Zeiss! {New Braunfels photographer}

Those of you with no interest in excessive fawning over camera equipment might want to click away now. Because I'm about to gush passionately about a camera I bought (okay, okay--Lisa gave me the money. But still!). One of the things Lisa wants for her studio space is a collection of vintage cameras to display, classics like the famed Graflex Speed Graphic cameras that reporters carry in all those screwball comedies from the 30s and 40s. So the other day I was poking around Craig's List, and came across a listing for a Zeiss Ikonta in good shape. I made an offer that was accepted, and shortly thereafter I drove down to San Antonio to pick it up.

The camera is a Zeiss Ikonta 521/2, a nicely designed medium-format folding rangefinder from the famed German camera maker, Carl Zeiss. Details are hazy, but from what I can tell this particular camera was designed just prior to World War II, production was suspended for the duration, and picked up shortly after Germany surrendered. Zeiss manufactured this camera through the late '40s and perhaps as late at '54, as I've seen different dates given.

One thing is for sure--this is an elegant camera. It is economical in its size and stylish as well. It came with it's own embossed leather Zeiss Ikon carrying case, which apart from a few age cracks and some scuffing is in surprisingly good shape for its age. Likewise the camera itself. There are a couple of spots of chipped paint, but no rust or dirt or other gunk or wear that you might expect for a 60-year-old camera.

This camera takes 120 or 220 medium-format film, which is still available today (surprising in this digital age). On the back of the camera, above, there is a small octagonal window covering a window of red glass. The photographer opens this window to check how much film is left in the camera by reading the frame numbers printed on the paper backing, a simple and straightforward solution that is just as effective as mechanical counters but a lot easier to engineer.

Therein lies its beauty. This is a simple camera, and there are lovely aesthetics at work here. The shutter, aperture and exposure are all controlled by the mechanics in the front lens mounting. The photographer composes by looking through the rangefinder viewfinder to the side, then sets focus by dialing in the distance on the lens mounting. Ditto for the aperture and exposure time. Old school photographers--and we're talking really old school here--had to be mathematicians to calculate the proper exposures using this little gem. Unlike today's digital cameras, there was no auto focus, and you couldn't chimp the LCD display after a shot to see if you got the lighting right!

This particular Zeiss Ikonta has a 105mm Novar f/4.5 lens, which is well-regarded and fairly common for this model. It was also available with a f/3.5 Novar or a f/3.5 Tessar. The higher-quality, wider-aperture Tessar models are much rarer and collector's items. Unfortunately, the lens on our little Ikonta shows several translucent spots of fungus on the internal element. This will degrade image quality unless cleaned off. The mechanical exposure timer also sticks, which I understand is common for old cameras like this. A thorough lubrication and cleaning should restore it to prime operating condition.

What we weren't expecting was the hidden surprise inside. Opening the camera, Lisa discovered an exposed, undeveloped roll of Plenachrome 120 film! This is a type of black and white film produced until the late '40s. Maybe production continued into the early '50s. Either way, this film is at least 50 years old. Maybe older. Considering the lack of wear on the camera, it wouldn't surprise me if this was packed away prior to 1955 and not touched since.

Naturally, we're going to develop it. Which is easier said than done, since 50-year-old film needs special TLC that won't be found in a commercial film lab. The film is likely bonded with the backing paper, and may be fogged to some degree by age and exposure to heat. Nevertheless, we're going to persevere and find out what secret images are hidden on that film, no matter the quality. It's like a miniature time capsule nobody knew about.

And just to show how nice people can be, the fellow who sold me the Zeiss also gave me the little Japanese "spy camera" above when he learned that Lisa is building a collection of vintage cameras. The Hit cameras were popular in Japan after World War II and used 17.5mm film. They had a fixed focus 30mm f/11 lens and a 1/30 shutter speed. That's it. Talk about minimalist! But in post-war Japan, with staggering resource shortages, these cameras served a role. This one's obviously seen better days and won't ever take a picture again, but it's a nice piece of photographic history to have and will have a place of honor on the shelf next to Lisa's old Canons, Nikons and Zeiss.

Lisa On Location Photography