get much closer or a bit wider to get the whole van in
6:40 I always thought it was popular because compared to plates or sheet film in 9x12 the 6x9 on a rollfilm was quite an advance without giving up to much negative size. And we need to remember that back in the day contact prints where quite common instead of actual enlargements. But these are just my thoughts and guesses.
That's pretty close. 6x9 is actually the same proportion as a 35mm frame (24x36). Also, yes, it has to do with contact printing. A small negative needs to be enlarged, something that is time consuming since they can only be processed one at a time. On the other hand, contact printing large rollfilm negatives is really fast since you can do an entire roll in one go. Kodak used to have contact printing "greenhouses" where they would print hundreds of negatives at a time. On slow paper, that's not a problem.
I have basically the same camera. However, mine is the Ansco Viking folding 6x9. Looks identical to the Agfa Record. I replaced the bellows on mine. Takes great nostalgic looking photos. Same Agnar lens.
I've got several 6x9 cameras -- a Moskva 5 (coupled rangefinder), Wirgin Auta, Brownie Bullseye and Agfa Shur-Shot Jr. and a *1927 Voigtlander Rollfilmkamera.* I've also got a 6x9 roll film back for my RB67 and Century Graphic, and another for my 4x5 cameras. I first shot that format in a cardboard box camera around 1968. Two words about "why 6x9": contact prints. Most consumer film processing before 1950 (and a significant fraction after, in the case of medium format) was delivered to the customer as contact prints, and 6x9 gave a big enough contact print to see well. 127 gave much smaller prints, and if you had a half-frame 127 (like a Vollenda or Baby Ikonta) you pretty much had to pay extra for enlargements. By 1960, with 4x4 127 getting popular, 828 and 35 mm making inroads with consumers, enlargements became the norm, so there was less and less reason for Joe and Judy Average to keep using the bulky old 6x9 cameras...
Not hard to get through a roll with only 8 frames on 6x9, though, and you can make *immense* prints and not see grain, or crop down to the equivalent of a 35 mm frame, just pull a detail out of the scene...
I hate the simple-minded double exposure locks on a lot of those 1950s cameras -- honestly, I'd rather have none (probably half my cameras don't have it anyway). There is, however, a way to override the interlock on folders like that Agfa Record: If you find you've gotten locked out (or want to make an intentional double exposure), just cock the shutter (again) and release from the little tab on the shutter itself (or, if there's a socket, put a cable release into the shutter -- not the release on the top plate). Meanwhile, as you say, just a matter of getting used to the camera, remembering to manually cock the shutter before trying to make an exposure. BTW, general rule on round shutters like that one: don't change shutter speed into the highest speed after cocking; you'll be working against a "booster spring" and could damage something (like bending the camera's front standard or twisting the shutter in its mount) due to the effort required.
Thanks for the tips! "release from the little tab on the shutter itself" damn of course! Doh! Yes it makes sense re contact prints as I now realise I have a family album with that size prints inside, and you can see them well s a family album. Case solved!
I've just won one on eBay and came to RUclips to see who has anything on them. So chuffed you're using one mate, always really informative and inspiring, can't wait for it to arrive!
Enjoy! Great cameras 👌
Brilliant perspective and context @ 3:44!
Great tutorial, thank you for sharing. New subscriber now! Quick question where did you obtain the new seals from?
I love 6x9. I have a fujica GW690 and it’s awesome.
Someone's probably mentioned this, but looking through my parent's old photos, it seems that in those days it was common to get back a set of individual contact prints when you got your film developed; hence, 6x9 and 6x6 and even 6x45 were great sizes for this.
I started with Medium Format like 20 years ago and was blown away with the negatives. Then I started shooting 35mm, and it is fun, but I am returning to my roots shooting 6x6, 6x9. Love that giant negative. It's amazing to be able to shoot the Record at F32... Especially the beach scenes on a tripod. In focus the entire beach... fun. very satisfying to come home and make a giant print of it.
