4 Frames - Kalimar Six Sixty
June 21, 2024
- Where: A place somewhere in Bavaria.
- Camera: Kalimar Six/Sixty
- Lens: Kaligar 52mm f/3.5
- Film: CatLabs X-Film 320
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
The Kalimar Six/Sixty, the successor of the Soligor 66 and the Fujita 66 is an odd little fella. It looks like a TLR, but it is a SLR. I found it on the electronic bay and curiosity got the best of me. The Kaligar 52mm f/3.5 lens has a scratch on the rear lens element, but no issue is visible on the ground glass. Focusing looks like it does not go up to infinity, but according to my collimation efforts, this is an issue with the ground glass not sitting at the correct distance or the mirror sitting at the wrong angle. The images in this post are the result of two test rolls that I shot walking around the neighborhood. First impressions are disappointing if you expect the kind of quality that you get from a Rolleiflex TLR or a Hasselblad. The images are soft all around, getting worse towards the edges, and the lens vignettes heavily. Nonetheless, the softness has some charm to it and a different lens paired with the Kalimar might perform better.
