Kowa 6?

[nealjpage]

So my Yashica TLR took a huge crap a while ago and, while I was licking my wounds from it, I stumbled across the Kowa/SIX system on eBay. Looked like a slick camera. With interest I did a little recon on them and was only able to find a brief mention of them here in TPF. A few questions:

-Anyone here a regular Kowa user? Why or why not?
-Are lenses and parts pretty widely available?
-Are they reliable?
-Do they offer interchangeable backs with dark slides?

Prices seem to run a wide gamut. Are they worth me looking into or should I hold out for a Bronica or Mamya? Thanks in advance.

 

[Mitica100]

Neal, the Kowa Six is a user camera but it's not as sturdy and well developed than, say, a Bronica. I would look into one of the Bronicas, they're a good deal on Ebay. A colleague of mine got an ETRS for about $150 and he loves it.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I had a kowa 6 in the early seventies bought it brand new. I wanted a leaf shutter so I passed on a hassleblad and went to the Kowa. It was heavy. the shutter return would shake the whole camera and a fairly sturdy tripod as well..(okay exageration) but it did sound like a 12 guage in the back of a church during the ceremoney.

I went to buy a wide angle lens and was told to bring the deed to my house. Now all the lens things means today is there arent going to be a lot of differnt lenes to choose from but such is the case with most med format cameras.

I'm down with the others I'd stay away from the kowa.