I know many that got rid of 35mm and stuck with 120
The 6x9 photos were so popular at the time because many were making a direct / contact print, placing the negative directly onto the photo paper.
I was given an Agfa Isolette 1 by a dear friend that gave me a start with medium format 6x6. Cracking little folding camera and 70 years on it still works
As well as being used for contact prints, 6x9 gave the detail and aspect ratio for making formal group photos (like school classes, sport teams, wedding groups and so on).
They were popular because of the resolution, amateur pictures often needed cropping and you could for example print several separate portraits out of one family photo. My family used an Agfa Billy with Prontor II for nearly 40 years up to the late 60s. Most often they would put on a back plate with a 4x4 frame, so they could squeeze more pictures out of one roll, and 6x9 was used only for groups or occasions such as weddings and funerals.
Nice Roger Nice to watch ur channel, and trying different cameras plus love black and white photos
Cheers Allan
I still use the following 6x9cm cameras for landscapes, panoramics, and vacation photography:
Holga 120WPC wide pinhole camera (wide-angle)
Zero Image pinhole camera (wide-angle)
Ansco Viking folder with fixed 105mm f/6.3 lens (normal lens)
Holga 120 Panoramic Camera with fixed 90mm f/8 lens (normal lens)
Fuji GSW690 III rangefinder with fixed 65mm f/5.6 lens (wide-angle)
I also use these 6x9cm medium format film cameras when I do not need to carry my 4x5 inch large format film cameras.
Since I no longer have access to an enlarger that can handle these large negatives, I use a flat-bed scanner to digitize the images on the developed film.
What I remember is that 6x9 was popular because was so portable, compared to sheet. The negative was still large enough to be useful. 35mm needed expensive enlargements done by a shop or big investments in a darkroom. Pictures for family use were always smaller than today. My friend had 6x9 and I had 6x6. We used a small box with a built-in lightbulb for contacts. Simply shift the lever and count for exposure time. A small string of red Christmas lights was used for illumination in a closet. A tiny table was enough to hold the exposure box and 3 soup dishes for development and the small stack of paper. We never came to a conclusion which format was better. His produced “big” pictures, but mine offered 4 exposures more to finish the day and up close sharper. We didn’t know about the difference in focal lenses and of course carrying a second roll with you was an unheard of luxury.
Awesome! Love the home set up!
Bonjour où trouver de la mousse pour faire de nouveaux joints ? Merci super video
Je n'utilise pas de la mousse pour mes réparations mais plutôt de la feutrine adhésive que l'on trouve dans les magasins d'artisanat. L'avantage de la feutrine est qu'elle ne sèche jamais et ne se désintègre pas. Pour les joints dans les portes, j'utilise de la laine de cotton no.4 moyenne. Sinon, la mousse est trouvable sur presque tous les sites de vente (amazon, ebay, aliexpress) sous le nom "camera seal foam". C'est de la mousse 2mm d'épais.
Oui, c'est de la mousse de 2 mm. Je n'ai jamais utilisé de feutre auparavant. Bonne idée. Merci!
J'ai acheté mes joints de 2 mm sur ebay il y a des années. Ils sont venus dans une feuille de format enveloppe. Pas cher et j'ai scellé plusieurs de mes caméras avec succès.
pinhole sharpness depends on the quality of the hole, there is a company that sells laser drilled discs or something like that
Yes there are companies that sell precision pinholes for self projects and other start ups.
My Agfa Record II was my first Medium Format and I love it!
I have 3 folders. Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 6X6, Super Fujica Six 6X6 and an Agfa Record III 6X9. The only difference between the Record II and Record III is the Record III has a built in rangefinder, uncoupled of course. I use the Record III for lanscapes and group shots. Same lens as your Record III but the shutter is the the Pronto SV which has a max shutter speed of 400. I took a photo of a group of 75 people 3 weeks ago with Ektar and the Record III and sold 83 prints. Love that camera!
Nice one on the sale John!
