616 film was originally produced by
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
in 1932 for the Kodak Six-16
camera
A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
, along with slightly smaller 620
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
for the company's Six-20 size cameras.
Seventy millimetres wide, the 616 film produced 63.5 mm × 108 mm (2.5" × 4.25") negatives, about the size of postcards and appropriate for making a
contact print
A contact print is a photographic image produced from film; sometimes from a film negative, and sometimes from a film positive or paper negative. In a darkroom an exposed and developed piece of film or photographic paper is placed emulsion si ...
without the need for an enlarger. It is the same format as that of 116 film but on a slimmer spool, for use in more compact cameras. The format is used in many other cameras such as the Kodak
Brownie Junior and the Kodak Target Six-16. The first "6" in the name refers to the number of frames that could originally be exposed on a single roll of film. To avoid customer confusion, the name was not changed when this was increased to eight exposures. From the 1930s on, 616 film became less and less popular in favor of
120 and other film formats—as film resolution became better and the use of enlargers common, the need for a large postcard-size negative became moot. The last 616 film cameras were made in 1948.
The film was finally discontinued in 1984, while 620 film was discontinued in 1995. However,
120 film
120 is a film format for still photography introduced by Kodak for their '' Brownie No. 2'' in 1901. It was originally intended for amateur photography but was later superseded in this role by 135 film. 120 film survives to this day as the only ...
, a close relative of 620 film, remains available today to both amateur and professional photographers.
See also
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Film format
A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film for still images or film stock for filmmaking. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary ...
*
List of color film systems This is a list of color film processes known to have been created for photographing and exhibiting motion pictures in color since the first attempts were made in the late 1890s. It is limited to "natural color" processes, meaning processes in which ...
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List of still film formats
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List of specialist photographic suppliers
References
External links
History of Kodak roll film numbersFilm RescueUSA and Canada processors of 616 format film
Film formats
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