Kowa/SIX

compared

first published 2017 Dec 2

The square-frame Kowa/SIX medium format film camera was produced from 1968 to 1974, a budget-friendly competitor to the prestigous Hasselblad V system. The first of three Kowa 6x6cm cameras, a photographer familiar with the Hasselblad will spot many similarities with the Kowa. Being as I am familiar with both systems, allow me to compare the two.

The Kowa/SIX system, in all its glory

Dramatic conclusion

Why make you, my reader, wait until the end of the text for me to get to my point? The Kowa/SIX is a fine camera that gives photographers a solid tool to create amazing work, but its quirks make it outclassed by its competitors.

Now, how did I reach this conclusion?

Film

The Kowa/SIX takes 120 or 220 roll film natively. Neat! You switch the camera between the two formats by turning a knob on the side and twisting the pressure plate. It works well and I take advantage of this all the time.

The film path is "L" shaped, which the literature claims prevents film curvature. Was film curvature an issue with previous cameras? Never that I've seen, but perhaps I'm spoiled. In either case, it sounds unpleasant and I'm glad this camera prevents against it. If it's a thing. Which it may be. Sure.

And then things get obnoxious.

Film is loaded directly into the camera – this is not a system with removable backs. The camera must be flipped upside-down with the film door propped wide. In this compromised position, you then thread the film from the bottom of the camera up through the top. The latch to open the film door abuts the tripod socket. It's so close that if you have a tripod plate attached, it must be removed to reload the film. I hate this, it wastes so much time.

The film advance knob is flimsy and feels like it is a hair's breadth away from being torn asunder. It's not just my copy, I've read similar from others online. Don't mistake this for the fancy type of knob that's supposed to come off – it's unimpressive compared to the Hasselblad V system it's mimicking. The knob does feature a built-in flip-out crank. I dare you to use it. Double dare you. Just rip that bad boy right off the camera.

Does any of this prevent you from using the camera? Of course not. But it's annoying!

Lenses

The normal lens for the Kowa/SIX is an 85mm f/2.8. The two most common accompaniments are the wide angle 55mm f/3.5 and the long angle 150mm f/3.5, both of which I have. Rumors claim that other lenses exist for this system, but rumors also claim the Loch Ness Monster exists, and I have never seen evidence of either.

Kowa lenses have the shutters and flash-syncs built right in to the lens barrel, just like the Hasselblad V system. They use rings to focus, and to set shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/500th of a second, again just like the V system. They also use a ring to lock onto the camera, but more about that in a moment.

At one end of the shutter speed ring on the Kowa lenses is "T". It stands for "Terrible". "T" works by starting the exposure with a push of the shutter button, and ending the exposure with a twist of the shutter speed ring. This ensures that your "time" exposures feature plenty of healthy camera shake.

The 85mm normal is a great lens. It is everything you hope for in a lens, and is what I recommend using on the Kowa/SIX as much as possible. It is nice and compact, features simple controls, makes super-sharp images, is fast, focuses easily, et cetera et cetera blah blah blah.

The other two lenses, not as much.

The long and wide lenses at first appear similar to the normal. But they lack image contrast, go blurry in the corners, and are prone to flaring. And I'm not talking small, cute flares that give you that hipster golden hour portrait look. No, we're talking big, ugly, mean, gross flares that'll smear crap across your frame, and you won't even see it until the next day when you're developing your film.

At least 15 pieces of flare

Ok, fine, so you work through the camera's troubling spots. You load the film around the L, attach your tripod, carefully advance to the first frame, don't point your camera anywhere near the sun. What next?

Let's focus! There's a quick-focus ring. It's flipping amazing. I'm serious! For some reason the Kowa/SIX has one of the best quick-focus rings I've ever used. If we were rating cameras purely on the quality of their quick-focus ring, Kowa/SIX would be king. The ring is big, sturdy, moves the right amount, is easy to take on and off, and works on all the lenses.

