The Pentacon Six System + Fuji Reala on a Warm Autumn Day

The Pentacon Six system has its origins in the East Germany of the 1950s. It was initially marketed with

 

the Praktisix name being a close relative of the 35mm Praktica line of the same period.<p>

 

It is also referred to with an endearing term as the "SLR on Steroids". The Pentacon Six is a beautiful

 

system and it is a fantastic value for the features and accessories it offers. It has a focal plane

 

shutter with speeds from 1s-1/1000s. It's finders consist of several prisms(metered and not metered),

 

and WLFs. The film is transported via a rapid advance lever which activates an automatic counter once

 

the back is closed.

Film loading is a bit tricky due to a "design flaw" which causes a frustrating frame overlapping. There

 

are several instructions on various web sites on how to do this, however none of them worked for me.

 

What worked was a 1.5 inch advance past the white dot.<p>

 

 

The lens mount is a breech lock type and it is shared by a few cameras that emulated the P6 system.

 

These are the main lenses made for the P6 system which I am aware of: The Flektogon 50mm F/4, The

 

Biometar 80mm F/2.8, the 120mm Sonnar 2.8, the 180 Sonnar 2.8 and a 300mm Sonnar. One should not

 

discount the USSR made optics for this system as they are excellent performers. A 45mm MIR-26B is a

 

cracking lens and wider than the 50mm Flektogon.

 

<p>

Mechanically the P6 appears to be reliable if care is applied when handling it. If I were to compare

 

with the other two medium format slr-s it most resembles to, the Pentax 67 and the Kiev 60, the P6 would

 

fall right in the middle, with Pentax being the more robust system out of the three. The lenses have

 

great optics but the mechanical parts appear somewhat fragile. <br>

 

It is unfortunate I do not get to use this system that often due to its weight, but I do tend to give it

 

an exercise every couple of months or so, especially in the warmer seasons. <br>

Here is my system with a couple of Fall shots in Central Park, NY.<p>

 

<hr>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/3045577206_6856a7b918.jpg" width="474" height="500"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL with 85mm Biometar" /><br>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/3044741663_ae68eba2a7.jpg" width="500" height="426"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL with 85 Biometar" /><br>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/3045577792_a2dbd309c9.jpg" width="500" height="404"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL Profile" /><br>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3027/3044741795_3257e381a6.jpg" width="500" height="375"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL with 180 Sonnar" /><br>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3044741421_354960a802.jpg" width="500" height="356"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL with 180 Sonnar and Hood" /><br>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3073/3045577014_df67844422.jpg" width="500" height="411"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL Top View" />

<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3028/3045577066_c92004477a.jpg" width="500" height="391"

 

alt="Pentacon Six TL film loading process" /><p>

 

 

<hr>

<p>

<h3>Golden Hue</h3>

<p>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/3044761545_2b676ccf77.jpg" width="499" height="500"

 

alt="Couple in Love" /><p>

<i>1/125s, f8 w/ Flektogon 50mm and Hoya Polarizer on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

<h3>Central Park East</h3><p>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/3045596922_ef722522fb.jpg" width="500" height="489"

 

alt="central Park East" /><p>

 

<i>1/125s, f/11 w/ Flektogon 50mm and Hoya Polarizer on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

<h3>Golden Hour on Runner's Path</h3><p>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/3044761471_3075050a45.jpg" width="495" height="500"

 

alt="Central Park Runner's Path" /><p>

 

<i>1/125s, f8 w/ Flektogon 50mm and Hoya Polarizer on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

<h3>Central Park Structure</h3>

 

<p>

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/3045597242_06138cf41d.jpg" width="500" height="498"

 

alt="central park Structure" /><p>

 

<i>1/125s, f/11 w/ Flektogon 50mm and Hoya Polarizer on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

<h3>A Gold Wrapped Torchiere</h3><p>

 

 

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3042/3044761663_8e0215af81.jpg" width="461" height="500"

 

alt="Central Park Torchiere" /><p>

 

<i>1/125s, f/6.3 w/ Flektogon 50mm on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

<h3>Overpass Bridge</h3>

 

<p>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3044761407_b24c7aaa3e.jpg" width="499" height="500"

 

alt="central park bridge2" /><p>

 

<i>1/125s, f/5.6 w/ Flektogon 50mm on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

 

<h3>The Bridge Rail</h3><p>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/3045596982_3ce682c5cf.jpg" width="500" height="495"

 

alt="central park bridge" /><p>

 

<i>1/125s, f/5.6 w/ Flektogon 50mm on Fuji Reala 100</i><p>

 

 

 

The camera looks massive. Your pictures, simply BEAUTIFUL ! No other words!

Excellent post - thank you.

Thanks Subbarayan, massive indeed. Some of the lenses are heavier and larger than the camera itself.<p>

 

Thanks Mike for the comment.

What a beast. What beautiful shots. I gotta get me one of those.

That causes me to want to get my P6 back out, though truly I only bought it to use the 80 2.8 on my Mamiya 645. Nice work. JR

Simply OUTSTANDING photos Ralf, plain and simple! Excellent creative compositions and superb color from that

Reala; I love every one of these shots, but for some reason I can't explain the bridge shot is my favorite. I

think it must be the way you captured all of the curves in relation to the rest of the scene. Oh, and the camera

is pretty cool too. What a fantastic post!

