Minolta Six Camera

It seems like I purchase items from camera auctions in "lots," and there is always a treasure hidden in the background that you either didn't notice at first, is hidden within all the photos of the items, or, in this case, the camera wasn't taken out of the case, and the case was obscured, so there was no visual evidence that the camera was.

 As I unwrapped the cameras won from the auction, one brown case caught my eye. It bore a striking resemblance to the Mamiya Six in my collection. But upon closer inspection, the name 'Minolta Six' was revealed. I initially thought it might be similar to the Mamiya Six, but the truth was far more exciting, as I'll reveal when I introduce the camera.

History:

In an earlier post, I did on the Minoltaflex CDS, I did a brief history of the company, which read, 

Kazuo Tashima founded Minolta in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten, which means Japanese-German Camera Shop. In 1931, the company updated its name to Minolta, which stands for Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima. In 1937, the company was reorganized as Chiyoda Kogaku Seikō, K.K. They are now introducing their first Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, the MinoltaFlex, based on the German Rolleiflex cameras. The MinoltaFlex was only the second TLR introduced from Japan after the Prince Flex by Neumann & Heilemann. In 1947, Minolta introduced rangefinder cameras like the Minolta-35, and in 1959, the Single Lens Reflex (SLR) SR-1 camera. In later years, they signed agreements with Leica and came out with the first autofocus SLR, The Minolta Maxxum 7000, which carried on to several in their autofocus system.

 To expand slightly from the above text, in the early years, there was a big German influence on the Minolta company, which was known as Nichidoku Shashinki Shōten, which means Japanese, German camera shop. In the early years, the company received help from camera technicians Billy Neumann and Willy Heilemann, and the shutters and lenses were supplied from Germany. Their first camera was the Nicarette, which was released in 1929.

In 1931, the company was transformed into a stock corporation named Molta Gōshi-gaisha. Molta is an abbreviation of Mechanism, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima. Neumann and Heilemann left the company in 1932, returning to Germany to start their own company, and the German influence left with them. In 1933, the name Minolta was adopted. In 1937, the company became Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō K.K and expanded the production of cameras into TLR and press cameras similar to the Plaubel Makina. 

Minolta Six in the July 1938 catalogue and price list by Asanuma Shōkai. Scan by A. Apra. (Image rights)

 In 1940, the famous Minolta Rokkor lens was produced, but it was only used for the military. Consumer camera production ended in 1943 to concentrate on the war effort. Three of its four plants were destroyed by Allied forces during WWII. Soon after the war, Minolta released the Semi Minolta III, and throughout the 1950s, Minolta expanded its line of cameras to include folding cameras, TLRs, SLRs, and rangefinder cameras.

 In 1958, the SR-2 was released, and it was Minolta's first system camera. This reign of SLR system cameras included partnerships with Leitz in the 1970s, which helped produce CLE cameras. Minolta had a full line of autofocus cameras, the Maxxum line of bodies and lenses, and Minoltas final SLR camera ended in 1995 with their X-370.

 Minolta produced many different 35mm, APS, and DISC cameras and partnered with Konica in 2003, but by 2006, the camera company had discontinued camera production and relied heavily on the copier business.

My Camera:

Opening the case and looking at the camera for the first time, I was surprised by the Minolta logo and text on top. Since it was made in 1936, it has a genuine Art Deco design in the look and feel of the camera. My biggest surprise was when I initially pulled the lens out from the body and found the camera didn't have a cloth bellows. Instead, it has a series of stacking cubes that pull away from the camera body, AND these boxes are reinforced with another Art Deco element, metal brackets that resemble an "M" when the camera is laid on its back with the lens pointing up. WOW, Just a fantastic design.

The Minolta Six camera measures 6 inches in width, 4.75 inches in height with the finder up, 3.75 inches with the finder closed, and 4 inches in depth with the lens out, or 2.25 inches with the lens closed. It weighs 1 lb. 5.7oz. without the case or loaded with film. The camera's body is made from a bakelite or plastic material, covered in a high-quality leatherette.

