What type of film is this: 120, 127, other?

[guyburns]

I have scanned some black and white negatives taken in the 1950s that will be reproduced in a short-run book I'm putting together. I want to include details about the type of film used, and I assumed that would be easy to determine. But it's got me bamboozled.

The photographer was using a Voightlander (see attachment) and two film sizes that give an image area of approximately 5.6 x 9cm or 5.6 x 4.4 cm (see attachment).

I thought it might be 120 film, but that is a roll film, so won't it have sprocket holes? There were no sprockets holes on these negatives.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[dkaufman]

Only 35mm regular camera film has sprocket holes. All medium format roll films, 6 x 9 cm, 6 x 4.5 cm, 6  x 7 cm, etc. are wound on the camera without sprocket holes.

David Kaufman

[fdisilvestro]

70mm film had also sprocket holes. It was mainly used in movies, but there were applications in photography as well, such as the A70 and A500 Hasselblad backs

[Ken Schuster]

The paragraph below is from: https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Bessa_(folders)

"The Bessa was the first production model of the Bessa line. Produced between 1929-1956 by Voigtländer The Bessa is a medium format folder that uses 120 Film to produce 6x9 cm photographs. It's the best known and the most sold of all the Voigtlander cameras with estimations as high as 575,000 cameras made. It was the first self-erecting camera offered by Voigtländer. The Bessa was produced with four different lens types: Voigtar, Vaskar, Skopar, and the Color Skopar. Also there were three shutter leaf options: Prontor, Compur, Compur Rapid. Identifying which options are present in the camera is usually done by inspecting the inner lens ring, and the outer lens ring, or by year of production. One of the revolutionary features of the Bessa was a self-timer."

[guyburns]

Thanks heaps.

So 120 roll film was used, in two sizes, in a Voigtlander Bessa, which had the revolutionary feature – a self timer. I had been wondering how the photographer took the attached photo. A timed selfie taken on 15 February 1952 with the photographer on the left, at the end of a week-long hike into South West Tasmania.

All sorted. Thanks.

P.S. the link provided by Ken didn't work. You have to go to this link: and then choose the "Bessa (folders)" link on that page.