Starting With Zeiss Ikon 6x9 Folding Film Camera

This is a Zeiss Ikon Nettar 6x9 medium format camera. I'm going to take you through all the different functions in this camera so you can start shooting wonderful, super large-size negatives in medium format.

To open up this camera, push the button at the top and make sure your hand is across the front so that the bellows don't just pop open. These cameras can be up to 70 or 80 years old, therefore make sure that you are treating it gently. That way you'll get to use it for a long time as well.

Almost all the controls can be found at the front of the camera. The shutter speed control, as well as the aperture priority control as well. You will also have to manually calculate the distance between you and your subject before taking a shot.

To set the distance between you and the subject, you have to rotate the dial at the front of the camera until you find the desired distance between you and your subject. This is measured in feet, so make sure that if you're shooting somebody, a person or your pet, for example, carefully measure the distance between you and them, otherwise it will be defocused and it's not going to be helpful for you. If you're shooting landscapes, stick it straight onto infinity mode and you will be good to go.

There is a separate dial for setting the shutter speed. It ranges between 1/125th a second, all the way through 1/200th a second, which covers most grounds if you're shooting on film.

To change the aperture, you have this little triangular thing here that you have to pull across. This goes from f/6.3 all the way to f/32. So if you really want to close the aperture down in, you know, very bright, sunny conditions, then you can do so.

To get the camera ready for the next shot, once you have all the dials set in, pull on the silver latch found on the lens until depressed. You have two options to release the shutter. One, which is the wonderful leaf mechanism found underneath the lens. This allows you to shoot handheld in low light conditions without. Alternatively you can press the button found at the top on the left hand side.

I recommend whether shooting in low light conditions indoors or outdoors, that you use a cable release. First, mount the camera on a tripod put in the shutter release cable and then shoot at your heart's content.

The way you close the camera is by holding the two sides down to press them gently and then pull slightly on those silver levers there and then gently put the camera back together until it shuts.

At the top of the camera, you have a cold shoe, so you can't really use flash unless, of course, unless using a specific remote trigger. Also at the top, you have got the dial to advance the film.

At the back of the camera, you've got the red window gate, which you can open up to let you know what frame you are on.

To open up the full-on back, all you have to do is just pull on this bit here very gently and then it will slightly open and can just pull that apart like so. And there you have it. Make sure that you've got a spare spool for you to kind of load your film onto and your actual film will go in here, on the right hand side of the camera.

To load the film, you will have to pull down on the silver tab found at the base of the camera. Once firmly in place, drag your film across and make sure that it sits into the splice and the spool on the other side. Then all you have to do is rotate clockwise at the top here.

It can be a little tricky to make the film tongue catch so you may need to advance the film by hand until you see the film wrap around the spool completely before closing the back and rotating to the first frame.

I always like to line up the arrows with the viewfinder in the middle before closing the back. Once the back is closed advance the film slowly until you get to frame number one. You can check this on the red window at the back. You're going to go through some sundials until you get to the first one. Just be careful when you are winding on this film because it is very easy to skip frame number one.

Once you're framed up, some people like to close the shutter gate at the back of the window gate. This isn’t necessary on Medium Format film, however, if you have loaded 35mm film on this camera you absolutely must cover the red window. Otherwise you have a red haze appear on your final negatives!

Once you have shot your final 8th frame carefully rotate your dial until you hear the film come off. Just be extra careful, do some extra spins at the top, and then you're good to release it. Once confident it has offloaded, open the back and release the film carefully by pulling down on the silver tab in the bottom left hand corner.

The Zeiss Ikon Nettar 6x9 medium format camera is a wonderfully designed camera. If you want the largest negative size that you can get on medium format, 6x9 is the way to go. It is an incredibly cost-effective way of doing super large medium format photography. You will get this camera for about £20 to £30 online.

