Affordable, available coupled rf 6x6 folder ?

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damien.murphy

Damien
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Hi, I love 6x6, and enjoy shooting and printing 6x6 contacts, which for me, are a thing of beauty in themselves.

My rolliecord is not the most compact, or quick to shoot camera, and would love to buy a 6x6 folder with a coupled rangefinder.

I've seen the thread here on 6x6 folders with coupled rangefinders, but to be honest don't really know where to start tracking down one, or the more available affordable options to start with.

Any advice re: reputable sellers recommended, as well as any personal recommendations for models to look out for.

A coupled rf and compact body are my primary desires, as well as it being available and affordable. I'm in Europe, and by affordable in this case, I mean less than €200/ $270, but would prefer to buy in Europe to avoid additional shipping/ customs.

Thanks in advance 🙂
 
I have an excellent Zeiss Super Ikonta 532/16 which I bought from Ebay seller Cupog for about that price three years ago. It has an uncoated lens, so to get good contrast you need to use a hood with it. Mechanically, the Zeiss Ikons are extremely well made cameras.
 
Mamiya 6 Automatic 2 : coupled rangefinder, shutter cocking coupled with automatic film advance, focusing by moving the film plane (like the Contax AX), and nice Mamiya Sekor lens. Looks similar to a Zeiss Super Ikonta III. 😎
 
rpsawin said:
Super Balda Baldax
Click to expand...

I'd stay off that right now - the Super Baldax might currently be the most overpriced folder on the market. It "has gone viral" in the UK and lately sold for prices you could even get a (vastly superior) Bessa II for. Realistically priced by quality and use value it should be quite significantly cheaper than the Certo 6 or Super Ikontas - in its time it was the cheapest German coupled rangefinder folder, at less than a half the price of the above.
 
Guys, thanks for the feedback & keep it coming.

Unfortunately, there are not too many camera or thrift shops here selling old cameras, and suspect it will be online I will be buying. eBay strikes me as a bit risky, given the age of and condition of folders, as many sellers less than stellar reputations.

Heard of 'cupog' and have been checking out his wares & wonder if there are any other sellers you would recommend that recondition folders & sell you a working camera ?

The Mamiya Six & Certo Six both look nice, as well as the Super Ikonta models with coupled rf's.
 
I am based in Spain and regularly service old folders for friends. My favorite CRF folders are the Super Isolette and the Ensign 2-20 Autorange.
 
Well, unless you are willing to spend a lot of time hunting, I would say your best bet would be a Super Ikonta. I have seen several seemingly nice ones sell for less than $200 on eBay. Unless you are very lucky anything you find is likely going to have to be gone through by a competent camera technician (unfortunately there are a lot of not-competent ones out there), here in the USA that will add about $100 to the price.

The high quality, photographically, post WWII 6x6 coupled combined RF/Viewfinder folders seem to be the Zeiss Super Ikonta, the Certo Six, the Super Isolette/Speedex, the Mamiya Six, and the Iskra. Unfortunately the Iskra is hard to find in really good condition. Of the others the Super Ikonta is the only one that regularly sells for less than $400-500 now. The Super Baldax is a step below all those, plus it is mostly found with a cheaper shutter and lens than those are, when it has the good lens and shutter it is no cheaper than any of them and often more expensive.

Unfortunately, for you, and for me, the price of everything but the Super Ikonta have about doubled over what they were just before the holidays, the Super Ikonta seems to have gone down in price.
 
A Super Ikonta III with a Novar lens is probably the best value, and stopped down a little doesn't give much away to its Tessar equipped brother.

However, my favourites are the Iskra and Certo Six. The latter is in my opinion the best built folder, but the viewfinder is not quite as good as the Iskra (or Mamiya Six or Super Fujica-6), and the focus lever does not suit everyone. The lens is very good, probably slightly better than the Iskra, and has a common 40.5mm filter thread.

Cupog sometimes has the Certo Six in your price range. Look out too for the Mamiya, as that can often be had around that price (just make sure it has the film pressure plate).

If you don't mind too much about originality, you could go for a red-window modified Iskra.
 
I have three folders and love them for their portability.

But I doubt they will be significantly faster to use then your existing Rollei TLR.

Framing is also easier and more accurate with the TLR, in my experience, as is the ability to focus on objects closer than a meter or so.

Just something to think about before you buy.
 
Nobody's mentioned the Ross Xpres lens, which was designed to beat the Tessar. The later Ensign Autorange cameras are very tough and fixable, quirky too, but lack auto wind-on etc. Has anyone used one? Also which of the suggestions has the best viewfinder/rangefinder?
 
Best view/rangefinder: Ensign Autorange, 220 or 820. Tied with the Takane Minesix. The Weltur is nice but not as big and bright as the aforementioned. Good luck finding any of them.

Any reports on the new Bessa/Fuji folder's finder?

I have a Tower (German made for Sears, not Nicca Japan)folder with an uncoupled rangefinder that has a nice Schneider lens, great finder-- seems like could be a "sleeper". Unfortunately the shutter is frozen tight, so I don't know. But could be another avenue to search.
 
sevo said:
I'd stay off that right now - the Super Baldax might currently be the most overpriced folder on the market. It "has gone viral" in the UK and lately sold for prices you could even get a (vastly superior) Bessa II for.
Click to expand...

Mark the Super Isolette off the list for now as well. I've watched (US) eBay auctions recently and seen some in the $400s range etc. But this auction completed yesterday for $1,136!! Anyone here see anything special about that particular example that should warrant that, or is someone just flinging crazy money about? I also thought it was hilarious that yesterday or perhaps Saturday, when this auction was at $690, someone promptly posted a fresh listing for another one at $690 (BIN price) at that time. Should I now view that one as being a steal at not too much more than half-price?!?!? 😀

I'm glad I got into a Bessa RF in the $150 range a couple of years ago even though I thought it might've been a bit high at the time.

--Dave
 
The sellers for the last three Agfa 66 I have seen in Europe asked around 1500 Euro for one, with ERC and in needs for a CLA. One even had the original user manual (no box, though, I have yet to see one). The same goes for the Super Isolettes, which I follow closely and can be found for under 200 Euro (not mint and also needing a CLA, of course, but again I want a camera to use, not to look at ;-)

Also, although I mentioned Ensign and others have also praised the Xpress lens, the Epsilon shutter they usually have is not as reliable as its German counterparts.
 
From the founding of the US mint to the 1930's the US dollar was locked at just under 20 to the ounce of gold, in the thirties they changed it to 36 to the ounce, and made the owning of gold illegal. In the 1970's they went off the gold standard, and stupidly spent our gold reserves trying to keep the dollar under 100 to the ounce. Now based upon nothing, except a no longer existent industrial base, the dollar is a very soft currency. The current price of gold, in the vicinity of $1500, reflects the value of the dollar, not of gold.

Nope, not trying to sell anything, just trying to give an idea why the prices of things are so high. The reason is clear, our money is worthless. Well, it is not run away inflation, but the dollar is only worth 1/75 of what it was in 1935, and 1/40 of what it was in 1970. Much of the reason it does not seem that bad domestically, is because they have reduced taxes drastically, there being almost no import duties in the US which makes it look like only 1/20 instead of 1/40. But, when we try to buy from out of the country, we find what the buck is really worth. The buck is not worth passing anymore.
 
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