Great stuff! Fujica Super Six is my favorite "50s Folder". So much fun and so small for such a big negative.
Can you print from the first pinhole roll by masking off the unwanted frames somehow? No idea how you'd fit that in an enlarger though.
With the film loaded upside down, he'd have been inadvertently using the 6x4.5 framing track, so almost every millimeter of the exposed part of the film has overlapping images -- like double exposures but with half the image before and half the image after, plus the intended one.
A contact print from the entire strip might look cool, though...
Yes, they are all overlapped.... Yet, I have kept them for making a contact panoramic. Might lead onto new ideas!
The first camera I shoot with in my entire life was an Japanese brand called Welmy that belonged to my father that look very alike this you showed... Miss these negatives. Need to send to a revision to see if it still usable...
thanks for the memories!
I feel like i'm way too late with this comment but on my Record II, you can bypass the double exposure lock by using a cable release in the mount thats on the lens, saved one of my frames already!
On my 6x9 and 6x6 folders you could trigger the shutter at the end of the "transmission" from the shutter button to the lens. On the lens housing there is some sort of coupling which can be triggered, maybe a bit odd but possible. So you don't need to waste a frame.
Oh great camera! I bought one like this any years ago. I did a deep cleaning of the mechanism. There was fungus on the lens, I cleaned it. I really love this camera!
Use the shutter release cable and you won't lose frames ))
I cleaned the back glass element of fungus. That was easy. Not sure about the front. Don't want to mess the focusing up!
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss In my camera, the fungus was between the lenses. It was necessary to disassemble the entire lens and then calibrate the sharpness. I had to make a matte glass and adjust the sharpness.
Now the camera is in perfect condition!
I really like the look of these photos. I’m gonna have to try some Delta 100
I bought a Moskva-4 6x9 about two years ago. It's my favorite medium format camera. The lens is one of the sharpest that I own and the 6x9 negatives are so sharp that they rival my Canon EOS RP images. What's best is that the Moskva fits in my pocket, so it goes with me everywhere. I can't say the same for my RP.
I have a Fujica G690 and my understanding is that it was designed for high end event photography, such as the expo 1970 where you get your portrait taken at super high resolution. I can confirm it does wonders for portrait photography.
I will have to try and get closer for a portrait and see if I can nail the focusing! Tripod I would imagine!
6x9 - I have a GW690 and the story I've read is that it was used by Japanese tour bus operators to take the familiar shots of all the people on the bus in a posed group shot. They used short length Fuji film with 4 frames, then rushed to get the film developed and printed to sell to the people on the bus before their trip ended.
You should find a GW690, aka "Texas Leica", and do a review. It's a great camera with a cracking (fixed) lens.
Interesting Andrew. Cheers
hello Roger thank you for this video, how do you make a paper print with a 6x9 negative?is it possible on the durst M605 enlarger? how did you do it? thank you
Hi Jean. No I can't with the Durst M605. But I can with my Intrepid Enlarger as it has the carriers for that format, all be it a bit fiddly to set up!
with 6x9 it works very well on landscape shots ..... I have a Zeiss Nettar 517/2 and a Vermeer 6x9 pinhole ..... great aspect ratio for the work I do
Hello Roger. Great camera. I think the 6x9 is simular in ratio to 35mm. Got to love that large neg, no point in shooting with 4x5. KB
I'm not too sure Ken. The 4x5 is handy to hide under the cloth when you see someone you don't want to talk to LOL
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss I tried that once, and the person insisted on asking a bunch of questions about the camera, and I forgot to close the shutter, wasting a sheet of film.
@@kenblair2538 I've not had that yet as I'm paranoid I've left it open offer focusing! So I check, and again and sometimes again with the dark slide in. No doubt it will happen sometime 😂
You can fire the shutter of the Agfa Billy and Record models with the small lever on top of the lens if you've tripped the mechanism that prevents double exposure. A bit fiddly, but it does the job. The downside of folding cameras is that the bellows are often damaged. My Agfa Record III (it has an uncoupled rangefinder, so while it is build in, you still have to manually set the focus on the lens) had two tiny holes in it that were extremely hard to find (they were in folded corners and the light needed a specific angle to make them visible). And the lenses are not that great (mine has the better Agfa Solinar lens, but is still soft in the corners even when stopped down; I did own a Record II with the Agnar lens and didn't like the results).
