Kodak Medalist??

Does anyone have experience with the Kodak Medalist I or II? How good of a camera is it? Have you done the conversion from 620 to 120? Thanks, John.

John:

 

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I used a Medalist for two years in High School (in the Dark Ages) that

was converted to 120 film by a local camera repairman. It worked.

The Medalist made great MF negatives, but was a PITA to use for sports

and other "movement" activities. For several football seasons, I

suffered RF (rangefinder) squint and I could not quite get the hang

of comfortably holding and focussing this camera. The Medalist

is not "user friendly" to cite a current term, but is capable of

fine work and is almost indestructable.

 

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I recently saw (and considered) a new Medalist II complete with

original box and paperwork for $395. After hefting it a few times

(I did not remember how heavy it was - it really is a Hernia Special)

and working the RF, all the bad memories came back and I let it

go. If you really want one, you should be able to find an excellent

example of the Medalist at the shows for $175 or so.

 

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Hope this helps.

 

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Marv Soloff

John;

I had a Medalist II converted to 120 film use about ten years ago by Photo on Bald Mountain in Davenport, CA. While it was never a 'full-time" camera for me, whenever I used it I was pleased by the lens quality and the wonderful large 6x9 image size.

I agree that it is a pain to try and use the tiny RF/VF window and the film advance will wear your finger out during a multi-roll shoot, but I never found it too big or heavy, especially compared to a Pentax 6x7.

John

I would pretty much agree with John Gately except that I haven't found a problem with the small RF/VF windows. For those of you who have never played with one, the RF window is immediately below the VF window and displays the split magnified center of the VF image. It's very precise and just requires glancing down once you get used to it. The lens is the same formula that was used for the first Hasselblad lenses which were made by Kodak and only replaced by Zeiss because they cost too much! My Medalist II is still in 620 and I just respool 120. I've considered having it converted but just haven't gotten around to it.

Dear Medalist users,

I came across this camera by mistake in the lab and liked it so much that I bought one. Unfortunately, the RF is off and I just wonder if it needs a specail manual to fix or is it a job for any good and competent camera repair person. Many Thanks

 

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Roland