Traditionally, they have been well kept, so make sure that you get one with bellows, which are really clean and you've got a clear lens, and you'll be good to go for a long time. Crucially, this camera is the most budget-friendly in comparison to the most popular one, which is the Fuji GSW range, which will cost you upwards of seven, £800, or £900 . If you want to get started on medium format and you want to get super large negatives, then this could be a really cost-effective way to do so.

If you are a hobbyist photographer, this camera is a perfect introduction to large negatives. My suggestion would be to shoot landscapes and urbanscapes with it. Put it on infinity mode, and you're good to go. Although you can shoot portraits with it, you're going to have to be very, very careful. Make sure that you measure the distances between you and your subject carefully. By default, 6x9 cameras have traditionally been used for fashion photography and portrait work. Why not use it for that too?

The only condition might be how well the lens has been kept, how well the bellows have been kept, and how good the quality images will be. My suggestion would be to start off by using film stocks such as black and white ones. Ilford to do some fantastic black and white film in particular, although you might want to try other colour negative films too. Slide film might be a little bit more tricky to shoot on this, but with practice, it is certainly possible too.

I hope you found this blog/video helpful in getting started with the Zeiss Ikon Nettar 6x9 camera. It's a wonderful piece of kit, which very few people know about. You can certainly start shooting much larger medium format negatives in a very short period of time! Good luck!

Zeiss Ikon Nettar Simplified

No, these images were not taken on a Hasselblad or Rolleiflex but on the very humble 6x6 Ikon Zeiss Nettar Medium Format Camera.

Originally released in 1934, it went through several different iterations with the final Nettar II 518/16 being released in 1949 and ending production in 1957.

In this video we will look at the camera, its functions, how you can load film, take pictures with it and along the way I will show you what you can expect from taking images for the very first, how to avoid making the mistakes that I made and start taking beautiful images which will rival any 6x6 Medium Format camera.

Over the next few years expect to see a lot more digital Medium Format Cameras appearing on the market. Fuji has already made a flying start with its GFX range and you might be wondering what’s the point of shooting Medium Format? What is it and what can I use it for?

Historically speaking Medium Format Film Photography has been used by professionals who are creating work for clients that needed extra detail. Peter Lindberg put it best when he said the 35mm is for conversational photography and Medium Format is more for presentation style work.

This is a 6x6 Medium Format Camera and you will be able to capture 12 shots on this wonderfully simple camera. If you have an Instagram, you’ll be familiar with the square format which was originally started with 6x6 Medium Format cameras!

At first glance there is very little to the camera. It is a very light and highly portable camera. Its bellows open to reveal a fixed 75mm lens, aperture range from f5.6 through to f22. Its shutter speeds are 25, 75, 200/sec. You can put the shutter in between these fixed positions.

As there is no on board light meter, you will need to use the sunny 16 rule if you don't have one and if you do - use it!

How to operate the Ikon Zeiss Nettar

Let’s go through controls of the camera, the shutter release, cold shoe, bellows release and the film wind. If you are not sure about something, just hit pause or come back to it so you can master this at home yourself.

By pressing the bellows release the camera reveals itself. You will have to manually adjust all the settings including the distance between you and your subject, shutter speed and aperture. I would strongly recommend using a light meter which will calculate the correct settings when using this camera.

Be careful when you first open this camera, the bellows can pop out very quickly. Place your hand gently at the front of the camera and then press the bellows release. Let the bellows unfold out slowly.

The camera is in your hands, perhaps over 70 years old, treat it gently and perhaps someone else can benefit from using it 70 years from today!

There are main parts you need to focus your attention on when you open the Zeiss Ikon Nettar. The first dial you must adjust is the distance between you and your subject. It ranges from 4ft through to infinity.

4ft is about 1.2m so as a rule of thumb you can measure one large stride between you and your subject and you should be good to go. Maybe even work out what 1.2m looks like in your own stride or step. This is especially important when shooting a subject and when you are time pressed.

You don’t want to be carrying around a tape measure with you, alternatively if you have a tape measure app on your phone you could use that too!

