IKOFLEX

[anthonym3]

I have bought an IKOFLEX and I am puzzled. It has a 75 cm 3.5 RODENSTOCK TRINAR. Is it rare or were these lenses fairly commonly used on IKOFLEX cameras?

 

[JPD]

I found two of them with Trinar on Google, so the lens is most probably original. What is the Trinar's serial number? I suspect that it's an early post-war camera, made when many lens manufacturers had problems. But I could be wrong.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Trinar is a triplet, AFAIK, and these were very common on "budget models" of more costly cameras both before and after the War. If you look at catalog pages from those times, you'll often see the same camera listed with two or three choices of shutter, two or three (or more) lens choices, and occasionally other features (like automatic frame counting).

Zeiss selling camera with Rodenstock lenses might well be as @JPD suggested; due to shortages post-War, or because Zeiss hadn't gotten their lens production up to volume and were concentrating on the more profitable lenses (Tessars, specifically) and buying from other suppliers to cover the lower end of the market. I've got a Super Ikonta B that I've dated to 1948 that has an uncoated Tessar, likely indicating using up pre-War parts production (it's a pre-War model, as well, despite post-War production numbers). Still works well, though...

 

[anthonym3]

I found two of them with Trinar on Google, so the lens is most probably original. What is the Trinar's serial number? I suspect that it's an early post-war camera, made when many lens manufacturers had problems. But I could be wrong.

 

[anthonym3]

Serial number is 2016529.

 

[JPD]

Serial number is 2016529.

According to the data available on the net:

1945: S/N up to 2000000
1952: S/N up to 2500000

Early post-war seems correct.

 

[anthonym3]

According to the data available on the net:

1945: S/N up to 2000000
1952: S/N up to 2500000

Early post-war seems correct.

Thank you.

 

[choiliefan]

Is it a coated lens?

 

[anthonym3]

Is it a coated lens?

 

[anthonym3]

No

 

[JPD]

It's the first time I've read about an Ikoflex with Trinar, and only found two others after a search, so they must be rare. The usual Novars were bought in by Zeiss Ikon from various sources and just branded with the Zeiss Ikon-owned brand name Novar.