Kinax Junior 1953

It is strange that France, which played such an important role in the development of photography, should have produced so few notable makes of cameras - but on reflection, I suppose one could say exactly the same of the British!

Almost all French made medium format folding cameras were 6x9, there were a few 6x4.5, but I can think of no 6x6 French folders, although I'm sure there must have been some! This is a 6x9, a Kinax Junior, made by Société Industrielle de Photographie et d'Optique, Paris & Montreuil sous Bois, I think, in 1953.

Well made and well finished, this version shared the same body as the more highly specified models, but has only a modest f6.3/100mm triplet lens in a simple 4 speed shutter, 1/10th to 1/150th + B. It uses 620 film, which is why I have only ever taken a few rolls of film with it, and the lens has a strange 29mm diameter mount for push on filters and hood, so I had to machine up a little adapter ring to allow the more normal 32mm fittings to be used.

The camera is like new, seems to have been hardly ever used, and now I have sorted converting 120 to 620 without re-spooling, I will put another roll through it, but the f6,3 is a bit limiting, as is the top speed of 1/150th, so I'm not optimistic - really, just a Shelf Queen!

Mamiya RB67, 645 back, f3.5/65mm Mamiya Sekor lens. Foma 100 in divided D23, 7+5 mins stand @21C, scanned @1200dpi on Epson V500.