Adaptable medium format film camera changes sizes mid-roll

The VZ-6617 medium format camera, currently on Kickstarter, is a timely shortcut for the photographer eager to experiment with a range of formats for their landscape/scenic shots but hampered by the economics and restrictions of shooting one size at a time.

The designers Exposing Engineering, a firm with over 20 years of industrial design and product expertise in the camera industry, have kept the VZ-6617 relatively inexpensive and upgradable by using 3D-printing technology for its production.

Traditionally, medium format camera frame sizes have ranged from 6×6, 6×7, 6×9 to 6×17, but that meant being locked into one frame size, with limited flexibility in subject, location and composition … and no room to experiment.

Ordinarily, if a photographer wanted to shot both 6×6 and 6×17-sized frames they would have to carry two separate camera bodies. However, with the VZ-6617 Variable Zone Film Gate, which is a 3D-printed masking guide, the photographer is able to switch frame sizes within a single camera body and midway in the same roll of 120mm film.

There are frame masks on the market designed for multiple frame sizes in other cameras, but those are limited to a set number of sizes, plus the adjustment is chosen before a roll of film is exposed or afterwards. The VZ-6617 masking guide, on the other hand, is self-contained in the camera body, so the photographer is able to change frame size in-camera and mid-roll smoothly without need of removing film backs or installing separate mask plates or inserts.

Exposing Engineering

With the VZ-6617 lens cone, a magnetically sealed dark slide apparatus made partly of 3D-printed plastic and steel pins/ball bearings, the user is able to swap not just the frame size mid-roll but the lens also.

Key features

• Dimensions: 290 mm W x 120 mm H x 70 mm D (body only)
• Weight: 925 g (2 lb) body only, 1.85 kg (4 lb) with a Fujinon-SW 90mm f/8 lens
• Machined brass focusing helicoid with printed scale for zone focusing
• Multiple bubble levels to keep your composition and horizon aligned
• Multiple cold shoes for accessories like an optical viewfinder, a phone mount for app-based viewfinders, laser rangefinders, light meters, flashes, and more
• Magnetically attached cable release that docks to the camera grip for ergonomics and long exposure flexibility
• Fully removable back for modular accessories, including a ground glass attachment
• Protective lens cage built into every lens cone to protect your lens from accidental damage
• Mounting points for future modular accessories, including a 150-mm x 100-mm rectangular filter holder

Exposed Engineering has purposely designed the VZ-6617 camera to allow the user to easily repair and adapt the core camera pieces as desired by way of modular assembly that doesn’t require specialized tools – only a single screwdriver is needed to access the fasteners. The company plans on releasing spare repair components and video guides in the near future for aftermarket service support.

Exposing Engineering

If the VZ-6617 really turns your crank, for a US$549 Kickstarter pledge a fully-assembled camera body and lens cone compatible with a 90mm focal length lens of either the Schneider Kreuznach Super Angolan f/8, Nikon, Nikkor-SW f/8 or Rodenstock Grandagon f/6.8 variety can be yours – assuming everything goes according to plan. The camera body comes with all the essentials for film loading/unloading, film transport and frame size adjustment.

Delivery is expected in August.

Sources: Kickstarter, Exposing Engineering