I recently aquired a Voigtlander Bessa 6×9 folding camera, probably dating from the early 1930s (ie nearly 80 years old). It has an Anastigmat Voigtar f/6.3 – f/22 10.5cm uncoated lens, shutter speeds T, B, 25, 50, 100, 125. Well spec’d hehe.
The camera is perfectly usable with no light leaks in the bellows, clear and fungus free lens, shutter speeds working as they should and it barely has that slightly musty smell I associate with older cameras. Cosmetically it isn’t too shabby either and looks to have been well cared for through its long life. It is without doubt a sturdy camera.
It takes 120 roll film and can produce playing-card sized 6×9 negatives or 6×4.5 with a mask (and it has the original mask). Folded, it will fit is a (largish) pocket.
So how is it to shoot?
The eagle eyed will spot two things:
(a) This is not 6×9 and (b) it is a double exposure…
I ran two rolls of FP4+ (at box speed) through the camera not realising that I had left the 6×4.5 mask in place so I only got the left half of each frame. Duh, no 6×9 luvvin on this shoot. There is no double exposure lock <hubris>I don’t need no stinking exposure lock!!!</hubris> and in my eagerness to shoot I forgot to wind the film on a couple of times on each roll. Surprisingly, I like the results!
Cool! I wish I always made mistakes like that
With a f/6.3 maximum aperture and a relatively slow film you need good light to successfully shoot handheld, especially with the 10.5cm lens, otherwise camera shake will be apparent. The shutter release is very mechanical and introduces vibration so I used a cable release and a minimum speed of 1/60 second. That was enough to be able to use f/11 and f/16 since it was a (rare) sunny morning (it is summer in London FFS, I want the sun back).
The sharpness of the lens seems pretty acceptable to me
This would be slightly more critical ‘wide open’ (yeah at f/6.3!) because you have to guess the distance and set it before you shoot. One quirk of this camera is that you need to set the distance holding the camera in portrait mode because that is where the marker on the distance scale is located as you look down. It is easy to forget this in portrait mode and of course the distance is out by 1/4 of a turn.
I was surprised at how good the contrast was. I jacked it slightly in Lightroom for the above shots but the one below is straight out of the camera
Gizmo & ‘handler’ in top left of frame.
Souped the FP4+ in Rodinal 1+50 for 15 minutes. I did two gentle inversions every 30 seconds, I might try three next time for this camera.
I’ll continue to use this Voigtander. Once the methodolgy is sorted it is surprisingly easy to use and whisper quiet. I really like it. And most importantly, it still produces good images. People’s reactions to it are amusing too.
by skinnyvoice
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