After finally getting my hands on the Pentacon Six TL, it was time to put it through its paces. For the first two rolls, I decided to keep things simple: I loaded Kodak Gold 200 and paired the camera with a Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 120mm f/2.8 lens. Since the lens is stuck wide open at f/2.8, I added a variable ND filter to control exposure and used the Viewfinder Preview app on my smartphone to help with metering. To make things easier, I even mounted a matching ND filter on the phone to simulate the exact light reduction. Here’s what I discovered after shooting those first two rolls.
The frame counter doesn’t work
Going into medium format photography, I kept my expectations low. I knew the Pentacon Six TL had a reputation for quirks, and I gave myself permission to be surprised, even by the things that didn’t work. It didn’t take long: the frame counter was one of the first issues I ran into.
At first, I thought I had misunderstood how it worked. But after a bit of Googling, some digging on Reddit, and reading through a few forums, I realized it was just broken. Thankfully, fixing it doesn’t seem to require a full teardown, just a partial one, though it’s still not a project I’m ready to tackle right now.
Rather than let it bother me, I found a simple workaround: every time I took a photo with the Pentacon, I also snapped one with the Viewfinder Preview app. That way, I could keep an easy visual record of how many shots I’d taken. It’s not perfect, but it worked — and in a way, it made the shooting experience feel even more deliberate.
Better than expected film transport
If there was one thing I was genuinely nervous about, it was frame overlap. The Pentacon Six TL is infamous for inconsistent film spacing, and I fully expected my first rolls to be a mess. Strangely enough, the camera surprised me in a good way.
On the first roll, every frame advanced properly. No overlaps, no serious spacing issues. It felt like a small victory, and it gave me a lot more confidence to keep shooting.
The second roll, however, reminded me that this is still a Pentacon Six. A few frames overlapped, and while it wasn’t catastrophic, it was enough to lose parts of a few images.
Another thing I discovered is that the film advance lever doesn’t lock after 12 shots. Instead, it keeps winding until the roll fully passes into the right-hand spool. On the upside, this meant I got 28 exposures across two rolls.
In the end, two rolls aren’t enough to draw firm conclusions about my Pentacon Six TL’s film transport. I’m still very much on the learning curve, getting used to how the camera behaves and where its weak spots might show up. But based on these early results, I’m feeling more optimistic than I expected.
Shutter precision
One of my bigger worries before shooting was whether the Pentacon Six TL’s shutter would still be accurate. With a camera this old, you almost expect shutter speeds to drift after decades of use.
When I got the scans back, I was somewhat relieved, as most of the photos were only slightly overexposed. Given the number of variables involved (an old camera, a stuck wide-open lens, manual metering with a smartphone app, and the ND filters), that felt like a good sign. If anything, it suggests the Pentacon’s shutter is still reasonably precise and dependable, at least for casual shooting.
Most of the shots were taken between 1/60 and 1/500. There were two shots out of the 28 that came out heavily overexposed, but I suspect that’s on me — either forgetting to change the shutter speed or the ND filter settings.
Delayed shutter: another thing to fix
I was excited to test the delayed shutter feature because medium format self portraits have that special look or pop. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as expected. When I engaged the delay, the camera made the usual sound as if it were preparing to take the shot, but after a few seconds, it simply stopped. It was a bit of a disappointment, but not a dealbreaker.
Focusing challenges
One of the things I was looking forward to with the Pentacon Six TL was the waist-level finder. It’s bright, which makes composing a scene feel more engaging than with a typical rangefinder or SLR. However, I ran into some challenges with focusing. Using the waist-level finder, I found it a bit tricky to judge focus accurately, and there were a few instances where I missed focus completely.
The magnifying piece helped me in some shots, but I still feel like I need more time to master it. I’m sure with practice, I’ll improve, but for now, focusing remains a learning curve. It’s a reminder that medium format photography requires more mindfulness, especially with this particular setup.
Image scans limitations
While the Pentacon Six TL itself held up relatively well during these first two rolls, there’s one major limitation I encountered: the scan quality. The scans I received were around 3000 x 3000 pixels — far below the 16-megapixel scans I typically get from 35mm film. Because of this, I can’t yet fully assess the sharpness of the Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 120mm f/2.8 lens. Shooting wide open didn’t help either. For now, I’ll have to wait until I can get higher-resolution scans to make a more informed judgment about the lens’s performance.
Next steps for the Pentacon Six TL
Looking ahead, there are several things I want to address with the Pentacon Six TL. First off, I’m waiting for the Filmomat PhotoPlug Shutter-Speed-Tester to arrive. I plan to measure the shutter speeds on both the Pentacon Six TL and my Minolta CLE, just to see what I’m dealing with.
Next up, I’ll be focusing on fixing the Biometar 120mm f/2.8 lens. I want to avoid relying on ND filters, and getting the lens to stop down properly will be a big step forward. I’m also excited to give the massive Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 a try.
I’m seriously considering investing in a light meter, and the TTArtisan Lightmeter II has caught my attention. You can find more details about it here. It’ll look great on my Minolta CLE paired with the TTArtisan 28mm f/5.6. Too bad the Pentacon Six TL doesn’t come with a hot or cold shoe. If you’ve been using a light meter, I’d love to hear what’s worked for you.
Finally, I’ve also picked up a roll of Ilford HP5, planning to dive into black and white photography with the Pentacon Six TL and see how it changes the way I approach my shots.
