Film Friday: Building a custom 6×9 camera using an old Zeiss camera and 47mm Schneider-Kreuznach lens: Digital Photography Review

Dirk Fletcher is no stranger to building custom cameras. Over the years, he’s built countless custom medium format cameras, many of which are based on Zeiss Ikonta 520/15 camera bodies. One of his latest commissions, however, took him into new territory with a custom 6×9 camera with a 47mm lens attached, so as to offer a roughly 28mm full-frame equivalent field-of-view.

In a thorough post shared on 35mmc, Fletcher explains how this custom creation came to be after much thought, patience and elbow grease. While getting a Zeiss 6×8 body was fairly straightforward, the hard part was finding a lens that fit the requirements of the individual who commissioned this camera. Fletcher says:

‘Finding a clean and usable 47mm lens proved to be a bigger challenge than I was expecting. When I build the 6×12 conversions, the donor camera bodies are hard to find. Clean 65mm f/8 Super Angulon are quite plentiful. After almost six months a super clean 47mm f/5.6 Super Angulon surfaced and I was in business.’

With the lens in hand, Fletcher got to work on the rest of the camera, basing it off his personal 6×12 camera. ‘Both cameras are ‘scale’ or ‘zone focused’ with helical focusing mounts between the Super Angulon and the body,’ says Fletcher. ‘I’ve mounted an Arca plate perpendicular to the camera body which serves two purposes […] It keeps the camera body flat when sitting on a flat surface but equally important, it keeps pressure off of the helical when the camera is stuffed in a camera bag.’

Below are a few images captured with the custom 6×9 camera:

‘Bridge Underpass in Carmel Indiana photographed with a custom built 6×9 camera.’ Photo and caption by Dirk Fletcher.

‘The John Robert Dam in Albuquerque.’ Photo and caption by Dirk Fletcher.

There’s also a low-profile accessory show mounted to the top of the camera, which serves as the mounting point for the viewfinder, and as a ‘finishing touch,’ Fletcher added a a 49mm Linhof lens shade, adapted via a step-up ring. Being a 6×9 camera, you’ll get eight frames on a roll of 120 film.

Fletcher notes ‘Not all custom cameras come together looking this good,’ but says ‘this one is a rare looker!’ We can’t help but agree. You can read the full article of his build on 35mmc and find more of Fletcher’s work on his website or his Instagram and Flickr accounts.

About Film Fridays: We’ve launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we’ll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at 35mmc and KosmoFoto.