Was about to recommend the same. ✌️
Blows my mid when I use the Fuji GSW690 and Kodak Ektachrome E100 reversal .So massive you dont need to print lol. Scanning and printing to A3 is glorious. As you say 6x9 is great fun and enjoyable.
SFLB - hello mate ....got that Mamiya Press 23 producing these large negs .....heavy - but a bit more versatile - I got the ground screen - so I can tilt shift for close up - and then swap the film holder back in - ....miss the Bronica SQA terribly ...
Nice Nicholas! The Mamiya Press 23 is an awesome camera.
On old cameras like that the shutter speeds are not constantly variable. When you look inside, they set the speed in discrete steps through the use of levers that either change the tension on the spring or activate a bit of clockwork mechanism. So setting it "in between" speeds won't work and in some cases can even cause problems. The easiest way is to just adjust the aperture accordingly.
I never knew this, another commented the same. Thanks!
6x9 folding cameras where used for landscape, posters and scientific projects. Hope that helps a little.
A question for you. Why do you use the RC paper? Do you prefer it or the choice is only for RUclips use and because it is cheaper?
It's easier to work with and less expensive.
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss Thank you Roger. Which paper do you prefer?
6x9 format was popular at the time, because people would make prints themselves at home and at this size of negative there was no immediate need for an enlarger - a contact sheet was good enough for casual pics.
Get yourself an ordinary cable release, you can use it to bypass the double exposure prevention if you need to.
Have several. Wouldn't use them for hand held photography. Might be an idea to carry one for this reason
Very nice video, especially to see the things that go wrong and how you resolve them. Thanks for your time and efforts! Off topic but curious, how has the covid situation affected you? Best wishes!
Cheers John. Covid affected us all in many different ways.
I had the same 6x9 camera to give the format a go and loved it. Being the same aspect ratio as 35mm interested me, but faffing about with the external Watarmeter was a pain, so back onto the popular auction site. From the same auction site I purchased a Fuji GW690...mint from Japan. I absolutely love this first version (with removable lens hood) and is now my go to landscape camera, and beyond any one second exposure, I'll use the 'cap it' trick, works a treat. Love the 6x9 format. I THINK??? the first camera to use the format was a Kodak???
You can probably get round the double exposure "protection" by taking the shot using the wee actuator arm on the lens body ... or for an organised 'tog like yourself: use a shutter release cable.
Rory
Yes, I could have tripped the shutter bypassing the button! I didn't think of that then
Don’t feel bad Roger I wake up everyday to learn something new.
Maybe 6x9 was populair with people who did contact prints because they did not have an enlarger?
I own several Agfa cameras. I started the medium film format with an AGFA Isolette. I'm always surprised by the sharp and crisp images these cameras deliver. AGFA cameras are easy and cheap to get on EBAY. Always a great start for beginners.
If you mess up the sequence with winding arming and shooting, you don't have to miss a frame. Look at the side of your lens+shutter assembly, the button on top of the camera just actuates a lever on the side of the shutter. You can manually actuate the lever, bypassing the multiple exposure lockout as well!
At least that's how it works on my ercona.
I know! LOL, I didn't even think at the time of doing that.
I've heard that 6x9 was popular for contact sheet prints.
They're big enough for the family album and you don't need an enlarger.
I am getting that feel after a few mentioned it. Cheers Daniel
I have a lot of 6x9 cameras from the simple Kodak Bullet ti the Fuji G690 ... I thing the big ass negative made for sharp prints due to the minimal enlargement, especially with the simple Kodak cameras!!!
