The Voigtländer Rollfilmkamera 6x9 is a 120 film folding camera, built between 1927 and 1930
by Voigtländer& Sohn AG, Braunschweig, Germany. The camera was available
with different lenses. In
1929 Voigtländer launched the successor, the first Bessa or Ur-Bessa, without a rangefinder. There was an elusive Perkeo 6x9 in between the 2 models. They all share the same housing, without silver trim yet. The Rollfilmkamera 6x9 has to be extended manually. The (extremely rare) Perkeo 6x9 extends via a spring that pushes the standard to the end of the bed and the Bessa is self-erecting.
The
camera shown is a Voigtländer Rollfilmkamera 6x9 from 1928
with a good Skopar. It's a small 6x9 folder and lightweight.
Size (mm): 172 x 85 x 35 Weight: 581 g Lens: Skopar 4.5/105, closest focus 1 m Shutter: Compur dial set, B T 1 - 1/259, F 4.5 - 36 Wire Finder, Film advance: via red window
Here are some photos of the camera. There is a short introduction to the use of it and how it feels at the bottom of the page.
Camera
front closed. Stand and tripod socket on the bed.
Seen
from the back. The opening button is near the top, to the left on the photo. Red window without slider.
Camera
front open. Seen from the right.
Unfolded, seen from the left. Focussing slider on the bed. Push down and move.
Camera on its stand in portrait mode. Brilliant finder and wire frame finder.
Lens and shutter. According to le lens number the camera dates from 1928.
Film
chamber.
Handling
a Voigtländer Rollfilmkamera 6x9 is easy, but it's more like
old folding plate cameras. Loading film is fine, just normal, but no cradles. Open
the
camera back, retract the film advance knob and
put the
take-up spool into
place. The film spool. is spring-held. Insert the film paper
backing
into the take-up spool and advance it using the advance knob until
it's
well engaged. Close the camera back. Advance
the film via the advance knob
until the red window shows "1".
Open
the camera bed. Pull the front standard out. Cock
the shutter, set speed and aperture. Set focus by the knob on the camera bed. Focussing moves the bed. Look through the viewfinder, frame and press the
shutter release lever. That's it. To
close the camera, set focus back to infinity, slide the front standard back into the housing, press the struts, it will fold easily. Turn the film advance knob until the next number
is
shown in the red window.
The Voigtländer Rollfilmkamera 6x9 is a nice old 6x9 camera, easy to use, with a very good lens and a good shutter. It
lacks automatic film advance and a rangefinder. It's lightweight and small. It was a gift from a collector who had sold his entire collection. This was the last camera left.
Camera
front open. Seen from the right.
