6x6 folder good for portraits?

[minoltist7]

I'm mostly portrait shooter, so I was searching for portraits made with 6x6 folder.
I didn't find many, unfortunately.

Will Agfa Isolette / Super Isolette serve good for this purpose?
(or another suggestions)

I think girls will go crazy if see that thing in my hands

 

[Solinar]

It will be tough framing due to parallax and the closest focus will be 3.5 ft/ 1 meter. With regards to parallax, there are no framelines on a Super Isolette. So, you must raise the camera a bit to leave plenty of room between the top of the subjects head and the top of the viewfinder. I generally move back to 5 or 6 feet and then crop while printing.

The following was shot from about 2 meters.

 

[semrich]

Here is a shot I took from across the table of a friend when showing him the Super Isolette.

 

[thafred]

Richard, that portrait is wonderful!! richness of tones and very precise focus, amazing work for a informal shot also I love the Background! perfect wallpaper for a portrait

I prefer my TLR for 6x6 portrait work and think even a Lubitel performs nicely if you want it for cheap! it´s hard for me to get the focus right on my Super Isolette III even thou it has a rangefinder. uncoupled.

Lubitel 166 with TriX ...my grandma at her birthday

from my experience girls react similar to Folders and to TLR´s anyway....what´s that old thing in your hand..is this a camera? ;-)

 

[Way]

I use my Super Isolette all the time at its minimum focus of 1 meter. It has become my most loved camera to use. Here are a couple of pics from our vacation on Oahu and Maui. I guess I like to take pictures of my wife in restaurants! As you can tell they are taken from across the table very close to 1 meter. The first shot is at f5.6 and the second is wide open at f3.5. Pretty good bokeh on this little folder.

 

[Way]

Here is a shot I took from across the table of a friend when showing him the Super Isolette.

Richard,

Glad to see that you got your Super Isolette. That is a wonderful portrait! Hope you enjoy your SI as much as I do.

 

[furcafe]

It depends on what you consider a portrait. Because of the rather large minimum focus distance, you're pretty much restricted to environmental portraits (as in semrich's & way's examples) without cropping.

Up close, I don't think the parallax issue is that big of a deal; you just have to use imaginary framelines or tick marks in the VF. Zeiss Ikon did make Contameter close-up accessories (special VF/RF + Proxar attachment lenses) for the Super Ikonta, & would work for close portraits @ the farthest setting, but they can be hard to find & expensive.

 

[Schlapp]

Voigtlander Perkeo I

 

[bmattock]

It depends on what you consider a portrait. Because of the rather large minimum focus distance, you're pretty much restricted to environmental portraits (as in semrich's & way's examples) without cropping.

Up close, I don't think the parallax issue is that big of a deal; you just have to use imaginary framelines or tick marks in the VF. Zeiss Ikon did make Contameter close-up accessories (special VF/RF + Proxar attachment lenses) for the Super Ikonta, & would work for close portraits @ the farthest setting, but they can be hard to find & expensive.

I agree with your comments.

I would also add that in general, I think a folding camera with or without a rangefinder is not a particularly apt choice for a true head-and-shoulders portrait camera.

I generally like folders, so don't get me wrong. But they are good at certain things, and portraits aren't it. Not that they can't be made to work - they clearly can. But they're not at their best in this role.

Portraits generally require close focus, and precise focus. It is not unusual for very shallow DOF to be employed in a portrait.

Because of this this level of control required in a portrait, an SLR or direct ground-glass focus are suggested. If you desire a 6x6 negative, I would suggest that a 6x6 SLR would be a better choice for a portrait camera than a folder.

If I absolutely HAD to use a folder for a portrait, I would use a tripod and probably would try to employ a handmade ground-glass held up to the film plane (with the back off) to achieve framing and focus, then I'd load the film, replace the back, and take my photos, being careful not to move anything.

 

[spyder2000]

Due to the lens focallength, most folders are not good for tight head and shoulders portraiture at minimum focus due to foreshortening. The nose looks too large and ears too small. That said, backing away and cropping the image relieves this effect.

Depending on the effect you wish, DOF can work with you or against you and you can't judge this through a viewfinder; only the lens will do.

Folders are fun to use in any case.

 

[jbf]

I too am really interested in a medium format folder, but I havnt the clue where to start. Any heads up as to places for information or guides on what to buy, etc?

 

[Solinar]

Also, if your folder uses a front cell focusing lens and most do, the len is usually optimzed for 10ft/3m. The few folders that have unit focusing lenses, the Super Isolette, Mamiya 6, Bessa II, Certo 6 and the Ensign Autorange 820, would be best for close in focusing.

 

[Dektol Dan]

I have a Bronica S2 and C. When the shutter flies so do the birds and other small creatures. I'm looking for a Certo 6. I have a Certo 35mm folder and love it.

 

[kuzano]

Lens focal lengths could be a problem

Lens focal lengths could be a problem

Since most folders have a fixed lens that is the normal focal lenght for the format, ie 75mm for 6X6, 90-100mm for 6X9, you cannot take advantage of the portrait principle that suggests a mild telephoto for flattering portrait shots. The normal lens for a focal length at portrait distance generates mild distortion of the features... mostly the "big nose" problem.