 To pull the lens out to take photos, there are two grips, one on either side of the lens, that you grab onto to pull the lens out and away from the body. You need to expose three stacking cubes before the camera is ready to take the photos. Under the lens are two curved chrome bars you can slide down to prop the camera up so that when the lens is out, it doesn't tip forward and keeps the lens level.

Around the top of the lens is Patents-Nippon, and below is Crown, which is the shutter on the camera. The actual lens is an 80mm f5.6 Coronar Anastigmat Nippon lens. Around the lens is a manual focus ring that focuses from under 1 meter to infinity. The focus line to judge distance is a protruding tab with a line at approximately 10 O'Clock on the lens face. The lens also has a stopping screw that prevents the lens from rotating past the infinity mark on the tab.

 

My camera has only four shutter speeds: 1/150, 1/100, 1/50, and 1/25, along with "b" and "T" for timed exposures. On the top of the camera is a pop-up viewfinder with etched or lined crosshairs to line up horizontal or vertical subjects as needed. The back of my camera sports three red windows with different numbers, which are used to line up with the number on the paper backing to get to the proper frame number. In later cameras, they went to a single window system, which is more common with current 6x6 format cameras using 120 film.

 

To open the back of the camera, there is a latch behind the strap on the left side with an arrow pointing down. Slide the button down, and the camera's back opens. The chrome winding lever was used on the older models. Later they went to a plastic or bakelite knob in the later models. My first thought when I looked at the back of the camera was that it was not a full-frame 6x6 camera, but that was because I was looking at the retracted plastic cubes from the bellows. It is indeed a full 6x6 format camera. Load the film on the right side and bring the leader to the left to take up the spool. The knobs on the bottom of the camera pull out so you can put in the film and take up the reel easily.

 The case for my camera is in great condition. There's a pretty cool instruction tab on the inside of the case, which was made for the three window cameras.

 The crown shutter doesn't have a cocking mechanism. There's just the shutter release to take the photos. I loaded the film. I pulled out the cube below and started to take pictures of the neighborhood with my trusty light meter. Once I reached the end, I unloaded the film and processed the negatives.

My Results:

Here are some of the photos taken with the Minolta Six camera. The photos were a bit flat in exposure and contrast.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed shooting with the camera, but I am still primarily impressed with the innovative and beautiful bellows system in the camera. Not only is it functional, but it is very light and tight and only wears out slowly compared to the style bellows. The flip side is, if something happens to this bellows, the replacement is hard to replace due to the material. I wished there were faster shutter speeds, but I was using 125 iso film, and with the aperture range of the lens, I didn't have an issue.

 I have a great and fun camera for next week's blog post, so I hope you'll stick around to read that one, too. Thank you for your time, and please be safe until then.

Update:

According to Andrea Apra, who corrected and let me know initially, a small cardstock table was provided with this camera. This table was used to calculate the Depth of Field. The card I have in the case with the wrong translation is just instructions for using this table provided with the camera, which I don’t have.

The table has a horizontal scale at the top with the various distances on the focus ring: 7, 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 1 Mtr.

Then, on the vertical column, the diaphragm has various apertures: F 5.6, 6.3, 9, 12.5, 18, 25.

Two pairs of values, the minimum and maximum distance of the DoF, are intersecting at the table's intersection.

This explains how to read the table.

This is the text translated in its original graphic structure of the text.

Exakta 66 Vertical Camera

I've been holding onto this camera for a few years now and wanted to do a blog post on it a few years ago when I was asked to come back to work and run a couple of photo companies for a former boss. At the time, the opportunity was too good to pass up, so I put my camera blog on the back burner and dove into my work promoting and selling some top-of-the-line photo equipment.

My Exakta 66 Vertical camera and lens.

