Ikontar film winding tension issue

Hi all,

Recently I scored a nice Zeiss Ikon Nettar with uncoupled working rangefinder and the Novar Anastigmat 3.5/75mm in the Prontor SV shutter (it says Ikonta M on the body though). Initial tests show that the rangefinder works fine, and the shutter works from 1/25 second reliably. So in that sense it works fine as a walkaround camera and it's a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I encountered one issue, where I do not know if this is typical and whether there is something to do about it. Winding the film winds that film very loosely, so much so that when unloading the camera you are bound to expose the edges of the last parts of the film.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Do you have any ideas to fix this?
In the meantime I'll revert to changing film in the changing bag. Too bad this kinda defeats the idea of a walk around camera.

Thanks for your input.

Hi Lars, I use folders a lot and have 6 of them including a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta B with a Nova lens,and the only things I can think of are 1. check the springs that hold the film tight in both the take up side and film side, sometimes they need bending up slightly, do it very carefully indeed if they are not pushing up tight against the film, and with these old folders you must make sure that the film is tight at the start, and also I have known them to come with a 620 spool instead of a 120,and film from 120 to 620 spool will wind lose,Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks, I'll check out the springs as soon as this film is finished. I already ditched ('stored') the spool that cam with the camera when I started using it. 120 Spools aplenty if you do not throw away anything ;-)

Lars

The springs are very simple affairs,in my Ikonta they are just 2 pieces of sprung metel, one in each film chamber, but they are in contact with the film and keep everything tight, but don't neglect making the film taut be3fore closing the camera back, I did when I first used a folder and had the same problem as you, although in an Ensign, my first folder,which I still have and use, they are great fun,give good results, and make friends, folk seem to like being photographed with them and then talking about them,RICHARD

The camera you have is a Zeiss Ikon Mess Ikonta 524/16. It's not the Nettar. That's a different camera, and it never had a rangefinder, although both are built on the same body frame.

The "M" on the body stands for "Mess," which is the shortened version of a German word, which indicates that it has an uncoupled rangefinder.

As others have suggested, you should simply bend upward on the small flat spring that's riveted to the inside of the film chamber.

By the way, the lens is a Novar (not Nova). It's a decent lens, although the Carl Zeiss Tessar was always the premium lens for this camera.

Regardless, you should have quite a bit of fun with it.

Well, I finished the roll and have been bending all springs I saw. The leaf springs that keep tension on the spool were not difficult to tighten. The two broad ones that keep tension on the film itself were more difficult. I did not dare to bending then too much. Hopefully what I did is enough to solve the issue.

Thanks for the info on what camera this is. Must say it was difficult to find the correct model with al the information available. They really made a lot of different models.

The first negatives look good except for the fogging, and guessing exposure is fun. Especially with Tri-X in it you have a lot of room for error. And I do not feel as conspicuous as with my Mamiya 645. It's cute and fun.

I have two 518/16's and at least one of them do this. I just make sure to unload them in a dark room if possible and tighten up the roll before sealing it closed.