Nagel
1936 Nagel-Kodak 6x4.5 Duo camera, CLA'd, Freshly Serviced!
Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!
This is a Duo Six-20 camera. It was produced at the Nagel factory in Germay, which prior to world war two, had been purchased by Kodak in order to gain a foothold in the European market. The Nagel Camera Company had enjoyed a fine reputation for it quality products. This quality was evident in the finely crafted prewar European Kodak Retina and Duo. This was largely due to the founder Dr. Nagel, who was a gifted designer and who also ran the business together with his skilled and motivated workforce.
The 6x4.5 Duo camera was produced between 1933 to 1937 in Germany. It features a very high build quality. The fit and finish of this camera was top notch and it was covered with real leather and fine satin chrome trim. (During the Great Depression with many people out of work, many affordable cameras had a simple all black paint finish and a cloth based leatherette covering.) The chrome, leather and high quality Compur shutter clearly indicated that this camera was an expensive item.
It produces 16 6x4.5 cm exposures on 620 roll film. By the way in case you’re wondering, 620 film is still available from specialty film firms on the internet. Additionally many owners simply wind 120 film onto 620 spools. (620 film is identical to 120 but it’s wound onto slightly smaller spools.) You can find tutorials on how to use 120 film in a 620 camera on YouTube.
This camera is in excellent condition and it’s been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted . Everything works. The bellows are light tight. The quality Compur shutter works smoothly and all speeds (T,B & 1 sec - 1/300th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the faster ones are clean and snappy. and all speeds are appropriate.
The camera has a nice technical detail in that focusing is achieved by moving the entire lens/shutter combination back and forth. This provides better lens performance (especially up close) than the more common “front cell focus” in which only the front element is turned in or out.
The 3.5/7,5cm (75mm) Schneider Xenar lens is in exceptionally fine condition and looks virtually like new. It’s a superb four element design, similar in design and performance to the Zeiss Tessar. The glass is exceptionally clean and clear. There are no scratches or polishing marks and it’s capable of producing lovely photos with modern color and B&W films.
All in all a very attractive, vintage camera. Freshly serviced and ready to use, if you’re so inclined.