If you are shooting landscapes, then stick it to infinity and you are good to go, simply easy.

The shutter speed goes from bulb mode through to 200/sec. Again, you will need to adjust this yourself and set it using the orange marker on the shutter speed dial.

Your aperture dials from f4.5 through to f22. Stick to one of the marked aperture points on the dial when you are starting off. Once you have a good command of these and you are happy with the results, then play a little more and see what you can create.

Once you have dialed in your distance, shutter speed and aperture you are ready to shoot. You will need to pull the shutter lever back to prime the camera. There are two ways in which you can release the shutter.

The first is with the 'leaf shutter release' at the base of the camera. Alternatively, you can use the shutter release on the right-hand side of the top of the camera. If you are shooting handheld, I would strongly advise using the leaf shutter where you can.

If shooting something where you need to have the shot come out for sure, such as a portrait of a friend or a client, then use a cable release like this one. They are very inexpensive and you can find many online for a few pounds or dollars.

The shutter release button at the top of the camera is where you can screw in the cable release. Once in you can control the length and duration of your shutter release by depressing the shutter here. This allows you to take multiple exposures as well as long exposures. Be sure to check getting your timings correct before you attempt this though!

How do you load the film on the Zeiss Ikon Nettar?

How do you load the film? Easy, close your camera bellows and turn it over. Pull down on the silver latch on the left side of the camera. The camera takes 120 medium format rolls which will give you a large 6x6 negative.

To put the roll into the camera, pull down on the springy silver bit located on the bottom right-hand side of the camera. That will allow you to slot in your roll, then gently release the springy bit back and the roll should be firmly put in place.

Pull the film across on to the empty spool on the left-hand side of the camera, wind and close the back lid firmly.

Now, roll the film by using the scroller dial on the top left-hand side of the camera until the first frame can be seen on the camera gate located in the middle of the back of the camera. In total you can capture 12 shots on each roll of medium format film.

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Did you know you can also use 35mm film in your Zeiss Ikon Nettar? You will need some 35mm adapters such as these ones. This is easily found online or at a good vintage camera store.

Here’s how to get this setup. You will need any roll of 35mm, attach the adapters like so. With the adapters fitted you will need a spare film spool and some tape.

Take the film tongue and attach your tape like so. Now word of caution here if you are doing this in the open you will lose the first few frames on the film as it will be exposed when you pull it to stick it in.

You can get around this by investing in a dark bag. Once you have the film on your adapters and the tongue taped you can pop this into the dark bag and then mount the film blind into the camera. It looks hard but honestly it's really easy.

On a side note the dark bag has come in very handy. On occasions when film might get stuck in your camera, this can happen on any film camera, you can whip this out and salvage your film anywhere, anytime! I have saved several rolls in my time using this.

It is however, especially important for this camera because once you have finished the roll there is no way of rolling this back. So you will have to pop it into the dark bag and then manually wind the film up. You can do this by twisting this top bit clockwise.

Now I don’t have the tech to show you how to mount this in the dark bag but I can show you how to mount it in the daylight. Simply pop the film into the holder like so and then drag your film across and place the spool inside.

Before you close the back of the camera I would advise you to put some tape or piece of cardboard, you can take some from the box of film and tape it right over this red window. The reason is because this normally would allow you to see which frame number you would be on medium format film.

You can see that here on this medium format film strip. This paper protects the film from being exposed from the red window which is not present on 35mm film so you have to make one! If you don't you’ll end up getting a panoramic shot like this.

You might be thinking, but Ahsan, you have a window latch at the back of the camera! Yes, you do and you could tape that up or even just keep the camera inside a case if you have one. That way you know it should be fine.

There are lots of film stocks to choose from on 35mm and Medium Format. These include color negative films such as Kodak Portra, through to dedicated BW film stocks produced exclusively by Ilford and if you are feeling truly adventurous then stick in some slide film such as Ektachrome, Velvia or Provia.