Makes sense Brian. Also others have said you didn't really need to enlarge the negs for a print just the contacts were enough for the family album
with 6x9 format, how do you enlarge it? is there a negative carrier you can find?
They fit fine in an enlarger that can do 4x5 large format.
Not for my durst m605. I can only go to 6x6 with that. But I have an intrepid enlarger I can use that supports 6x9
I really want to buy one.
6x9 cm negs were the best option for making cheap but good contact prints. That's why we have 6x9 on Brownies, Agfas and so on.. It was the best solution for a poor man.
Hello Boss, How are you doing ?
I actually own the same camera, But I never confident enough to use it. I got trouble figure out the focus zone.
I cant estimate how far from myself to the subject .
Is there any tip or advice you would give me ?
Many Thanks !
Shoot it at infinite for scapes. You'll get good focus. Or use the distance scale on the top right of the camera. Email me if you like and I'll explain
Nice video. I enjoyed it. Regarding the format, contact prints are one possibly solution to the 6x9 format, but 6x9 has the same aspect ratio as 35mm film (24x36mm) which is 1:1.5. And this is convenient for 4x6 inch prints, which were (is) popular at least in the U.S. 4x6" 8x12" are 1.5 aspect ratio prints. Just a guess. I have my father's old Foldex 6x9 camera from the 1950's that is similar to yours but maybe a "cheaper" model as it has less features but works similarly. I also have a very nice Fuji GW690III which is a gorgeous and more modern 6x9 rangefinder. Back to your Agfa Record and my father's Foldex, I suppose these were "consumer" cameras targeted to the person who wanted a step up from a plastic Kodak Brownie but in the medium format realm. My sense is that pros in the 1940's through 1960's were using Graflex 2x3 or 4x5 as they were good hand-held as well as studio cameras.
Yes I noticed that when I scanned the negs using my DSLR. Same ratio as 35mm
I suspect that 6x9 was popular actually with older shooters who liked it because it was like 105 film format, which was the first really popular film size outside of the pro world as it was used in the first folders released very early in the 20th Century. But it may also have been popular as it was the same ratio as the already popular 135 film format (though obviously larger.)
Sorry if this was asked before, but what’s the rangefinder you have attached?
I have a very similar camera (a Franka, which looks the same as yours; would not be surprised if Franka made them fit Agfa EDIT: no, that you cannot cock the sitter without advancing is different), but using it is a real pain as I cannot really guess distances. That kind of rangefinder would come in super handy!!!
Rowi
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss cheers!!!
As usual a very interesting and entertaining video Roger. I have a home made 6x9 pinhole camera that I made from an old Agfa Clack and love the negative size. I would love to get a 6x9 proper camera to exploit the format a bit more but they are getting a bit pricey on E BAY ( some asking 3 figures for one) especially when getting a good problem free model that age is very hit and miss. I know that Roger Hicks in his Medium an Large format handbook, even back in the '1990's when the book was published doesn't rate folding cameras due to inaccuracies with the bellows locking mechanisms and dubious lens quality on what was, after all, mass produced equuipment. However looking at what you achieved with yours if the right camera came along at a reasonaable price I certainly would be tempted
have now got myself one of these and even with a rangefinder my first film is very disappointing with very soft images (unlike the lovely crisp images that you produced) and exposure is all over the place (I put that down to my lightmeter which is nearly as old as the camera) but never mind will give it another go and hopefully will get better. The rangefinder is tiny and is taking a bit of getting used to.
Great video! 😊👍🏻 I guess the main reason for the 6x9 size film was that you could easy make contact prints at home without enlarging. The better lenses for these Agfas was the Apotar, which is a triplet like the Agnar, but with better glass (I belive). Or the Solinar, which is a four-element Tessar type. Keep it up! 👍🏻
In the 1930's, when photography become popular with the general public, contact prints from 6 x 9 negatives were common and more affordable for most. Find some old picture albums and you'll find that they are full of 6 x 9 contact prints. Also the negatives were often cut up into individual images and stored in glassine envelopes. I have boxes and boxes and boxes of old prints and negatives from that era, my grandfather was a photographer back then. I told myself I would start to go through all that stuff when I retired, but that was 10 years ago...