For instance, with 35mm camera's most portrait shooters would favor an 80 to 100mm lens. This allows two advantages... moving back from the subject a bit, which helps on any parallax issues and a more realistic image of facial features.

Moving to medium format does not eliminate this problem, so on 6X6, a preferred portrait lens may be over 100mm. Some may resist this idea, pointing out that fashion photos were often shot with 80mm Hasselblads. My response to that, fashion photography is quite different from portraiture.

JUST NOTICED THAT two posters already addressed this potential problem.

I would say that if you insist on a folder, you can't do anything about the "big nose" problem, but I would suggest the Mamiya 6 folder which is a rangefinder focus, and make sure the rangefinder is adjusted properly for the distance you want to shoot (easy adjustment through the back upper deck of the camera). You can also occasionally find an "auto up" attachment for correcting the parallax problem on close focus. I have seen them occasionally for the Mamiya on eBay.

 

[bmattock]

I too am really interested in a medium format folder, but I havnt the clue where to start. Any heads up as to places for information or guides on what to buy, etc?

I suggest you begin here:

http://www.certo6.com/

 

[kuzano]

Here is a great folder info web page

Here is a great folder info web page

I too am really interested in a medium format folder, but I havnt the clue where to start. Any heads up as to places for information or guides on what to buy, etc?

It's called "medium format in your pocket". I found it very helpfull a few years ago, when I started working with folding cameras. From this page you can move on to Jurgen Kreckels site.

http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-MediumFormatInYourPocket.asp

Have fun. It's been a lot of fun for me to slow down my photography a bit with these old camera's. Surprisingly, for 50 year old camera's and lenses, the images can be incredible.

My current favorite 6X6 is the very small Voigtlander Perkeo (Pigmy in French). I have a Perkeo I with the Color Skopar lens. Have picked up about 6 of these until I arrived at this one. The I model typically comes with the three element Vaskar lens, but in my research I found that the 4 element Color Skopar was fitted to a few of them. I do not care for the Perkeo II, because the film counting mechanism was bad on two of them that I bought. I think it is a bit fragile for daily usage. So, I watched for a I with the Skopar. The activity on these on eBay is quite good. There always seem to be 2 or 3 on at any given time.

Sorry to go on, but I've had such a good time with these old folding cameras.

 

[minoltist7]

Since most folders have a fixed lens that is the normal focal lenght for the format, ie 75mm for 6X6, 90-100mm for 6X9, you cannot take advantage of the portrait principle that suggests a mild telephoto for flattering portrait shots. The normal lens for a focal length at portrait distance generates mild distortion of the features... mostly the "big nose" problem.

I know about disproportions, but I do not restrict definition of "portraits" as large-scale head-only shots.
Abovementioned grandma shot is a good example done with "normal" focal length.
or these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denzyang/2130480169/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/westonperry/2238455026/in/pool-agfaisola

afaik, there are no 85mm equivalents in 6x6 folder world (it should be something like 120 or 135mm, right ?)

 

[Abbazz]

Since most folders have a fixed lens that is the normal focal lenght for the format, ie 75mm for 6X6, 90-100mm for 6X9, you cannot take advantage of the portrait principle that suggests a mild telephoto for flattering portrait shots. The normal lens for a focal length at portrait distance generates mild distortion of the features... mostly the "big nose" problem.

The big advantage of a medium format negative is that you can crop freely. A 100mm lens on a 6x9 folder is a 100mm lens. If you crop the negative to 24x36mm, you'll end up with the same perspective and framing than a 100mm lens on a 135 camera. At 1m distance, that'll give you a pretty tight mug shot.

I would suggest the Mamiya 6 folder which is a rangefinder focus, and make sure the rangefinder is adjusted properly for the distance you want to shoot (easy adjustment through the back upper deck of the camera). You can also occasionally find an "auto up" attachment for correcting the parallax problem on close focus. I have seen them occasionally for the Mamiya on eBay.

I second the Mamiya Six. Precise focusing is very important, especially if you want to crop your negs. The "Auto-up" is a must for portrait, which allows to retain rangefinder focusing but unfortunately, it doesn't correct the parallax. I think there are similar attachments available for other folders.

Here are two (already published) pictures taken with my Fuji G690 (yes, it's no folder, nevertheless it's a rangefinder MF camera) and the Auto-up attchment. As you can see, there is no parallax correction :

Cheers!

Abbazz

 

[Wayno]

I was recently gifted a Super Ikonta IV (a pretty nice present I know!). I don't normally take many portraits, but couldn't resist when I got chatting to this fellow whilst shooting the first roll:

The Tessar did a pretty good job against the light.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Will Agfa Isolette / Super Isolette serve good for this purpose?
(or another suggestions)

Depends on what kind of portrait we are talking about and how close to your subject you need to get. The cameras have the 35mm equivalent of a 50mm "normal" lens. For tight head and shoulders portraits, probably no -- there are many better choices and I'd grade it as poor. For pretty much anything where you can back off and frame at least from the knees to the top of the head, I would grade it as fair to good. If you can back off enough to frame the entire person (nudes, full length portraits, environmental portraits, groups, and etcetera) it will do very nicely indeed -- excellent.