620 camera with good lens needed

[Kroma]

I know and have seen on ebay Yashica TLR it's a fantictic semi professional 620 I think, but look for Yashica

I need a recommendation for a camera using 620-format film. I just bought some 620-format film from the 70s just for the heck of it. I guess normally people first buy camera and then appropriate film for it :-) In case of 620 getting a camera is the easy part so I went the other way around. I will respool those spools later on with something more modern.

There were millions of cheap 620-cameras made but I want a good one. It should have a good lens, shutter and aperture. I see that many cameras have only have one shutter speed and 2-3 apertures. I would like have little more sophistication. Is that too much to ask?

What are my options?

[outwest]

The Medalist is the best, but a good Monitor with the Anastigmat Special lens is an excellent value.

[mikeinlagardette]

If you can live with/like 6x4.5 format, the Kodak Duo-Six 20 is a very nice little camera, the series 2 being the most easily available. Made in Stuttgart in the late thirties by Dr. Nagelwerke/Kodak AG, they have either an f3.5 Kodak Anastigmat, Zeiss Tessar, or Schneider Xenon lens with focal length of 70 or 75mm, in a Compur or Compur Rapid shutter. They are strong, light, and elegant, a bit like a Retina on steroids!

[FM2N]

Argoflex. I have one and it takes really nice photo's. Abouty $10 on eBay.

[Denis K]

I think those Kodak marketing 'geniuses' only wanted Kodak 620 film to be used in their cameras!


Steve.

My guess is that they really wanted a take-up spool with a smaller diameter center spool so as to increase the number of turns required by the photographer to advance the film. This would help rank amateurs, assisting them in not advancing the film so rapidly past the numbers in the little red window.

Another possibility is that it would allow Kodak to easily separate amateur and professional film at the photo lab so they could direct amateur film to separate work stations with people trained to get the best out of negatives shot by each of these two categories of photographers. Given what people submitted in the days before meters and auto exposure, these labs worked wonders.

Denis K

[seawolf66]

Kodak Senior #1 is a 620 and has a nice kodak anastigmat F-6.3 on it and is nice in my book :

[Anscojohn]

Argoflex. I have one and it takes really nice photo's. Abouty $10 on eBay.

*********
Ditto for the Argoflex. Some took only 620; others took both 620 and 120. Stop that triplet down to f/ 9 or F/12.7 and it cuts a pretty sharp image.That's my Dad's Argoflex in my avatar.

[nsurit]

After you have shoot your film, if you want to get rid of the spools, contact me. I could use a few. I can use 120 film in my Brownie Hawkeye if I have a 620 take up spool. You might try that with whatever 620 camera you end up with. Bill Barber

[ic-racer]

I just bought some 620-format film from the 70s just for the heck of it.

Have you processed any of it to see if it is still good?
If so, the Anaston lens on the Tourist is nice, as long as you are paying less than $20 USD. If you are going to spend more than that I'd try to get something with a rangefinder. A sharp lens is no good if its not in focus.

[verney]

Have you processed any of it to see if it is still good?
If so, the Anaston lens on the Tourist is nice, as long as you are paying less than $20 USD. If you are going to spend more than that I'd try to get something with a rangefinder. A sharp lens is no good if its not in focus.

Not yet, but seller said that it is still ok. I'm not expecting fancy results just enough for testing. Price was anyway lower than some sellers ask for empty spools. I will respool them later with something more fresh.