kodak Vigilant six 20?

[dlofgreen]

My wonderful wife got me a beautiful Kodak Vigilant six 20 folding rangefinder for my birthday today. I is the coolest old camera! I was wondering if anyone knows what size film I might be able to us in it. It says on the inside of the back to use 620 kodak film. I did a quick search and I guess it's a 2 1/4" X 3 1/4" size film.

 

[JasonC]

Hi, 620 film is the same size as 120, only the spool is thinner. You could roll 120 film on to 620 spool, check this site for info, http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/620.html. I think J & C carries 620 films. BTW Vigilant is a 6x9 camera. I have one. 🙂 Enjoy.

Jason.

 

[Poptart]

Yeah, I do this all the time. You need two empty 620 spools. Then you untape the 120 in a dark room and roll it onto one spool--it has to have the film untaped from the paper backing because the difference in spool doiameters would produce a kink otherwise. Then before you send it out for development, you roll it from the take-up spool back onto the 120 spool. It's easier than it sounds.

 

[dlofgreen]

This camera has one 620 spool in it now and will work fine for the take up spool. The other side of the body has a spring loaded type of bar clip that the feeder spool is snapped into. Could I just snap in a 120 roll and feed it into the 620 spool when I shoot it?

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

I doubt it. I think the 120 spool is slightly longer and wider and will bind in the camera.

Wayne

 

[JasonC]

Sometimes, you could get the 120 spool to fit by clipping off about 1mm of the flange.
If you want more 620 spools, try pick up some Kodak Brownies. They may have spools in them, and they are cheap. With a Brownie Hawkeye Camera, you could re-spool the film in the camera. No need for a dark room or a changing bag.

Jason

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

You may want to try something like this:

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-67.html

I am not sure how much room you have in your Kodak.

Wayne

 

[dlofgreen]

I am going to buy some 120 this week and see how it fits inside this camera. There is a lot of room and the film is held in by tension from little pieces of bent sheet metal. If the 120 is too longer than 620 then I think the 120 will fit the height I don't know if it will be too fat though. I'll report what happens later. Thanks for the help and JasonC that brownie idea is a keeper! I'll look into that too.

 

[Doug]

I hear that some 620 cameras will accept the fresh roll of 120, but the takeup spool has to be the smaller-diameter 620 one. Then unless you process the film yourself, you'll want to make sure the lab returns the spool!

Unfortunately my Kodak Junior 620 folder will not accept a 120 spool at either end, so I've just gone with re-rolling the film onto a 620 spool.

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

Here is a great link on re-spooling 120 film to 620 spools. Show and tell time:

http://www.inficad.com/~gstewart/respool.htm

Wayne