@Steve_Wardley_G6JEF
"Let's not sugar coat things" "If I screw up, I screw up" This is why I watch this channel, it's honest and very informative, plus I love the humour. Keep it going Roger, love it.
@nickwhiteside7649
When I was a child in the 50's my father bought me an Agfa Clack. Basically a cheap box camera which took 6x9 negatives in common with many other box type cameras. The advantage being you got back a reasonable size contact print print from your local chemists, without the additional enlargement costs.
@donaldlush2822
As mentioned by Remca below 6x9 was popular because it produced a reasonable size contact print. If you have some snapshots from the 50s in your family collection many of them will be 6x9 prints. Made everything simple and cheap - a corner shop chemist could process and print pictures for you quickly and relatively cheaply.
@ifitworksproductions
Both my 6x9 cameras were considered "prefessional" cameras at the time they were released, but I have older point & shoot style consumer cameras with bigger negatives that take older out of production film, so it's tough to say for sure. I know for the longest time, contact print photo postcards were very popular, so those larger medium formats probably had a lot to do with that.
@CarmineTavernaPhotography
Roger, at 15:51 that photograph became my newest SFLAB photograph, Bravo.☺
@klausmoritzpeitzsch690
6:40 I always thought it was popular because compared to plates or sheet film in 9x12 the 6x9 on a rollfilm was quite an advance without giving up to much negative size. And we need to remember that back in the day contact prints where quite common instead of actual enlargements. But these are just my thoughts and guesses.
@fernandogomes3386
Brilliant perspective and context @ 3:44!
@SilntObsvr
I've got several 6x9 cameras -- a Moskva 5 (coupled rangefinder), Wirgin Auta, Brownie Bullseye and Agfa Shur-Shot Jr. and a 1927 Voigtlander Rollfilmkamera. I've also got a 6x9 roll film back for my RB67 and Century Graphic, and another for my 4x5 cameras. I first shot that format in a cardboard box camera around 1968. Two words about "why 6x9": contact prints. Most consumer film processing before 1950 (and a significant fraction after, in the case of medium format) was delivered to the customer as contact prints, and 6x9 gave a big enough contact print to see well. 127 gave much smaller prints, and if you had a half-frame 127 (like a Vollenda or Baby Ikonta) you pretty much had to pay extra for enlargements. By 1960, with 4x4 127 getting popular, 828 and 35 mm making inroads with consumers, enlargements became the norm, so there was less and less reason for Joe and Judy Average to keep using the bulky old 6x9 cameras... Not hard to get through a roll with only 8 frames on 6x9, though, and you can make immense prints and not see grain, or crop down to the equivalent of a 35 mm frame, just pull a detail out of the scene... I hate the simple-minded double exposure locks on a lot of those 1950s cameras -- honestly, I'd rather have none (probably half my cameras don't have it anyway). There is, however, a way to override the interlock on folders like that Agfa Record: If you find you've gotten locked out (or want to make an intentional double exposure), just cock the shutter (again) and release from the little tab on the shutter itself (or, if there's a socket, put a cable release into the shutter -- not the release on the top plate). Meanwhile, as you say, just a matter of getting used to the camera, remembering to manually cock the shutter before trying to make an exposure. BTW, general rule on round shutters like that one: don't change shutter speed into the highest speed after cocking; you'll be working against a "booster spring" and could damage something (like bending the camera's front standard or twisting the shutter in its mount) due to the effort required.
@catmonkey6826
I've just won one on eBay and came to YouTube to see who has anything on them. So chuffed you're using one mate, always really informative and inspiring, can't wait for it to arrive!
@captaindebug
Someone's probably mentioned this, but looking through my parent's old photos, it seems that in those days it was common to get back a set of individual contact prints when you got your film developed; hence, 6x9 and 6x6 and even 6x45 were great sizes for this.
@sbcinema
The 6x9 photos were so popular at the time because many were making a direct / contact print, placing the negative directly onto the photo paper.
@Macjohn1419
I have basically the same camera. However, mine is the Ansco Viking folding 6x9. Looks identical to the Agfa Record. I replaced the bellows on mine. Takes great nostalgic looking photos. Same Agnar lens.
@jw48335
Great stuff! Fujica Super Six is my favorite "50s Folder". So much fun and so small for such a big negative.
@jaydigshistory36
My Agfa Record II was my first Medium Format and I love it!
@allanternent8862
Nice Roger Nice to watch ur channel, and trying different cameras plus love black and white photos
@davel831
Great tutorial, thank you for sharing. New subscriber now! Quick question where did you obtain the new seals from?
@gregoryheath2519
I started with Medium Format like 20 years ago and was blown away with the negatives. Then I started shooting 35mm, and it is fun, but I am returning to my roots shooting 6x6, 6x9. Love that giant negative. It's amazing to be able to shoot the Record at F32... Especially the beach scenes on a tripod. In focus the entire beach... fun. very satisfying to come home and make a giant print of it.
@jbliborio
The first camera I shoot with in my entire life was an Japanese brand called Welmy that belonged to my father that look very alike this you showed... Miss these negatives. Need to send to a revision to see if it still usable... thanks for the memories!
@jimgraves4197
I was given an Agfa Isolette 1 by a dear friend that gave me a start with medium format 6x6. Cracking little folding camera and 70 years on it still works
@ShootFilmLikeaBoss