Those that know Meghan and I know that we have what appears to be an on going camera acquisition problem. To remedy this but continue to try out ALL of the cameras we have decided to start borrowing cameras from our fellow camera enthusiasts instead of trying to purchase or hoard them all to ourselves. Not all are winners though and some are just easier or more fun to use but you have to shoot with them first to find out! Thus, we decided if we run a roll through every camera we are interested in, not unlike going on a 5 minute date with a bunch of strangers at a singles night, we can quickly see which are worthy of being added to our collection (or put on our list of “must haves.”) Camera speed dating!
Here is most recent camera I had the pleasure of a quick date with…. the Linhof 220 120 format camera.
A few quick facts about the Linhof 220, it is a 6×7 camera with a 95mm, f3.5 Technikar lens. It takes both 220 and 120 film. First released in 1966, it is definitely one of the more unique looking 6×7 cameras out there. It looks a bit like a police radar gun. It is one of the strangest shaped cameras I’ve shot certainly!
I enjoyed my time using this camera. I like how light weight it is for a 6×7 and I know I will enjoy it even more once I find an appropriate camera strap for it, as it is a bit awkward to carry around otherwise. Its photos came out very sharp, so I was pretty thrilled with it’s quality. Its rangefinder is in fairly good condition for its age too, and using the camera is pretty straight forward. At first I found one thing tricky with the advance lever (which is a double pump) though, as every time I advanced the camera would pivot slightly on its handle. After listening to my exasperated attempts a few times Mike pointed out a better way to go about positioning my hand while advancing the film, so the problem was solved!
