That was the first camera I ever bought. I got mine from a pawnshop in early 1961. I thought it was cool the way the bellows extended when the front was opened. The shutter stopped working and I took it back and traded it for another rangefinder model.
Greetings from Sweden! I had an Ensign Selfix 820 6x9 with the Xpres lens for a while. Very sturdy camera and I loved the built-in hinged mask flaps for 6x6. I think the Rosstar on your camera is a triplet. The red dot on the focus scale is the hyperfocal distance. You set it, and then the aperture to the red dot on the aperture scale, and you will have acceptable sharpness from about 10 feet to infinity. Set the shutter speed to the correct one for using f:11 and you have a snapshot camera. But these days the hyperfocal feature is seldom used, since we like to take our time to set the correct distance and other settings for each shot.
It would actually accept 120 or 620 film. The difference was in the size of the centre hole in the film spool, hence the 2-stage 'cog' inside the film chamber. 620 film was discontinued back in the 1960s.
I have a very similar camera, a Robra made in Germany by one of the Rodenstock's. It has a Rodenstock lens. You are quite right that the format is that of the professional 645's, but with the folding bellows fits in your pocket! When my Pentax 645z is a behemoth but uses a sensor barely the size of a true 645, one wonders how far we've come? The distinction held by the Robra is that a fledgling Japanese company, Zuiko, copied the camera down to the last screw to produce their first Olympus camera! I own two Olympus 4:3rds digital cameras, and to have the Robra puts the technology into perspective. Perhaps in a photo walk I will take some photos with the Robra-Rodenstock along with the Olympus OM-E series 20mgpxl and compare.
I have one which is the model 1 from 1950. It is almost identical except it has no accessory shoe and the grip material is a finer grain texture. On mine it is the Ensar 75mm f4.5 lens. I have shot one roll of Fomapan 200 through it and the results look good, but I have put it aside until I obtain a proper 120 scanner. The only servicing I've had to do is glue the red film counter window back in place (a common fault, I believe). I think yours may be a model IV, but I'm no expert. Keith
Thanks Keith. If I put a film through I will send it away for developing and scan it at home. Despite having a suitable tank I've never managed to develop a roll film.
I think you right about mine being a mark IV Keith, I have clearly got things wrong. I was under the impression that the version with the folding viewfinder was a later version but that doesn't appear to be the case. Does yours have the finger pricking spike that reminds you to cock the shutter?