Now that I'm formally retiring after spending 52 years in the photo industry, I pulled the Exakta 66 vertical off the shelf, which I had serviced a couple of years ago, shortly after returning to work. I put 120 black-and-white films into it and gave it a whirl to see what a medium-format camera from the early 1950s would feel like.

History:

I previously wrote about the company's history when I posted on the Exakta Vest Pocket Model B camera in December 2020. If you're interested in what I wrote about Ihagee History, click the link.

Early horizontal Exakta 66 model.

 In this area, I'd like to talk about the history of the Exakta 66. Exakta made an earlier version of the 66, a horizontal version developed just before WWII. Since this model is known as the "Vertical" version, it concerns the film transport on the camera. In this version, the film transports vertically, unlike the previous model, which went horizontally.

The original Exakta 66 was designed in 1938. Ihagee, the manufacturer of Exakta, had even set aside a series of serial numbers for the Exakta 66, which was a first for Ihagee. Until now, the camera model would have consecutive serial numbers when the cameras left the factory, but  552,000 to 556,999 had been reserved for the 6x6.

Due to technical issues with the film transport, Ihagee only produced about 2,000 cameras in the first year. The issues were somewhat common for other Exakta cameras from this time period. Production for the Exakta 66 was stopped after one year. It could have been due to technical issues or the outbreak of WWII. 

In 1951, Ihagee decided to start production on the camera again. They reserved the serial numbers 600,000 to 607,999 for the new Exakta 66. Unfortunately, production was halted due to lackluster interest and low sales numbers. Many of the cameras produced were from old stock produced before WWII, and the cameras again had very poor film transport issues. 

 Introduced in the fall of 1952 with production was the new Vertical Exakta 66 with vertical film transport, which was to compete with Hasselblad for medium format camera. With the Vertical Exakta 66, Ihagee introduced interchangeable light shafts, focusing screens, film cassettes, and a prism finder, which were planned but never introduced. It also had flash synchronization and shutter speeds similar to their 35mm cameras from 12 sec. to 1/1000

Again, the vertical Exakta 66 ran into the same film transport and other issues during production. The problem was so bad that Ihagee recalled cameras delivered to stores to destroy the camera. It's estimated that there are only a few hundred cameras due to poor production and lack of sales.

 

In 1985, Ihagee's West German company reintroduced the Exakta 66. The camera was very similar to the Pentacon and even had Pentacon mount lenses. It had a current design with a black body and other accessories like finders, focus screens, lenses, etc. This version lasted into the early 1990s.

My Camera:

 The Exakta 66 is a clunky and somewhat awkward camera, especially without a shoulder strap. While I got the camera serviced a few years ago, I'll discuss some issues with the body and film back. 

 My camera has a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar T 80mm f2.8 lens. It measures 5.5" tall by 4.5" wide by 6" deep, measuring from the back of the film plane to the front of the lens focused at infinity or back into the body. If the light chamber is opened, the camera is just under 8" tall and weighs 3 lbs 7.4 oz without film or a strap.  

The vertical shape made the camera very similar to shooting with a twin-lens reflex camera, just bigger and heavier. As I have fairly large hands, using it wasn't that bad. 

To take the back off, on the camera's left side, as you hold it to take a photo, is a long lever next to the horizontal tripod socket. Slide that lever up to release the lock of the film back, and slide the cack off to the left to load the film. Loading the film is pretty straightforward. Take the empty film spool from behind the hinged door and put it into the top chamber inside where the gears are. Put the new film in the chamber with the hinged door and slide the leader around the wheel and over the pressure plate to the empty spool. Slide the end into the spool and wind it up just a bit so it's not coming loose from the take-up spool.

