I was thinking of getting an old Rollieflex 6x6, and I was wondering about the printing process using these negatives. First off, is a 75mm printing lens a good choice? Second, to print on standard 8x10 or 11x14 paper, does any of the image have to be cropped to fit? I am under the impression that it does. Thanks in advance for any tips.

-- Luke Phillips (Phillips98@yahoo.com), December 29, 1997

Answers

6x6

Luke- A 75mm lens would be fine ,although some (I being one ) would suggest using a 90mm to insure more complete negative coverage. As for croping the image, I would think that you would purchase a 6X6 because you would be interested in using a square format rather than a rectangle. If you are planning on printing to the edge of the paper than yes, you would have to crop.

-- jim megargee (mvjim@interport.net), December 30, 1997.

6X6 cropping

The first camera I used to try professional work was a Minolta Autocord and the first lesson was that to get an 8X10, 11X14, etc. was that I needed to shoot with more space around my subject. I finally rid myself of my Mamiya C-series cameras and bought Mamiya Press cameras. No more problem.

-- H. David Huffman (craptalk@ix.netcom.com), May 12, 1999.