This is the Kowa Six, this particular camera was my very first professional medium format camera that I bought and was in its part the catalyst to my continually growing collection of cameras.
The Kowa company wanted to break into the professional medium format stage and introduced the Kowa Six. Made between 1968 – 1974 it was a much cheaper option than going for a Hasselblad and as may Hasselblad owners hate this term but it was once coined as “the poor man’s Hasselblad”.
The camera is rather simple with very few built in options and unlike the Hasselblad it held the film internally with was a major draw back as you were stuck with what you put into it.
Its saving grace was that it was modular, the lenses, viewing screens, and viewfinders were all interchangeable and also had various hand grips and accessories.
The lenses for the Kowa Six all have internal leaf shutters so it was limited to a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second. That said, by using a leaf shutter the use of flash could be used at all shutter speeds unlike curtain shutters.
My personal handling of this camera is one that although has some design and feature flaws it’s a great camera and I can see why so many people turned to it rather than the much higher price of a Hasselblad. It’s build like a tank with its all metal solid body and leaf shutters however the winding knob lever did not share the build quality of the camera as reports have shown that the lever would shear off if the film jammed.
Up until my Mamiya RB67 I used the Kowa for a vast majority of my medium format shooting and with the multiple rolls of film I’ve put through it I’ve only had one issue with it jamming and that was to my error. My only major issue with the Kowa Six is its film loading, the camera back hinges up from behind the view finder and wraps underneath the camera just behind the screw mount for a tripod. As I mainly shoot tripod mounted whenever I needed to change rolls I had to remove it from the tripod, remove the base plate and then I’d be able to open the back of the camera to change rolls.
All that said If your just getting into medium format film shooting this camera is great to start off with however you can also look for the other two cameras the Kowa Six MM or Kowa Super 66. The Six MM allows multiple exposure and mirror lock up where as the Super 66 has everything the Six MM has and interchangeable film backs. A word of warning though with this system I’ve had an extremely hard time in finding accessories and lenses.
The Specs:
Produced: 1968 – 1974
Type of camera: SLR
Film/picture format: 120 or 220 film, 6x6cm frames
Lens Mount: Positive Kowa Bayonet
Lens(es): Interchangeable
Shutter: Internal leaf shutter in lens
Exposure metering: Only available in exposure metering viewfinders
Viewfinder: Interchangeable with 6 different waist level and pentaprism finders
Focusing screen: can be interchangeable with four different screens
Reflex mirror: mirror returned when film advance knob is rotated to next frame
Depth-of-field preview: yes with lever on lens
Frame counter: Additive
Film advance: Manual film knob
Power source: none
Camera Back: fixed hinge