That's the easy part. I went online to look at the instruction manual on the proper procedure to load the camera, and now I understand the complexity of the camera. Well, the instructions that I read didn't make sense. One of the reasons is that the film back I have isn't 100% functional. The frame counter isn't working on my film back and doesn't go to the "Red F" as stated in the manual (show manual). Here's what I did. I put the back on the camera, advanced the film 5-6 frames, and started to shoot photos. The film advance lever is on the right side of the camera and has a large "wing nut" appearance right in the center of the camera.

The shutter speed dial is in two sections, similar to other cameras. From 1/1000 to 1/25 sec, it is on the top dial along with "T" and "B," closest to the light chamber. A second shutter speed wheel on the bottom of the camera has a dual function. It's the low end of the shutter speeds, from 1/10 sec to 12-second exposure; yep, 12-second exposure is built into the camera. It also serves as the camera's self-timer. The cameras' self-timer numbers are red, and the long exposure numbers are black.

The right side of the Exakta 66 vertical camera shows the shutter speed control dials on top and bottom.

To make a more prolonged exposure with the built-in shutter speeds, you set the SS dial to either T or B, then turn the bottom dial to the desired length of exposure in black. Press the shutter, and the shutter stays open until the end of the exposure, and the focal shutter closes. To use it as a self timer, set the shutter speed at anywhere on the top dial from 1/1000-1/25, then on the bottom dial set the length of self timer to the desired RED number and press the shutter button. This will delay the shutter from open/close function for the desired seconds picked from the red number picked.

You open the light hood, press down on the rear tab on the back of the hood. Mine pops up and is ready for action. Like many other medium format cameras, there is also a magnifying glass that allows for fine focusing. When you press the front of the chamber, the glass pops up. You can also remove the hood to get to the focus screen by pressing the lever between the two 6s on the front of the camera and just below the Exakta nameplate. When the light hood is removed, you can remove the focusing screen by sliding the bar on the right side but not back where the film advance and shutter speed dial is. It's the rod right next to "Ihagee". Slide that lever up, and the focus screen can be removed. To close the light hood, the four pieces that make up the light hood are numbered, 1,2, and 3, so you know which order to close them. If not in that order, the cover doesn't close.

There is a second rod on the right side of the camera between the two shutter buttons and the lock for the shutter button just above the shutter release. In the down position, it'll let you trip the shutter. When the bar is up, the shutter release is locked, and you cannot release the shutter.

 On the left side of the camera is the back release rod. Slide it up to release the lock to take the film back off and down to lock the film back onto the camera. There is a horizontal tripod socket. Also, there is a flash delay wheel that delays the flash sync depending on the flash and bulb used and the lens release button. Sliding the button back will release the bayonet mount lens.

The camera body, film back, light hood, Focus screen, and lens are separated.

The lens has a manual aperture, which doesn't stop the aperture down automatically when you press the shutter button. Focus wide open for the brightest viewing, then stop down the desired aperture. By doing this it also allows the photographer to see the depth of field in the finder before releasing the shutter. There is a red dot that you can move to the desired aperture. This allows the photographer to open and close the aperture quicker, and you cannot go further than the ring with the red dot will allow.

My results:

 Once I loaded the film, put the back onto the camera, and shot photos, here's the result. As you can see from some of the first images, I, too, had issues with the film transport. The technician told me he did his best to fine-tune the back, but the first few images had spacing issues, as seen in these images. After that, the images had spacing between them that grew to more and more spacing between the images.

Thing get better for the rest of the roll.

From the front yard.

Looking down our street.

Conclusion:

 After I played with the camera and finally got past the mumbo jumbo of the loading procedure, the camera was fun to shoot. I really didn't mind the manual aperture, and while I didn't use the self-timer or longer exposures as I was shooting ISO 400 on a somewhat sunny day, setting the shutter speeds and aperture was straightforward.

 Having the large indent on the film back provided extra area to hold the camera, especially when I was carrying the camera without a strap. I think the images turned out pretty good, and I'm looking forward to shooting it again—maybe at dusk with longer exposures this time.

 Thank you for taking the time to read through this post and until my next post, please be well and stay safe.