Your favorite Folder with photos( Why?)

[kymtman]

I thought that I would sell off my medium format cameras except maybe one then buy

a compact folder. Well it didn't work like that. Haven't sold one yet, although

I had intentions to I proceeded to buy, buy, buy!! First a Ikonta 523/16

(Novar), Voigtlander Perkeo II(color skopar), Moskva 4, Iskra modified for 6x4.5

with red window, and soon a Iskra 2. Lord help me!

 

All said and done, no regrets because of the quality of the lens. Some of the

best shots with these oldies. Now I go fully loaded and concealed, ready to

shoot what ever moves or don't.<div></div>

[sw12dz]

Hi Ron,

 

Well, my Super Ikonta IV is the most compact folder in my collection, but my Iskra 1 has a better lens (sharper & more contrast) in my opinion.

 

I also suffer from the same disease as you. Everytime I decide to sell a camera, I end up with two or three more! :)<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

Voigtlander perkeo I Vaskar. Perutz100/R09

<a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/379728338_836113ff52.jpg" width="500" height="491" alt="Punk is not dead, just idling its time away" /></a>

[connealy]

My 6x4.5 Ikonta 520 is smaller than most of my 35mm cameras. The 7cm Tessar is forgiving of small distance misjudgments. Never lets me down.<br>

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/connealy/ikonta520/04c.jpg">

[alex macphee]

My favourite folder is usually the one I'm using at the time. Each has its own characteristics and 'feel'. Most recently, I've been out and about with an Agfa Isolette II with 75mm f/3.5 Solinar lens.

 

This image, taken at Lake Bled in Slovenia, has been fairly heavily cropped and re-sized to conform with inline viewing constraints, and so has lost much of the razor sharp detail and sheer clarity of the original print. (Something I'm sure is also true of the other pictures in this thread, which will clearly underestimate the photographic quality of the various cameras in demonstration here.) This ancient folder, half a century old, is producing images which knock the spots off anything my digital or 35mm cameras can produce. It cost me GBP 35. I chose one day to spend with only the folder slung around my neck and an old Weston meter in my pocket, together with an old accessory rangefinder attachment, leaving all the sophisticated kit behind me in the hotel. Taking pictures that day had a completely different feel and approach, and I loved it, even though I only shot twelve images the whole day. Not only were the pictures pin sharp, but all the exposures were spot on, and I ask myself how many of the modern crop of cameras will be working as reliably as this bellows-and-clockwork camera in fifty years from now.<div></div>

[charles_hohenstein]

Great thread. What do you people think of Jurgen Kreckel's opinion that the three-element

lenses on some of these cameras perform as well or better than the Tessar clones?

[sw12dz]

Jurgen's the man! If you meant to say, do the clones (Russian lenses, etc.) perform as well or better than the Tessars, well, I would say yes from my personal observations. They are tack sharp, corners and edges included.

[todd frederick]

I have a very nice Perkeo-I with a Vaskar 3 element lens. I don't need anything better. I agree with Jurgen<div></div>

[rosedoodle]

The Contina and the Contessa 35 are both elegant and a joy to use. Now I'm thinking I need a medium format folder...<div></div>

[ralf_j.]

I love folders, most of them are easy to pocket and produce excellent images. I have two favorites, the Voigltander Bessa 66 with Color Skopar, and the Welta Weltur 6x4.5 with Schneider Xenar and built-in rangefinder. In my limited experience, my Bessa 66 is the smallest camera I know of that produces a 6X6 frame of superior quality. Here are my examples:<p>

 

<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/483484003_193bfac680.jpg" width="500" height="375" /> <img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/225/483484007_df15143f29.jpg" width="488" height="500"/>

[sw12dz]

Here is another shot taken with the Iskra 1 today.<div></div>

[sw12dz]

Alex,

 

Excellent shot!

[mike_pender1]

Hey Ron, Where is that shot taken? That looks like a nice background! Do you live in New England, by any chance? Mike

[roseberry guitars]

I love the Zeiss Ikon Nettars even though they are not the top of the heap when it comes to folders. I like the quality of the photos produced by the Novar lens and the simplicity of the camera itself. I have the 515, 518/16 and the 518/2. When I shoot medium format they seem to be the first I reach for.

 

But I have to say that my over all favorite folder is my Zeiss Ikon Contina. I agree with Rose L and think they are an elegant,classy little shooter. Mine is the 524/24 with the Tessar lens/Compur Rapid shutter. I'd choose it any day over the Kodak Retina everyone seems to rave about.<div></div>

[Rob_the_waste]

I only have the one folder, a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/2 from 1930. It has an uncoated Dominar Anastigmat lens, and it does quite well. The original shutter leaves appear to have been made of some kind of cardboard (Telma shutter). One of them broke, and I made a new leaf out of aluminum shim. I blackened it with a felt tip marker, and it should be good for another 75 years. :-)

[kymtman]

Thanks you guys for your response. These folders are the most but definitely slower. Slow pace comes with age. If we don't slow down we are apt to pass life by. It's not how much we cram into life, but rather what we gather from it.

Mike I live here in the foothills of Ky where this photo was taken. Ky looks a lot like new England, especially New York state. I've been many places on this globe and enjoyed every minute of my travels, but.... there is no place like home.

[bobmcelroy]

I got into medium format folders about a year ago and love them. I bought an Agfa Isolette III

with f3.5 Solinar from Jurgen and I also bought a Voigtlander Bessa II with Color Heliar from

E-Bay (which Jurgen CLA'd for me). I love using both and they produce spectacular images in

color and black and white. I like the 6x9 format of the Bessa II but I also like the compact

body of the Isolette. And, every now and then I check the E-Bay listings for folders, been

thinking about an Iskra. Is there anything I should look for to find a good one?<div></div>

[bobmcelroy]

Ooops, I neglected to give the photo info on the shot of the Strykers. I shot it on Kodak

Ultracolor 100 with my Voightlander Bessa II.

[sw12dz]

Bob,

 

Look for one (Iskra) without the red window in the back door. The red window is a sure sign of a beater with a broken film counter. That's about it. Like all FSU equipment, you either get a good one or you end up with a parts camera and go back to checking the auctions.