Roger W. Hicks

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
Pentacon sixTL; A Classic 6x6
Roger W. Hicks  |  Nov 01, 2005

There's an old saying: If something appears to be too good to be true, it probably is. But sometimes you get lucky.

I couldn't resist the Pentacon sixTL that I saw in FotoSkoda in Prague. I won't say that FotoSkoda is the best camera store in the world, because there are too many other contenders, including many Shutterbug advertisers. It is...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
Polaroid 600 SE
A Multi-Format Monster
Roger W. Hicks  |  Sep 01, 2004

It's a brute: there's no doubt about that. With a 6x9cm back, 75mm lens, and finder, it's over 8" (200mm) tall and weighs well over 6 lbs or around 3 kg. That's one of the biggest, heaviest combinations, but the others...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
Retina IIa
Roger W. Hicks  |  Feb 01, 2004

Bewildering numbers of folding Retinas were built in Germany at the old Nagel-Werke in Stuttgart, an early Kodak acquisition. The first Type 117 Retina I appeared in 1933, and the last folders were the IB/IIC/IIIC, made from 1957-58 to 1960. Retinettes are...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
The Kodak Art Deco Six 20
Roger W. Hicks  |  Nov 01, 2003

There are plenty of people who know (and care) very little about photography, but feel that their dignity requires a camera with a bit of style and elegance. Today, they are spoiled for choice. Automation makes life easy: they can buy any number of...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
The Robot
Roger W. Hicks  |  Sep 01, 2003

Robots are probably the most underrated and underpriced world
class cameras on the used market today. They are built to at least the same standards as Leicas and Contaxes--actually, they're tougher and more reliable--and yet you can...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
Voigtlander Bessa
Roger W. Hicks  |  Oct 01, 2003

Anyone who reads Shutterbug regularly will know of my enthusiasm for modern Voigtländer cameras. I'm also extremely fond of the postwar Prominent 35mm leaf-shutter rangefinder camera, and I have a great (though guarded) admiration for its prewar 120 namesake, one of the most...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
Zeiss Ikon Baby Box
Roger W. Hicks  |  Dec 01, 2003

It's hard not to fall in love with the Baby-Box even before you see the camera itself. If it's in its case, you see the sweetest little saddle-leather box just 31/2x21/5x3". It has a dinky little strap, all of 17" long from end to...

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Classic Camera Reviews
Classic Cameras
Zorkii 4K
A Vintage Charmer
Roger W. Hicks  |  Apr 01, 2004  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2000

The Soviet-made Zorkii 4K is the high point of the Leica screw-compatible Zorkii series. Zorkiis started out similar to Feds, but later became quite different. Feds, in turn, were initially arrant Leica copies but later diverged in their own account.

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Classic Camera Reviews
Contessa Nettel Deckrullo 6x9cm: A “Doppel-Klapp” Design
Roger W. Hicks  |  Dec 09, 2011  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2011

It’s a dream specification. Top-flight construction; about the same weight and bulk as a professional D-SLR, though rather more convenient in shape; interchangeable lenses; camera movements; choice of ground-glass or viewfinder viewing; and a great big juicy 6x9cm format. It’s finished in beautiful Morocco-grain leather and the controls and fittings are in nickel and black-lacquered brass. It certainly sounds both desirable and usable.

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Don't Shoot!
Roger W. Hicks  |  Feb 01, 2004

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