"the Kowa Six 6×6cm SLR, which would meet some success as the poor man's Hasselblad. It was upgraded in 1974 as the Kowa Super 66, which was Kowa's last camera in the century."
from http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Kowa
Note the enamel paint worn off the Kowa trigger-release han dle above, is on the bracket only. this is not an accurate indication of the wear on the camera, as the bracket did not come with it originally. It can be eaily repainted for looks.
My Kowa Six Experience
For a time, near the end of the sixties, it was the only alternative we had to Hasselblad. Dubbed the Japanese Hasselblad by some, the Kowa 6 beckoned from the pages of the vintage photography magazines, as alluring as Homer's Sirens. Well maybe not, but still it did beckon. Hasselblads were great, but they were way expensive. The Kowa looked cool enough, although the backs did not interchange; it was sound enough if not mis-handled, and much less expensive. I have enjoyed my first model Kowa 6. The optics are every bit as good as Carl Zeiss, in my opinion. They do have slightly different characteristics but are today still much sought by working photographers.
The advantages of lenses sporting leaf shutters can't be over-emphasized. It means that an electronic flash will wyynchronize at any shutter speed. This is very desirable when shooting in low light-levels with a strobe, as ambient light will make multiple exposures or ghost images on your frames at typically low sync speeds.
Leaf shutters were once the norm with all fine German cameras including 35's, but they are expensice to make and hard to tear down for repairs. Even when reliably built, they have a lot of parts and tend to make for bulky lenses. The German cameras yeilded to the less-expensive competitive focal plane designs over time. There was one exception, and it was actually a Japanese camera company--Kowa. Kowa was known for their 35 mm leaf shutter cameras.
And Kowa was no shlock outfit. They were a company that began in Japan in the nineteeth century and had a long and vernerable reputaion. They had been in the optics and camera business for more than twenty years too, when they came forth with the Kowa Six. With considerable leaf shutter experience, they were the likely candidate to offer a medium format SLR, and this was it--the first besides Hasselblad in 1968. Eight years oday. later they brought out an updated version with mirror lcok-up and interchangeable backs. All of these medium format cameras were excellent cameras--still very usable today.
Kowas have some idiosyncrosies. Sometimes people toss them becasue they think they are broken. This is because the Kowa Six must have film in it to work right. Nothing shoujld ever be forced on a fine mechanical instrument, let alone a fine camera such as a Kowa Six. Roughly handling of the film transport can damage the gears. Tere is simplhy no need to break one, however, with normal use. My best advice if you get a Kowa Six is to first download and read the owners manual anda few posts such as those linked at the bottom of this post. Learn how they are different, and you'll make no mistakes. BTW, thiks is doubly true of the smaller 127 film Komaflex-S.
Upon my first wawareness of the Kowa Six, I wanted one. No one I knew actually had one. As some kids lay awake and dream of girls and cars and motorcycles, I interlaced cameras in between those usual topics. I had a brief experience with a Kamoflex-S 127 Single Lens Reflex Camera, which itself has become a rare collectiable. It was made by Kowa. It was not made for long and it had its design issues, but when the Kowa 6 DID come out, it was designed and looked very much like a large Kamoflex-S.
http://shutterbug.com/equipmentreviews/classic_historical/0104sb_classic/
http://stores.ebay.com/Military-Optics-Vintage-Camera-Sale