Check out Brian Duffy. He was an English fashion photographer from the 60s. When he passed his son took his collection and now has exhibits.
Love the 6x9 negatives of my Fuji GW690III and GSW690. The resolution and tonal quality is incredible. Somehow I'm spoiled by that and don't like to shoot 35mm film anymore 😅
I know many that have come away from 35mm.
I have a Kodak Vigilant from the same era that belonged to my father in law. It's very similar. Unfortunately, the bellows is cracked along one of the corners, so the one roll I shot in it was unusable. I should just slap some black tape on there and try again, but 620 film is hard to find. I may just respool a roll of 120.
You can cut the outer ends of a 120 film to fit. Not that I've tried but I've seen it done
I don’t know why 6x9 ratio was chosen but it is the very same ratio as 3x2 used in 35mm film. Which became standard for millions of cameras.
6x9 was the most standard size from 1901 until about the 1950s or so when 35mm took over. They were big negatives because contact printing was the standard procedure. If you wanted enlargements it cost extra.
It shows you've been doing this RUclips thing for some time now, you're a natural at this :)
I am trying to find the Rollei range finder on the Bay but was successful. Is it just how it's called?
Cheers
ROWI, Jason.
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss thanks my good sir, will have a look 👀
I imagine 6x9 doesn't need to be enlarged. I would imagine there would be people doing contact prints since these are more consumer cameras.
Voigtländer Bessa 6x9 😋
I think back in the early 1950s there were films of ISO 10, 50 and 100, the faster films that we know of not having been developed yet. So 6X9 medium format is the same ratio as 35mm film but obviously much bigger. This bigger shot would have allowed for finer detail in those old slow grainy films of yesteryear. So my thoughts are that 6X9 would have been used more for portrait and or fine photography, more so than for quick snaps of this and that. Photography back then was pretty expensive relative to peoples earnings so a lot of care and forethought would have gone into each and every shot.
6 x 9 is about half the size of 5 x 4" sheet film. Proper big.
For got sake, Roger, its pronounced record, not record :D
I reckoned that the end of the messed up film with the vw camper almost looked like a deliberate effort, like you see in those seaside shops sometimes.
Yes was an interesting result which I might print as a contact panoramic. Just for the record, or record.
What J5 said 🙂
In the not too distant past, few people owned cameras and even fewer owned enlargers. The larger negative had a reasonable contact print size. May I also point out that to get a reasonable quality negative out of these cameras some solid knowledge of basics of photography is required. As you correctly stated, Roger these are not exactly point and shoot. Great shots BTW.
ahh, so maybe no need for enlargements when printing the family photos? Just the contacts
Have plenty of 6x9 prints seems that they contact printed that along with 6x6 all taken in the 1920’s don’t have a clue who the family members are
it's left as a mystery!
Why 6x9 Format ? Well as an Impoverished Schoolboy in 1951 on 2 shillings and Sixpence a week Pocket Money none of us at the East Ham Grammar School Photographic Society could afford an 'Enlarger' so we all did 'Contact Prints' on Kodak 'Velox' Chloride paper and processed in Home-Made Developer and Fix as shown by our Chemistry Master . It was a BIG EVENT when the School splashed out on a 'GNOME UNIVERSAL ' enlarger with a lens with f8 and f16 stops only ( very DIM to Focus !! ) and it was put into a cupboard in the Physics Lab and i used it to make my First Enlargement Half Plate size of My Mum in the Garden -- I took it home WET between two sheets of Graph Paper- it STILL HAS the GEEN LINES on it to this day!
Cheers Peter. We all feel lucky to have you sharing your knowledge and experience and storys
Probably wouldn’t get so much vignetting with the pinhole camera using the smaller masks
I don't see much on 6x6 or 4x5.
just inboxed you on insta