C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Olympus Six is a folding 6x6 medium-format camera produced from approximately 1939 by Takachiho Optical Industries, the company that would later become Olympus. It uses 120 roll film, yielding 12 frames per roll at 6x6 cm, with a self-erecting bellows design and a fixed Zuiko lens mounted in a leaf shutter. Unlike the later and better-known postwar Olympus folders, the Six is a true prewar design and is among the earliest products bearing the Olympus name in the medium-format segment. It is a scale-focus camera — no rangefinder coupling — placing it below the contemporary Mamiya Six in focus convenience but above simpler box-camera designs.
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Recommended film stocks for the — format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
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About this camera
Prewar Japanese 6x6 folder from Takachiho Optical: compact, self-erecting, Zuiko-lensed.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 120, 6x6 cm (12 frames) |
| Mount | Fixed lens |
| Years | ~1939–~1944 |
| Lens | Zuiko 75mm f/3.5 (some units f/4.5) |
| Shutter | 1s – 1/200s + B, Koho or Seikosha leaf |
| Flash sync | ~ (none on early units) |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | ~650 g |
| Battery | None |
Takachiho Optical Industries introduced the Olympus Six in 1939 as a step up from their earlier Olympus Standard (1936-1938), moving from the smaller 4.5x6 format to a full 6x6 square format on 120 film. The Six followed the dominant design language of the late 1930s Japanese medium-format market: self-erecting bellows, a fixed Zuiko lens, and a viewfinder separate from any focus aid. Japanese domestic production was sharply curtailed after 1941 as wartime material controls tightened, and the model did not survive in meaningful quantity beyond ~1944. The Six represents a transitional phase for Takachiho — between the Standard and the postwar Olympus 35mm and medium-format lines that emerged in the late 1940s.
Variants are documented but poorly distinguished in surviving literature. Lens and shutter combinations varied across production batches; the Koho shutter is found on early units, with Seikosha appearing on later examples.
The Olympus Six is significant primarily as an early artifact of the Olympus/Takachiho lineage. It demonstrates the Japanese optical industry's rapid assimilation of European folding-camera design conventions in the late 1930s, combined with domestically produced optics from Takachiho's Zuiko lens line. For collectors of Japanese prewar cameras, it sits alongside the Minolta Automat, Mamiya Six, and Konica Pearl as key data points in understanding how the industry developed before and during World War II.
The Zuiko lenses on these cameras are capable performers by the standards of the era — rendering with adequate resolution for 6x6 contact prints and moderate enlargements. Collectors prize the Olympus Six less for optical performance than for historical provenance.
BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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