The Kodak Tourist II is a folding viewfinder-type camera designed to accept 620-size rolls of film. This size is also referred to as "PB" in old Agfa literature. The negatives or slides it produces are 2-1/4 by 3-1/4 inches or approximately 6x9cm. Hence, this format is commonly called "6x9". A 620 (or 120) roll of film will hold 8 exposures in this format.

Since 620 film has not been available since about 1995, the most common way to acquire film for this and similar cameras is to buy 120-size film and re-wind it onto surplus or reproduction 620 spools. If you don't process the film yourself, you will need to find a custom lab that will return your precious 620 spools.

There are vendors which sell custom-respooled film. I have purchased such supplies from Film for Classics. Once I had a small supply of film on the reproduction spools, I had them processed by Thomas Photolab in Houston, TX, requesting that my spools be returned. I then purchased my own 120 film and respooled it myself in a changing bag. Since the reproduction spools are plastic, they have a much shorter service life than the original metal spools, so I will eventually have to purchase fresh stock as the plastic ones succumb to the rigors of repeated handling.

It is supposedly possible to modify the Tourist II (and its predecessor, the Tourist), to accept 120-size film directly. At this time, I'm still very reluctant to take a Dremel tool to my Tourist II's innards...

In the photos below, the directions "right" and "left" refer to the photographer's view from behind the camera.

To be continued...

620 and 120 are exactly the same size film, including the frame-index marks printed on their backing papers, but differ only in the size of the spool on which they are wound. A 120 spool has an 11mm core diameter, a 25.4mm flange diameter, a 6mm axle hole, and a 10x3mm winding key slot. A 620 spool has a 7mm core diameter, a 22mm flange diameter, a 4mm axle hole and a 6x2mm winding key slot. Some cameras were designed to accept either size spool.