哈蘇不賴的 HASSELBLAD 東瀛哈蘇——Kowa Six中畫幅膠片機評測

Hello and welcome to Analog Insights In today's episode my friend Greg and I will review the Kowa 6 a lesser known 6x6 medium format single lens reflex camera with interchangeable lenses produced by the Japanese manufacturer Kowa between 1968 and 1974 The Kowa 6 is also known as the poor man's Hasselblad because at the time it was released and hit the market for the first time it cost around half the price of the much more famous Swedish Hasselblad 500C And this is also where it tried to compete so it was also directed at professional photographers And Kowa made quite an effort of portraying the camera as offering all the benefits of a medium format camera combined with the handling of a 35mm camera So they quickly introduced to the market all sorts of additional accessories like a pistol grip and things like that that would make it as easy and quick as possible to use and also cater to the needs of sports photographers or fashion photographers so everyone who needed some faster action would be supported in working there And yet of course the competition was fierce so there were a lot of, especially professional photographers who had already invested in camera setups from Hasselblad or Oliflex and had a lot of accessories and lenses so it was really difficult for the Kowa 6 to get its footing despite the fact that they really tried to introduce a lot of lenses and new features on a regular basis And at the end the camera did not become the commercial success that it set out to be And yet it's interesting to look at it from today's perspective and what the today's assessment would be in comparison to other cameras on the market and the different price points So Greg and I took the camera out on photo walks in and around Würzburg shooting some Kodak Portra 400 some Raleigh APX100 and interestingly some Kodak Vision 3 developed in the... so some proper cine film developed in the EC-M2 process So let's dive in there and take a closer look at this very special Kowa 6 camera So what about the history, features and build quality of the Kowa 6 When it was originally introduced in 1968 the camera came with three different lenses the 55mm F3.5 the standard 85mm F2.8 and the 150mm F3.5 lens The camera was slightly updated in 1970 and then saw a new version the Kowa 6MM that featured a multi-exposure mode and mirror lock-up feature in 1972 and then shortly afterwards in 1973 there was the update to the Kowa 6 II and then in 1974 to the Kowa Super 66 which we also have featured here in the review and the last two versions still came with the multi-exposure mode but also introduced interchangeable magazines which was really interesting and which we'll touch on in a minute and did without the mirror lock-up feature again so kind of removed that feature and only the MM has it in between so if that is important to you then it's good to know but interchangeable magazines are important and the last two versions are particularly interesting In general, the Kowa 6 is a very well-built, solid kind of heavily constructed camera a very nice and straightforward design so if you look at the different sides of the camera on the front you have a shutter release button plus what Kowa calls a positive Kowa bayonet which is basically an outer ring that can be put around the lens and then locked into place in a very similar fashion to the Mamiya RZ67 bayonet for instance and many other cameras it was quite common at the time at the bottom of the camera it's just a tripod socket and the back is typically very clean the earlier versions were completely clean and only the last versions feature a little pouch, so to speak, as a film where you can put in a film reminder so that you know what you have loaded on the left side of the camera is a switch to choose between 120 and 220 film rolls and a knob that you can kind of pull out in order to release the spool when changing film and speaking of film and changing film what's also remarkable in general about the camera is how the film is put into the camera kind of in this L-shape which also resulted in kind of L-shaped magazines for these later versions that had interchangeable magazines and on the right side of the camera is a film frame counter and the advance crank or film advance crank that also cocked the shutter again and on the top is a waist-level viewfinder by default but these viewfinders and the focusing screens are interchangeable there are a total of four different focusing screens and I think seven viewfinders very interesting ones so there's a permanent waist-level viewfinder with a loop for instance or there's a 90-degree and 45-degree viewfinder and also a special one that features a built-in light meter it's a 90-degree viewfinder with a built-in light meter that runs traditionally on a PX625 battery that of course is not available anymore but you can still use it with a LR44 battery plus an adapter today and then it works perfectly fine all you have to do is choose the correct lens setting of the lens that you have attached and then you get the correct light measurement which is of course very interesting and also helps the camera compete with the Hasselblad system that of course features finders with built-in through the lens metering as well In addition to these features the Koba Super 66 also comes with the multi-exposure mode and the interchangeable magazines and this was really a game changer and something that was heavily requested from Koba at the time and was also arguably the main disadvantage in comparison to the Hasselblad cameras that of course had interchangeable magazines and you could simply switch in between from color film to black and white film or switch between slide film and color negative film and so on and that was simply not possible with the Koba 6 so once you put in a film you were bound to use it and run through the entire roll of film and only then be able to change it and that of course was a major critique at the time and Koba then introduced these later versions with the interchangeable magazines that suddenly made that possible as well and they were smart in the sense that they also introduced the 6x4.5 magazine and a Polaroid film bag as well so the system became quite versatile as a result of that From today's perspective it is interesting to note that the Koba 6 body the original one is less expensive than the typical Hasselblad film bag and so a typical Hasselblad magazine so you could also just opt if you don't mind the additional way to get two bodies two Koba 6 original bodies and have one loaded with black and white film and the other one with color film and switch between