I am the new owner of a Target Six-16, which appears to be in above average condition. The lens design is a Meniscus (which means nothing to me; Nikkor means something to me... you catch my drift). However, is the lens on the Target Six-16 "worthy?" I'm not expecting Nikkor quality, but I would like something a bit more contrasty than what I have seen with my Brownie Bullet. Also, is there any info on converting this camera to accept 120 film? Thanks for any help. This is a fascinating site!

-- Randy Hoelscher (hoelscher4@aol.com), January 25, 2000

Answers

Don't even bother trying to find film for it.

Your Brownie and its meniscus lens are, (how can I put this politely, and let you down gently?), a piece of junk. Sorry, but that's the bottom line.

Shine it up with boot polish and use it as a book-end. It'll give you a lot more pleasure that way than trying to take pictures with it.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 27, 2000.

Bookend?

I have used my Target Six-16 with B&W paper for film, and had decent pictures! I know that you supposedly cannot buy film for them anymore, so I have begun to make neccesary adapters to use 120 in it...not too difficult really, as soon as I have it all figured out, I will put the diagrams up on my site.

Bookend...INDEED!

-- Mark Stanberry (stanberr@ipa.net), September 26, 2001.

You can purchase 616 film from central camera.Not to cheap though. 31.00 dollars for a six shot roll.

-- Jean Reidell (Mistysummer37@aol.com), March 15, 2002.

The Brownie Target Six-16 camera, if the shutter still works and the other innards aren't all messed up, will still take very good pictures under the right conditions. Mr. Andrews' comments that a Brownie is a piece of junk are unfounded and untrue! The meniscus lens was good enough for your grandmother so it should be good enough for you, Mr. Andrews! Anyway, Randy, I've recently begun experiments with an old 116 film camera, and my efforts with respooling 120 film onto a 116 spool have paid off, for the most part. I was able to get a 116 backing paper thru an ebay auction of some expired film, and kept the paper after exposing the film (what came out on the pics is another story). Here's what I got: long and narrow negatives that your photo processor won't be able to translate to normal 3.5 x 5 prints. I am considering requesting panoramic prints next time! Some of the picture was lost but I composed to allow for that.

Here I am talking about 116 film when you're talking about a 616 camera - you can substitute "616" for "116" above and the information will still be valid. Go to ebay and do a search for 116 or 616 film, and you may get lucky, as I did. Start from there and see what happens!

The "meniscus" lens is concave on one side, convex on the other. The light enters from the concave side. I have a number of box cameras with meniscus lenses, and they all take very nice pictures that can put a modern camera to shame!

Randy, I wish you the best of luck with Target Six-16, that is if you still have it after all these years.

-- Pete Lutz (mariner8378@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.