Oh, wait, you want to change lenses? I hope you're ready to earn that degree in Kowalogy because you're in for a wild ride through at least three more confused metaphors.

The changing of the lens

Here's how to change a lens on the Kowa/SIX. First, cock the shutter. Next, you'll probably want to lock the shutter. This isn't required, but considering that I don't want to fire off an accidental frame mid lens-change, it's what I do. To lock the shutter, turn the small, stiff, hard-to-reach knob encircling the shutter button. I hope you don't press the shutter while locking it. Although, I supposed there'd be humor in the irony.

Ok, now, shutter cocked and locked, you push the weird lever on the left side of the camera, the one that wiggles like it's loose. Do it. You know you want to. Something gives when you push it, a little mechanical action. Oh yeah, that's right. You think you need to hold it down or push it again? Well, maybe you do, maybe you don't. It feels like it un-pushes itself. Maybe it does. Nobody knows why. Keep changing the lens, baby.

Third, holding the camera in one hand, use your other hand to twist off the giant locking ring between the lens and the camera body. Very little turning is necessary, maybe 1/8th of a full loop. Use your third hand to hold the lens because oh hell there it goes tumbling forward off your camera glass first onto the ground.

Ok. Lens off. Get your next lens ready to mount. Slide that baby into the mounting hole, red dot straight up. Give that locking ring a twist in the other direction. Marvel that this process successfully and consistently gets the lens the correct distance away from the film plane. Push the lever on the left back up, which probably isn't necessary but I do it anyway, and watch as it limply falls back down. Pause to ask yourself if you've missed a step (you haven't) and now you're ready to try to take your photo, only to remember that the shutter is locked.

That sounds easy

No. Yes. Sometimes. You'll get used to it. It's fine. Just don't... I dunno. Just leave the 85mm lens on. It's better that way. It's fine. The camera's fine.

Making the pictures

The Kowa/SIX comes with a crotch-level viewfinder that folds down flat when not in use, and has a pop-up magnifying lens for detail focus work, just like every other camera this shape. The viewfinder is interchangeable, but why? They don't seem to make any others. And it works well enough. When you're finished, it folds down quick and easy.

A peak out the viewfinder.

Setting the aperture and shutter speed, focusing, and composing can all be done looking top-down at the camera. The shutter button is in a convenient place. This bulky camera is made handhold-able.

Sort of.

You'll need to brace yourself. You see, the camera's got the shakes, in a bad way. The thing is, this mirror slaps. When not held firmly, pushing the shutter makes that fatty thirty-six square centimeter slab of finely polished glass and metal lunge to the side of the box, delivering an alarmingly loud thunk. This makes the camera itself jar with reverberation, shuddering in your hand, ruining your photo with massive blurriness.

I shudder to imagine

Online, people also say that the shudder will actually turn the focus wheel, and cause mis-focused photos. I haven't seen that, but if your focus mechanism was loose enough, I don't doubt it could happen.

In any case, this is the easily the biggest frustration with the Kowa/SIX, the one that's ruined the most shots. It's aggravating especially, because you won't know that it's happened until developing your film. The only way to counter it is to make sure to grip the camera tightly, or to secure it firmly on a tripod.

The Upshot

Despite all its quirks and annoyances, can this camera make the photos I want to make?

Every camera has caveats and peculiarities – the things you merely tolerate while relishing the camera's unique capabilities. Where does the Kowa/SIX sit in this spectrum? I've complained plenty, but none of those things have been deal-killers. This is a creative tool, maybe a weird, mostly forgotten one, but it is not a joke or toy. If a Kowa/SIX is what you've got, then you've got a powerful 6x6cm medium format camera, no doubt about it. But I'd probably not recommend this camera to someone who has other options available.

At the end of the day, I've come home with some Kowa/SIX photos I'm very proud of, and that's really all I can ask of a camera.