Kodak Vigilant Six-20

Kodak Vigilant Six-20 Vintage Cameras Home
I found my Kodak Vigilant Six-20 listed on eBay as a "Kodak Supermatic". Perhaps because of the incomplete listing, I ended up as the only bidder at $12.50. There was no real indication of the camera's condition in the listing, but it did not seem like much of a gamble at that price. I knew the Supermatic shutter in these mid-century Kodaks was normally paired with an excellent lens, and that turned out to be the case. Mine has the f-4.5 101mm Anastigmat Special, said to be a Tessar-style design.
The Vigilant is very compact and light for a 6x9 format folder. While the struts are sufficiently rigid to keep the lens properly aligned, the over-all construction seems a bit flimsy for a camera sporting such a nice lens and shutter combination. The linkage to the body-mounted shutter release is primitive, with a resultingly stiff action. The reflex viewfinder when rotated to the landscape position interferes with the insertion of a cable release. Unlike the slightly later Kodak Monitor, the Vigilant lacks an accessory shoe which would allow mounting an add-on rangefinder that would be a big help in sharply focusing the long lens which can brought to an unusually close 3.5 feet.
The main virtue of the Vigilant – like a lot of other old folders – is its simplicity. Cleaning up the camera to restore it to service does not require extraordinary skills and the results are equivalent to what might be expected from a camera an order of magnitude more expensive. The front and rear lens groups on the Vigilant are very easily removed for cleaning, also permitting easy access to the central group. However, it was not clear to me how to remove the central element for shutter cleaning. Rather than risk some damage, I decided on an arthroscopic-like procedure to get the sticky Supermatic working. I first introduced some Ronsonol lighter fluid on the tip of a small screwdriver blade into the openings in the shutter housing. That only resulted in some slight functional improvement, so I then tried some Radio Shack electronic parts cleaner which comes in a pressurized can with a stiff plastic-bristled brush on the nozzle. After wetting the brush, I introduced a few bristles into the shutter openings and worked them around gently in the mechanism. A few rounds of this interspersed with working the shutter got it clicking nicely at all speeds.(See the pages on the Kodak Monitor and the Kodak 35 for better detail on shutter disassembly.)
The Vigilant has two viewing systems, a flip-up sportsfinder with manual paralax correction, and a reflex finder mounted on the shutter housing. Once I got the reflex finder apart and cleaned, I found that I preferred it to the sportsfinder. The bellows on my Vigilant should really be replaced; typical of the times, it is made of fabric rather than leather, as was the case in older folders. The black coating on the fabric bellows deteriorates with age, resulting in many pinholes appearing through the warp and weave of the material. I solved the problem – at least temporarily – with several applications inside and out of black matte fabric paint obtained from a local craft store. While my last roll through the camera showed the bellows to be light tight, I'm not sure how well it will withstand repeated folding.
I have not put much film through the camera yet except for the initial testing. However, the images look excellent to me in terms of sharpness, and appear distortion-free. My lens does not have the hard coating featured on slightly later versions of the Anastigmat design, but it does not seem particularly subject to flare. I'm definitely looking forward to further exploring the capabilities of the Vigilant, as well as trying out some of its close cousins from the post-War period such as the Monitor. Big Rigs – Kodak Tmax 100 PS: John Shriver, Kelly Flanigan and Dave Collopy have provided some additional notes on restoring and using the Vigilant in the Photo.Net Classic Cameras Forum.

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