Stepping into the world of folders.

LyleB · Oct 31, 2013

Well, pulled the trigger on a Zeiss Ikon 524/2 Mess Ikonta 6X9 from Certo6 yesterday. Supposed to be shipping today. Has the f 3.5 105 coated Tessar lens in a Tempor shutter. Sounds like a pretty sweet camera. Not top of the line shutter, but from what I've read it's dependable and easily serviceable.

Looking forward to getting this and trying it out. I know it's virtually impossible to get 6X9 prints made, most places seem to crop them down to 5X7. I understand that a couple places will print a 6X9 from a digital file that you send them, but they don't do the processing. If you know of a mail-order lab that does print them, let me know.

This will be my first folder. If I like it, I plan to maybe get an Agfa Isolette III for a backpacking camera. We'll see.

Regular Rod · Oct 31, 2013

They are very nice cameras. Use it with ILFORD HP5 Plus and you can hand hold it with confidence. Getting a quick release tripod plate to fit needs a spacer of thick rubber making up to stop the screw bottoming in the hole before the plate is securely tightened. Sorry I can't help you with a lab on your side of the Atlantic. There is a first class lab in the UK www.peak-imaging.com that will print exactly how the customer wants. How about processing the films yourself and then scanning the negatives so you can print them on any inkjet?

RR

Ian Grant · Oct 31, 2013

Interesting camera, it's not the Zeiss Ikon AG, Stuttgart, people might first think, it's VEB Zeiss Ikon, Dresden in East Germany because they made and used their own Tempor shutters.

I use a 150mm coated CZJ Tessar of about the same age and the coatings are very good but quite blue, if you plan to use colour films a good warm up filter would be needed. My lens is a good as a modern multi-coated lens and is remarkably flare free even shooting into the light.

6x9 is a great format have fun.

Ian

LyleB · Oct 31, 2013

Ian Grant said:
Interesting camera, it's not the Zeiss Ikon AG, Stuttgart, people might first think, it's VEB Zeiss Ikon, Dresden in East Germany because they made and used their own Tempor shutters.

I use a 150mm coated CZJ Tessar of about the same age and the coatings are very good but quite blue, if you plan to use colour films a good warm up filter would be needed. My lens is a good as a modern multi-coated lens and is remarkably flare free even shooting into the light.

6x9 is a great format have fun.

Ian

I thought it was one of the West German, since it was an Iconta not an Ercona (as I think the East German cameras were called). I can't explain why it's in a Tempor shutter.

You got me questioning it, so I just went back and checked the photos of the camera, and it is plainly labeled a Stuttgart body. Perhaps Jurgen just re-mounted the lens in a Tempor shutter. I'll have to ask him when I contact him after I receive it.

jovo · Oct 31, 2013

Check this out as well....might be a lot of fun!

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ian Grant · Nov 1, 2013

LyleB said:
I thought it was one of the West German, since it was an Iconta not an Ercona (as I think the East German cameras were called). I can't explain why it's in a Tempor shutter.

You got me questioning it, so I just went back and checked the photos of the camera, and it is plainly labeled a Stuttgart body. Perhaps Jurgen just re-mounted the lens in a Tempor shutter. I'll have to ask him when I contact him after I receive it.

After WWII and the partitioning of Germany Zeiss still hoped the company would re-unite and up until the early to mid 1950's the East & West Zeiss companies co-operated to a limited extent. Zeiss in Stuttgart were selling lenses and cameras made in the East in their early years.

Stuttgart only used Compur and a few Prontor shutters whereas the East German Zeiss Ikon used the Tempor and CZJ lenses, as they had difficulty importing from the west. The camera markings don't actually indicate where it was manufactured just which company assembled and sold it/

CZJ had quality issues with lenses after WWIIdue to irregular supplies of specialist optical glass and they had to recompute their lenses to suit the availble glass. Rolleiflex demanded higher quality lenses and as a result Stuttgart released the Opton Tessars which were a more consistent high quality - some early ones may have been made by CZJ but had to pass stricter testing. That contradicts Cert

Ian

mfmike · Nov 1, 2013

The 524/2 is one of my favorite folders. Very compact and very quiet. 60 years later, the lenses are still producing great image quality and the operation of the camera with the uncoupled rangefinder is easy to do once you get the rhythm of shooting it. I've also received good support from Jurgen (Certo6). Congrats.
Cheers,
Mike

LyleB · Nov 1, 2013

OK, thanks Ian. I'm sure I won't be unhappy at this point either way. Sounds like a pretty complicated history, with no hard dates and even fewer hard and fast rules. You're points taken.

Thanks to everyone else for their info and tips as well. Should be fun to experiment with.

DannL. · Nov 1, 2013

LyleB, Just checking in. I read your first post about 6x9 vs 5x7? You know the 6x9 refers to 6cm X 9cm as in the size of the negative, and not inches? Dann

Just to advise where advice may not be needed. When you get your folder, if you feel that your images are blurry, it may be caused by motion of the camera while shooting. Most every folder I've owned has given me difficulty in that department. My learn in time that the difficulties were in the way I held the cameras, and not the camera itself. By opening my free hand and using the palm as a platform, I placed the camera's extended rail/lid on it to stabilize any movement at the lens-end of the camera. It worked tremendously well in reducing motion blur in my exposures.

baachitraka · Nov 1, 2013

I bought Agfa Isolette III which according to seller the camera is having Solinar f/3.5 75mm lens and for shutter she wrote 'shutter: self-timer'.

Asking price was Euro 30 + Euro 4.50 for posting.

I do not have the camera yet.

May be I need to find a person for CLA in Germany or in Europe.

ntenny · Nov 1, 2013

It's not for everybody, I suppose, but I think 6x9 (cm) is a lovely size for contact prints. You have to get up close and personal with the print to appreciate it at that size, which to me makes it feel much more intimate and communicative, less like the one-sided conversation that is "art gallery" presentation.

That said, I think most labs can print at whatever size and proportions you ask for, though you may have to pay for the next largest standard size. If you want 6x9 inches, they'll probably charge you for an 8x10, and in fact they'll probably print it on 8x10 and trim to the requested size.

-NT

elekm · Nov 1, 2013

Sounds like a shutter swap, as the Mess Ikonta 524/2 used only a Pronto(r) or Compur shutter with this model and had either a Novar or a West German Tessar.

I don't recall Zeiss Ikon using East Germany parts with this model, which was among the last of its folding cameras.

Regardless, as long as the shutter is running properly and the lens is clean and collimated, you should get very good photos.

Stepping into the world of folders.

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