I have owned and shot with many vintage folding cameras to varying degrees of success! Some have been really good, whereas some have been a challenge.

My 1958 Kodak 66 model III was bought from a table top sale several years ago, and I had no intension of even using it. Once I had done an inspection, I found it to be in exceptional condition, and with a perfectly working shutter. Although initially it looks like a bit of a toy with it’s grey plastic top, it is actually a really good camera. It is light, well made, and very simple - unlike some others. The shutter speeds are adequate for most scenarios and go from 1/10th-1/200th plus B and a maximum aperture of f4.5.

I have shot fourteen rolls of 120 film through it, and am consistently surprised by the image quality. Having just received the negatives back from the latest roll of Ilford HP5, I thought I would share some…

This location is amazing with a bit of fog, and I’ve shot this scene many times. It only works in winter as the foliage on the ground is too high in summer time. The image is not as good as the one shot on my Kiev 88CM, but you would expect that - the Kiev is a proper camera! For a cheap 65 year old camera though, the Kodak is really impressive.

The shot above was very nearly what I envisioned! The scale focusing guesswork almost got what I wanted. The focus point is maybe 20cm too close, but still, I like it. Shot at f4.5 there is a nice blurred out background providing separation to the last of the autumn leaves - who’s days are numbered being early December.

The movement was intentional in this one - it was a very windy morning in the woods, and I wanted to capture the motion of the swaying trees. Shot at 1/10th of a second, the sky was dark enough to not get blown out, even with ISO 400 film. It goes to show how versatile a camera can be with only limited exposure options when you know what will work.

Having shot three quarters of the roll in the woods, it is annoying to have just a few frames left. A couple of days later, I had to head into the city, so a perfect opportunity to finish the roll…

It even works as a point and shoot on an overcast day when you have the constant same shutter speed/aperture - only tweaking a stop by eye when needed. This one above was just a quick grabbed shot heading up to Bristol Cameras to get some more film.

Out of the twelve frames, there were no issues and the 66 remains my go to medium format. As much as I adore my bigger Kiev’s, they are more of an intentional camera - you need to give more thought to your images. Their lenses are so good that they deserve the extra effort to slow down and let them excel.

The Kodak is (in my opinion) the best compact folding medium format camera you could want. I have used others from Balda, Zeiss, Kodak, Voigtlander and many more, and nothing else has the same full package for what I want.

Folding fantastic Kodak 66…

2025 Review…

Panorama mode on the Canon EOS Kiss IIIL