Minolta Six

The Minolta Six was a bakelite 6×6 camera. It was made by Molta (later Minolta) around 1935. The lens and shutter assembly was mounted on a front plate, itself attached to a collapsible structure composed of three rectangular sliding boxes. The result was like a folding camera, with no bellows. This system had been used previously on the Minolta Vest 4×6.5 camera. There was a folding optical finder on the top, a metal table stand attached to the front plate and a nameplate marked Minolta Six screwed in front of the body.

There were two body variants, differing by the back. On one variation, there are three red windows, near the bottom, each with a plate marked 1'3'5'7', 2468 and 1357. The cause for this complex advance pattern was probably that, at the time, the film paperback was not yet marked for the 6×6 format. It is supposed to be the early variant. On the other variation, there is only one red window, vertically centered, with a sliding cover. It probably appeared after the films began to be sold with the 6×6 numbers, thus it is supposed to be the later variant.

The shutter was a Crown, of the rimset type. The shutter plate was marked CROWN at the bottom and PATENTS-NIPPON at the top. The lens was a front cell focusing Coronar Anastigmat. There are variations in the lens aperture and shutter details:

• Coronar Anastigmat Nippon 80/5.6 & Crown T, B, 25-50-100-150 (Crown C #0), no selftimer (pictured in the book by Francesch, also displayed in later variant on this page at Japan Family Camera)
• Coronar Anastigmat Nippon 80/4.5 & Crown T, B, 5-10-25-50-100-200, no selftimer (seen in both early and later variant)
• same lens and shutter, with selftimer (seen in later variant at a Yahoo Japan auction)

There is mention here and there of a variant called Minolta Six Deluxe, about which nothing is known.

Bibliography

• Dominique Francesch and Jean-Paul Francesch. Histoire de l'appareil photographique Minolta de 1929 à 1985. Paris: Dessain et Tolra, 1985. ISBN 2-249-27685-4

Links

• Minolta Six page at Japan Family Camera
• The Manual Minolta website, with a page about the Minolta folding cameras
• The Minolta Six in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
• The Minolta Six at the Kitamura camera site