That prism must be half the weight of the camera! A good range of lenses you have. Nice shots, Ralf!

Absolutely gorgeous, the pictures too! I've always wanted to get my hands on one of these babies.

Great post Ralf, beautiful pictures. I had the opportunity to shoot with this camera back in the '80. The glass is simply oustanding. Too bad I could not get hold of one (so far...). Thanks for this very informative post. Cheers

Very nice.

 

I am still thinking about getting a Flektogon as my copy of the Mir is a little soft.

 

The 80mm or 120mm are fairly easy to shoot with, but the Sonnar 180mm is definitely a handful with this body. Carrying around the whole kit with the extra lenses is an athletic event for sure. ;) I got the prism without a meter, which works well, as well as a waist-level finder that is handy when you are working with a tripod.

 

I envy your lens hood -- definitely cool.

Thanks Rob. Enjoy hunting for one, they are plentiful :-)<p>

 

Thenks Jeremy - The P6 may not be as fine as the Mamiya, but it is still a very capapble system and it has earned my respects over the past 4.5 years I have had it.<p>

 

Thank you for the kind words Andy. Had to think a good 5 minutes before I shot that bridge, since I had the wide on, I was pondering to get a little closer, but at the end decided to go for the sweep. I am glad you like it. Reala is my favorite print film, and I will be very angry if they take it away. So far Fuji has gone crazy and raised the price by $2 in a matter of few days for their 35mm format in Reala. The 120 went up by 50 cents. I managed to squeeze 40 rolls from B&H in 120 format before the price went up which hurt a bit, but at least I won't have to worry about it in a long while.<p>

 

Louis - you are right, the prism is humangous, as the camera in itself is not that thick, however the meter is a pretty acurate for an averaging meter and I can shoot without taking my eyes of the finder. As far as the lenses, I got them little by little. The camera came with the wonderful Biometar, the Flektogon, Sonnar 180 and the Mir were all separate acquisitions when the price was something I could afford. Thanks for the nice comments.<p>

 

Thanks Al, there are quite a few of them around as I believe they were one of the mainstream MF cameras of Eastern Europe during the communism era. Good luck in obtaining one.<p>

 

Thank you Mihai - I believe an honest Slovakian seller named Cupog in the auction site, pushes quite a few of these a week, and he restores all of them to working condition. I have heard nice words about him.<p>

JDM - thanks for the kind comments. The 180 Sonnar does look like shoulder fore granade launcher doesn't it? I have read the analysis about the MIR beind soft, especially at the edges, I have not been able to confirm that in my example. I will pay closer attention next time. Regards

I have shot all of my P6 lenses on my Canon 20D with a P6->EOS adapter. The two Biotars work fine, and the Sonnar

somehow really hits the sweet spot in this use, so even at f/2.8 it is one of the sharpest and crispest lenses I

have of any kind on the 20D. The Mir, however, on the smaller format is just like a Portragon soft-focus

lens--kinda pretty, but no one would want to use it for anything where sharpness was a concern. There are some

interesting tests at http://kievaholic.com/LensTestsWide/index.html .

That's a great looking camera, and your pictures are beautiful. Thanks.

Thanks for the Link JDM, most interesting.<p>

 

Thanks for commenting Craig, much appreciate it.

Lovely stuff!

 

I like using my P6, and the lenses are great. I recently got a P6 - Minolta AF adapter to make even more use of them ;-)

Wow.. outstanding! Beautiful shots here. I just love the blue sky! They are all very very good! Especially

Bridge Rail, and Central Park East. About 10 years ago .. I saw my first one, in a shop ! Looked really

cool...it was gone the next day. The Flektogon really does deliver here. You really seem to get the best out of these

classics.

Sure, the camera is big, capricious (but if you are carefull frame overlapping can be minimized) but so pleasurable to use (at least if fitted with clear frenel screen).

Remark about the huge original prism, it can be changed to a better and more usefull version: using addapter made by Baier (http://www.baierfoto.de/exaktaprism.html) the Kiev prism is a big improvement.

 

Great lenses, the Sonnar 180/2.8 is my favorite (even big and heavy) used on both P6, Canon FTb-New or EOS 40D.

You can find 2 shoots on that page: http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00O5cy

Great photos Ralf, the last one especially. I was looking at one at of these at a camera show over the weekend. It is heavy but handles quite nicely - suitable for hand holding - and is quieter than some 35mm SLRs I could name.

Thanks for the comment PC. I would love to use my P6 lenses on my Minolta manuila bodies, I am just not sure if they make an adapter for the SR mount.<p>

 

Hi Chuck - thanks for commenting. I am obsessed with my classic and getting decent reults from them, is one of my joys in life. Long live classic cameras and film!<p>

 

Thanks Jean - I had a fresnel screen with a split image installed, now the focusing is as easy as 1-2-3<p>

 

Thanks George, this camera is heavy, especially with the big sonnar, but it is way lighter in comparison to the Pentax 67 system. Regards

<p>Ralf: Awesome pictures. Where did you get the Fresnel screen? Thanks!</p>

<p>Hi Max - my camera repair man installed it about 2 years ago, he had a mini stash and it has worked wonders. He is located in Manhattan, if you google it you will find them and their address in google maps.</p>