Prakticas fat cousin

<p>Following on from Rick's post on the Praktica's small cousin, I felt I had to post a couple of shots of the Pentacon Six, a Praktica on steroids.<br>

A big heavy beast but still quite nice to handle and with a set of very nice lenses, the Pentacon Six never really sold in great numbers, but still had a dedicated following.<br>

I have two bodies, which is a kind of insurance policy with these cameras due to some reliability issues with the transport. Fortunately both of mine seem to work fine so far. I have a few lenses, the standard 80mm 2.8 Biometer, 120mm Biometer, 180mm 2.8 Sonnar and the 50mm Flektogon.<br>

The 80mm and 180mm are multi-coated and all lenses perform very well.<br>

Posting a few shots plus the camera itself.</p>

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<p>First pic.</p><div></div>

<p>Next.</p><div></div>

<p>next.</p><div></div>

<p>Another</p><div></div>

<p>Another, the mailboxes were with the 120mm Biometer.</p><div></div>

<p>...and finally...</p><div></div>

<p>Great pictures <strong>Tony</strong>; that camera and those Zeiss lenses [especially, Olympic Sonnar] produce some outstanding quality pics. My Czech friends swore by that camera, though it appeared heavy to carry. Thanks. SP</p>

<p>No <em><strong>that's</strong></em> what I call a camera...what a great kit you have there, <strong>Tony</strong>. Highly usable and definitely collectible, a fine combination. A nice collection of images; "Windmill" makes me feeling like throwing a bedroll and a few stubbies into the old ute and heading off on a road trip. Thanks for posting; more, please...</p>

<p>Thanks SP and Rick. Sp, the Olympic Sonnar is a huge beast and I have only just received it so will post some pics with it soon. The Zeiss Jena lenses are not built as well as those from Oberchochen, but still have a really nice look to them. Rick, don't forget the insect repellant!</p>

<p>I used a Pentacon 6 outfit in the early 'seventies and I always think of it as a flawed masterpiece. As Tony says, it has a [well deserved] reputation for film transport problems but it has a viewfinder system that was at least as good as the contemporary versions of the Hasselblad and the lenses were optically superb.</p>

<p>On top of which, carrying a four lens outfit any distance made membership of a gym redundant!</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>I own three bodies and am very well acquainted with their problems. If possible, could you please mention the film/process used for the beautiful pictures?!</p>

Very nice. I remember seeing ads for them in old camera magazines. Thanks for posting.

<p>Nice work with it.</p>

<p>I have the 6TL with a nice set of lenses (<a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00Pqzu">link</a>).<br /> For those not acquainted with the peculiarities of this camera body:<br /> The spacing problem can be reduced, not necessarily eliminated, by being careful to load the film under tension and being careful with the advance lever. (see the video at http://www.pentaconsix.com/Loading.htm )</p>

Beautiful kit! Nice to see that have practically all the lenses. One of these popped up back in the 1990s. It was a bit expensive, I thought but reasonable. This weas based on my pocketbook, I was comitted to buy. I had never seen one befoer but new it was an East German 6x6 and thought ..these will be cheap now b/c they're Ossies ( US expat living in West Germany) The next day it was gone!! Later I learned why these were so sought after... the lenses! You do great B&W work! I miss your posts. I too really like the Windmill. The old pine tree is excellent.. I am an Alfista too!!

<p>Thanks all for the positive comments. Of course now I will have to get the 300, damn! One of the bodies does space the frames a bit at random and I found that advancing carefully like JDM has mentioned, does help.<br>

Must admit that I approached the ownership with a little trepidation, but I had heard that the lenses are really nice with a bit of that old fashioned quality that you get with Eastern block optics.<br>

Helge, I used Kodak Tri-X for all these and used Pyrocat HD developer at the 1:1:100 dilution....negs were scanned.</p>

<p>There were also close, or even closer cousins like PRACTISIX, or EXACTA 66.</p>

<p>Love the photo of the fence Tony. They're all good though. What an odd camera. A 6x6 SLR that looks like a 35mm SLR. Not that I need any more cameras but if I found one at the right price I'd be sorely tempted. I think it's wonderful. Ivor seems to like them too, FWIW, he gives a good account of them in his SLR book.</p>

<p>Back in the 1960s I had a Praktisix 6x6 SLR and I loved it dearly. I had an eye-level viewfinder and it handled like an oversized 35mm. One of my lenses was the 180mm f2.8 Sonnar. Big and bulky but what fabulous photos it would take. TGhe Pratisix body died and I made fittings to put the 180 and a 400mm I had on my Nikon F.</p>

<p>I bought a Pentacon Six TL several years ago (after wanting one since first seeing a Practisix in the early '60s). Unfortunately, I found it rather disappointing. Film loading seemed to require three hands and, most infuriating, the back latch frequently snagged when I took the camera out of my bag, opening the back. The three CZJ lenses I have (50, 80, and 180) are wonderful, but I prefer to use them on the Arax 60 body I bought to replace the Pentacon. I've found the Arax to be more reliable than the Pentacon, although it's heavier and not as pretty to look a (even though the all black Arax, with a real leather covering, is much nicer looking than a stock Kiev 60).</p>