them using the same set of lenses but of course you can also go for a more expensive version of the Koba Super 66 with a couple of magazines and then you're good to go as well but of course this would be the more expensive choice and there are cheaper alternatives by now So what about the lenses and accessories All lenses come with built-in leaf shutters with speeds ranging from 1 second all the way up to 1 500th of a second plus a T-mode Interestingly no lens features a bulb mode but instead they do have a self timer which is also interesting in addition to the typical X and M flash synchronizations As always for leaf shutters the flash syncs across all the different shutter speeds which of course is very convenient and these lenses here come with Seiko SLV in-between lens between the lens shutters and also with a depth of field preview lever as well as markings for mirror and feet on the lenses itself The initially introduced lenses were quickly complemented by additional ones and you really have a fantastic set of lenses that you can tap into ranging from 19mm fish eye and 35mm super wide angle all the way up to a 250mm and even 500mm telephoto lens It's really really nice and what I found particularly interesting is that all these different lenses make do with two different filter sizes so a 67mm filter size for the majority of them and then naturally for those who just need who need to be larger a 95mm filter thread so basically very convenient in terms of the filter handling if you invest in the filters you can basically use them on most of the lenses and in addition to that as mentioned before there are extension tubes using various hand grips finders and focusing screens that we already touched on and even microscope adapters for scientific applications and personally I find it quite remarkable how quickly COVA created this entire camera system within just a couple of years probably driven by the fierce competition and by trying very hard to get a foot into that professional market and from today's perspective what is interesting is that you can basically tap into this set of accessories and lenses and configure a medium performance 6x6 camera that really fits your needs so if you want to have let's say a pistol grip and a really nice portrait lens you can go for that and then you'll have a very quick and easy-to-use camera that of course is still heavy but it produces 6x6 negatives and is really convenient in use and produces these fantastic results so if that's your thing and you're kind of into exploring different systems and maybe configuring something that really fits your specific needs then I can highly recommend taking a look at the COVA 6 camera system So what about the handling and our personal impressions The camera feels well built and sounds wonderful After taking a shot the mirror stays up and the viewfinder as a result of that remains blank so very similar to a Hasselblad and then it takes turning the knob on the side to transport the film flip the mirror back down and of course cock the shutter and this experience is really again a mechanical marvel that is surprisingly close to the Hasselblad experience and of course if you know all the stuff that is going on while you turn that crank it is really remarkable the sounds it produces and how wonderful it feels What is also important from today's perspective since these are quite old cameras is of course that they can be serviced so the cameras and the lenses can be serviced quite well and Greg recommends the Fototechnik DIMAS in Freiburg for their service because it's one of their declared favorite cameras and they service them really really well and nicely and when purchasing a camera really take a closer look at it check for the mechanics whether everything is working or not and if not take it into consideration that you might potentially have to service them and kind of add these costs but then you can feel confident that it will run for years to come afterwards since it's so well built and solid in terms of its construction The image quality produced by these lenses is fantastic there are some lenses that stand out especially the 35mm that is virtually distortion free it's so well corrected that you get really really beautiful correction images out of it The 85mm is a very interesting rounder and overall performer and if you look at portraits the 110mm and the 150mm lenses are fantastic and as a full set this camera system really lets you shoot basically everything that you can think of and as touched on before you can really choose which kind of way you want to use this camera you can do it as we did on our Friday evening photowalk kind of as relaxed as possible yeah casually metering the light with a handle meter doing your settings and slowly taking a shot but of course you can also get the pistol hand grip get the metered finder and work much quicker with the very same camera and yeah adapt the pace in which you use it to the case that you want to use it for and that I find interesting and especially that versatility in combination with the relatively low prices that the camera system still has today it is quite interesting I think especially for people wanting to transition into medium format or people just starting out and looking for the very first medium format camera I think this is a very interesting route to go especially since in recent years the camera systems have become so expensive and sometimes has become prohibitive to own them it really makes sense to look for alternatives and we believe the Kova 6 is definitely an interesting one that also scales as we described in between the different versions you can go for an early Kova 6 and have a more basic setup or go for the Super 66 and have something with interchangeable lenses and interchangeable magazines and much more features So thank you very much for watching I hope you enjoyed this episode of Analog Insights and our review of the Kova 6 a true gem in the medium format realm because of its versatility and the relatively low price points and the still accessibility and serviceability as well So if you are just starting out and are curious about medium format or if you have already some experience with 35mm cameras but want to make that jump into medium format without breaking the bank then we believe the Kova 6 is worth taking a look We hope you enjoyed this video If you did, please remember to like it and maybe share it with your friends and if you want to see more videos like this, please subscribe to our channel Jules, Greg and I really appreciate each and every subscriber coming our way So thanks for watching We hope to see you soon Bye