| Introduced: | 1901 |
| Type: | roll film |
| Typical Frame Sizes: | 6 x 4.5 cm |
| 6 x 6 cm | |
| 6 x 7 cm | |
| 6 x 8 cm | |
| 6 x 9 cm | |
| 6 x 12 cm | |
| 6 x 17 cm | |
| 6 x 24 cm | |
| Currently: | in production |
120 Film is a medium format roll film introduced in 1901 by Eastman Kodak. Each roll of film is wound around a spool which is typically made of either wood/metal, metal, or plastic. Unlike 35mm film which is pulled out of a light-tight cassette for shooting and then later wound back into it for processing, the act of shooting 120 will transfer the film from the spool that it came with to a second empty one (known as a take-up spool) after all frames have been exposed. Unlike its closest cousins 220 film (identical except twice as long) and 620 film (identical apart from having thinner spools), 120 film is still widely available today.
Originally intended for simple box cameras like Kodak’s Brownie No.2, 120 film played a vital role in making photography accessible to the masses. In a world of sheet film and glass plates, the smaller cameras now made possible by 120 and other medium format roll films became an extremely attractive alternative to the prohibitively expensive, bulky large format models of the time. Because of this, 120 film was synonymous with amateur photography for decades until 35mm film, which allowed for even smaller cameras, eventually took over.
There are three primary frame sizes associated with 120 film: 6×4.5, 6×6, and 6×9 (all in centimeters) which means that the film’s paper backing has three corresponding sets of frame numbers—each at different predetermined positions—printed on it. A typical roll of 120 film will allow for 16 frames at 6×4.5, 12 for 6×6 (the most common size), and eight for 6×9. Cameras are typically locked to a particular frame size (for example, the Mamiya 645 uses 6×4.5 and the Spartus Spartaflex uses 6×6) and will either have their red window positioned to display the appropriate series of numbers or have a mechanism that will automatically space the frames accordingly. There are, however, some cameras such as the Toyoca Six which can be adjusted for different frame sizes before the film is loaded.
Notable cameras which take 120 film include the Rolleiflex and Rolleicord series, the Hasselblad 500 C/M, and the cult favorite Holga. There are also some unusual 120 cameras like the Welta Perfekta folding TLR, the Ernemann Bob 00 which is also capable of accepting glass plates, and the eccentric lizard-skinned Hunter Gilbert.
McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 2001-2002. (Grantsburg, WI, USA: Centennial Photo Service, 2001), p 325, 579-583, 676-677.
“120 film,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120_film
“120 film,” Camera Wiki, http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/120_film
The Fototecnica Filmor (also sold in Australia as the Hanimex Eaglet) is a simple metal box camera debuted in 1950 by Italian manufacturer Fototecnica Torino. Not to be confused with Germany’s Vredeborch Filmor, Fototecnica had two Filmor models, the one you see here with a rotating waist-level viewfinder and another model with a tube-shaped eye-level finder much like that found on the Herco Imperial.
The Lumière Scoutbox is the model name used by French manufacturer Lumière et Compagnie for a number of similar box cameras designed for 120 film from the early 1930s until the early 1950s. This particular version—which was introduced in 1951—is one of the last cameras to bear this name.
This Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex IIa, which was introduced in 1953, is the second of two mechanically equivalent but cosmetically different twin lens reflex cameras that share the exact same name and model number (855/16). The earlier Ikoflex IIa from 1950 featured a body which was a natural evolution of the original Ikoflex II while the later IIa has an original design that went on to become the foundation for the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex Favorit, the final model in the storied Ikoflex family.
The Spartus Box 120 is just one in a series of no-frills box cameras introduced by Spartus in the early 1940s (not to be confused with the similarly named but clearly different Spartus 120 of the 1950s). Designed to accommodate 116, 120, 616, or 620 roll films, these models are virtually identical outside of the designated film format and faceplate design.
