OddCameras.com                         120 to 135 Film Adapter

Panoramic cameras are either expensive or cheap plastic crap. There is an easy solution, if you already own a 120 film camera. A cheap and simple 6x9 folder can already give impressingly nice photos. If you own a camera with a wide lens, the results are even better. The adapters are 3d printed, they are easily available for little money. I used my Mamiya RB and a very wide angle, a 50mm lens. If you own an old 220 back or if your back has a 220 setting, use it for better film flatness as there is no backing paper.

Some pictures:

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Just 3 plastic parts...

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...2 parts to go on either side of the film canister and a take-up spool.

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Installed with a film canister.

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Make a test with old film.

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Make a mark with a felt pen on the film border and count, how many strokes or turns you need to make it disappear. This is one film advance. In most cameras and backs the automatic advance system will not work as it uses the border of the much wider 120 film or its backing paper. So most systems have also to be set to double exposure, no film advance detected by the system = no exposure possible. In case that your camera has a red window, seal it with black tape, remember: there is no backing paper and the film will be fogged.

It works well, you get panorama photos for less than a 20€ investment. I only got 15 photos of a 36 photo film with a 6x7 220 back. The film advance is normally managed by a gummed roller at the top of the film plane. As the 135 film is narrower and doesn't pass through the roller, the lever doesn't stop and the spacing grows as the roll gets thicker. But well, for 3 or 4 more photos, there's no need to think of a complicated solution.

Here is the more important part, the results. Mamiya RB 67 camera, 50mm lens, Kodak Gold film, quickly scanned with a Canon 9000f II, raw scans, with no dust remove.

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Calais, quartier Mollien.

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The same photo, scanned with the help of a Lomo Digitaliza, to get the exposed sprockets into the picture. The scanner does not do its white balancing then.

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Calais, quartier Mollien after a thunderstorm.

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Calais, quartier mollien again.

I will test the adapters on a Mamiya Universal with a 6x9 back and a 50mm lens later. That must be even more impressing. But in any case this solution is a nice one for very little money.

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