We at RFF love new threads.
Many of us have MF (120 film, either 6x6 or 6x9) scale-focus folders tucked away, lying forgotten and neglected. The high cost of roll film nowadays may have something to do with this.
I have two. A ca 1950 Zeiss Nettar 6x6 with the primitive (well, I think) Albada type viewfinder on top, and a late model (so 1953 or 1954) Voigtlander Perkeo I. Both have the then-optional Synchro-Compur shutters that were available as an add-on extra in that era, with the full range of speeds from 1 second to 1/500. The Nettar has the standard 80/4.5 Novar lens, an adequate if not super stellar performer but still capable of good images up to 5x7 or 8x10 The Perkeo came with the Voigtlander 75/4.5 Color Skopar, which was a top-range lens in its time and is still a great lens.
Both were acquired by chance in the mid-'00s when old film cameras were being dumped en masse to partly fund the purchase of the first digital prosumers - dor have we all forgotten those long-obsolete 5.1 and 6.1 MP models? As so many 1950 film folders were little used, owned as they were by amateurs, many were as new. Certainly my Zeiss was pristine while the Perkeo had seen some use, maybe as a travel camera or in someone's backpack for weekend bush walks or visits to the beach.
Both still make fine B&W and color negatives if used carefully. In the '50s photographers who could afford them often had a Weston Master exposure meter, a II or a III. Of which I also own a box full. They worked off a selenium cell and so had to be kept in the dark in their fitted cases, which means they often still work quite well if a tad slow. Mine mostly read up to a half stop under with one or two, the latest Weston IVs, Vs or Euroasters which date to much later, still giving spot-on readings.
Until about 10 years ago folders were dirt-cheap and to be found in many shops selling used things or often in charity stores. In my time I've owned several Afga 6x6 folders - which all had pinholes in the bellows so I quickly sold them off to collectors - and a few odd-brand English folders, 6x6 and 6x9, also sold as I found them too bulky for my liking. I also had a wonderful Bessa 6x6 which was as new and in its box with the instruction booklet, a lens hood and two filters. I've forgotten what lens it had but it was a good one, color-corrected. This little beauty eventually went to a Japanese collector who paid me super well for it, but oh, I do miss that beautiful piece of machinery...
Using a folder is fun but takes a bit of mental work. The Sweet Sixteen exposure method works okay with B&W and color, with the latter one has to remember to overexpose by up to a full stop depending not he light - not so with monochrome film where overexposure just flattens the tones and makes printing or even scanning a misery.
Another good point worth reeling with a folder is to plan a workflow that involves winding on to the next exposure immediately after making the last one, and cocking the shuttle (my two are entirely manual with levers for cocking) before taking the follow-up picture. I find nothing more annoying than to hold up the camera for an action image only to find I had forgotten to cock the damn thing, so I miss that photo.
Small accessories for many folders are readily available, from Ebay also in charity shops or those wonderful treasure-troves, the $1 and $2 (more nowadays with inflation more like $5 and $10) boxes of old photo flotsam in the sadly fast-vanishing photo retail shops.