The Mithra 47 is a box camera built in Switzerland and named after the year it was introduced: 1947. Not much other concrete information is known about this camera except that it came in different colors (black, brown, and reportedly red and green) and there was a very similar box camera with sharper corners called the Mithra 46 that came out the year before which was also rebadged and sold as the “Starmetal Goldy” by French camera brand Goldstein. Most of the sources I’ve come across regard Mithra as its own standalone brand but there are also rumors that suggest that it was manufactured by Agfa‘s subsidiary in Switzerland.
The Ansco Century of Progress is a commemorative version of the Ansco No. 2 Box camera made by Agfa-Ansco to be sold at the 1933 “Century of Progress” World’s Fair which took place in Chicago, USA. There were several branded cameras available at the 1933 World’s Fair including one based on the Kodak No. 2 Brownie as well as the cheap and cheerful “Yen Camera” from Japan.
The Kalimar Reflex (also known as the Soligor 66, Haco 66, and Fodor 66) is an unusual looking 120 format single lens reflex camera originally manufactured by Fujita Kogaku as the Fujita 66 and then rebranded by American distribution company Kalimar (and others) for sale. The Fujita 66 and its clones are heavily based on an upright medium format SLR system developed by the German designer Heinz Kilfitt who also created the Metz Mecaflex as well as the original prototype upon which Robot modeled its cameras.
The Certo Certo-phot is a simple medium format viewfinder camera debuted by Certo-Kamera-Werk in 1958. The first of Certo’s basic fixed-lens 120 models, the Certo-phot went on to become the basis for the Certina which has a new viewfinder assembly and a proper frame advance lever to replace the winding knob.
The Spartus Press Flash (also sold as the Falcon Press Flash, the Galter Press Flash, and the Regal Flash Master) is an unusually designed box camera introduced by the Spartus Camera Corporation in 1939. It is widely believed to be the very first camera of any kind to feature a built-in flash unit.
The Dacora Digna is a medium format fixed-lens viewfinder camera introduced by Dacora-Kamerawerk in 1954. There are several variants of the Digna with different lenses ranging from the relatively high-end Enna Correlar 80mm f/2.9 to more basic offerings like my example’s Dacora 80mm f/7.7 Achromat. The Digna was also sold as the Ilford Sporti in the British market.
The Certo Certina (also sold by German retail giant Foto-Quelle as the Revue Junior) is a simple, fixed-lens medium format viewfinder camera introduced by Dresden-based Certo-Kamera-Werk in 1966. The Certina is heavily based on the Certo-phot of 1958 with the notable addition of a left-handed frame advance lever.
The Hunter Gilbert is an unusual British-made box camera introduced in 1953 by R. F. Hunter, Ltd., a London distribution company that sold cameras under its own brand as well as those of other companies.
The Ansco Shur-Shot is a simple, mass-produced box camera made of wood, leatherette-wrapped cardboard, and aluminum introduced by Ansco in 1948. A combination of simple mechanics and large production numbers mean that it’s relatively easy to find a Shur-Shot in good working condition even today.
The Hasselblad 500 C/M is a medium format single lens reflex camera introduced in 1970 by Victor Hasselblad AB in Göteborg, Sweden. This model is one of the later models in Hasselblad’s V-System, a wildly popular camera system that boasts a wide variety of modular parts like viewfinders, film backs, cranks, and, of course, lenses. The 500 C/M is based on the original 500 C from the late 1950s: the first of many modified Hasselblad cameras to be taken into space by NASA astronauts.
The Franka Rolfix Jr. is a medium format folding camera introduced in 1951 by Franka-Kamerawerk in Bayreuth, then part of the American Zone of Allied-Occupied Germany. Founded in 1909 by husband and wife team Franz and Leoni Vyskocil, Franka produced consumer cameras, many of them on behalf of other brands both in Germany and abroad. Designed to be the cheaper alternative to the normal Rolfix by being equipped with slower lenses and shutter assemblies, the Rolfix Jr. was debuted by Franka near the height of its success, about a decade before the company was purchased by the German manufacturer Wirgin.
The Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor (56/2) is a well-built and relatively advanced box camera (regarded by some as “the king of box cameras”) introduced by Zeiss Ikon shortly after the end of World War II and the subsequent division of Germany. The Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor line is a continuation of the original Box Tengor series manufactured by Goerz before it merged with ICA, Ernemann and Contessa-Nettel to form Zeiss Ikon in 1926. The 56/2 is the final camera to bear the Box Tengor name.
The Ernemann Bob 00 is a multi-format folding camera introduced in 1914 by Ernemann-Werke AG. Founded by Heinrich Ernemann in 1889, Ernemann produced both still and cinema cameras as well as film projectors. After its defeat in the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay 132 billion marks in reparations (about 442 billion USD in today’s economy, a mind-blowing sum they spent nearly a century repaying) which laid waste to their national economy. The German camera industry was not spared during this period of hyperinflation and Ernemann was forced to merge with three other companies (ICA, Goerz, and Contessa-Nettel) to form Zeiss Ikon.
The Altissa Box is a simple but elegantly styled box camera introduced in 1951 by Altissa Camera Werk. One year after the launch of the Box, Altissa’s owner Berthold Altmann fled to West Germany leaving his company behind to be taken over by the East German government and turned into the state owned “VEB Altissa Camera Werk” with “VEB” being short for Volkseigener Betrieb or “people-owned enterprise.”
The Spartus Spartaflex is a medium format twin lens reflex manufactured by the Spartus Camera Corporation of Chicago. Although I found a print ad from the 1940s pricing this camera outfit at an incredulous $47.91 (well over $800 in today’s money), the Spartaflex is by no means a serious answer to the high-quality German TLRs (such as the Rolleicord IId) that had been dominating the market since the late ’20s.
The Genos Rapid is a German box camera introduced in 1950 by Genos and made of Bakelite, an early plastic. Based in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, the company was originally known as Norisan Apparatebau but after Germany was defeated in World War II (and the famous Nuremberg Trials had taken place), they decided to change their name to Genos Kamerabau.
The Toyoca Six is an extremely rare dual format folding camera introduced in 1957 by Toyohashi Y.K. Tougodo under the brand name Toyoca, a contraction of “Toyohashi” (the city in which the company was based at the time) and “Camera.” The other part of the name, “Tougodo,” was named after one of Japan’s most famous naval heroes, Admiral Togo Heihachiro who shared a hometown with one of the company’s founders.
The Kodak Hawkeye No. 2 Model C is a very basic box camera made of thick, leatherette-covered cardboard introduced in the mid 1920s. Interestingly, the Hawkeye, a name so commonly associated with Kodak, was actually originally manufactured by a little known outfit called the Boston Camera Company. The Boston Camera Company was bought out by the Blair Camera Company in 1890 which was then in turn bought by the rapidly expanding Eastman Kodak Company nearly a decade later in 1899.
The Spartus 120 is a simple box camera made of an early type of plastic called Bakelite. At the time of the 120’s introduction, a great multitude of relatively inexpensive cameras (including the Spartus 35F) were being manufactured in Chicago by the same factories but sold under a puzzlingly broad range of different but related brands with Spartus being the cornerstone of it all. It should come as no surprise then that this very same camera was also sold as the Sunbeam 120 and that a brown-colored but otherwise identical variant was sold under the name “Spartus 120 Flash Camera.”
The Zeiss Ikon Ikonta A (521) is a medium format camera introduced in Nazi Germany shortly before the outbreak of World War II. During that time, Zeiss Ikon produced some of the most advanced cameras of the day until the Second World War all but ground things to a halt. The brutal carpet bombing of Dresden in the war’s final stages caused heavy damage to Zeiss Ikon’s factory and destroyed the schematics and prototypes of many of its models.
The Seagull 4A is a twin lens reflex camera introduced in 1968 by the Shanghai Seagull Camera Ltd and purportedly manufactured to the present day. The Seagull 4A is considered to be a Rolleiflex copy (the premium version of the Rolleicord) and many Chinese photographers in the ’60s and ’70s regarded it as a professional-grade camera although much of that is probably due to its hefty professional-grade price at the time.
