Super Ikonta film path scratchy???

[Agulliver]

I've just taken delivery of a pre-war Super Ikonta which is in decent condition though certainly not "mint". A quick test without film suggests everything works, including the shutter being surprisingly accurate at all speeds. Rangefinder seems fine etc,

What I am concerned about is that the pieces of metal next to the rollers feel very abrasive as if some sort of coating or paint has deteriorated over the years. I've attached a photo which hopefully illustrates what I mean.

Do the good citizens of Photrio agree this is likely to scratch film? And what might the best/simplest remedy be?

 

[koraks]

some sort of coating or paint has deteriorated over the years

That looks exactly like what has happened.
I would indeed expect this to be a potential problem w.r.t. scratching, although some films will be more prone to it than others.
Personally I'd start by giving it a try as it is now, e.g. using Fomapan film (fairly soft supercoat) and if that gives any problems, remove remnants of this paint/coating and polish and/or re-paint.

 

[film4Me]

The only surfaces you need to be concerned about are the narrow surfaces top and bottom. The film doesn't touch the wide flat surfaces you mentioned because the rollers hold the film clear of those surfaces. For appearance sake you could clean them, paint them, allowing the paint to dry thoroughly before exposing a film.

 

[loccdor]

The rollers themselves don't look completely smooth anymore, and anything that chips off the rest of the surfaces can get stuck between rollers and film and scratch. They can also get sucked into the bellows and onto the film surface by vacuum when the camera is opened, causing black spots on the picture. I wouldn't be surprised if the bellows already contains more particles than the rest of the camera, they usually do. A thorough clean and blow out at minimum is a good idea with any old folder.

I like Rustoleum black oil-based metal paint for those types of things, takes a while to dry but makes a hard surface. You may have its equivalent in the UK. You'd want very thin coats of paint no matter what you use.

 

[Jojje]

Shoot a test film. I've used half a dozen Ikontas, even prewar, and never had scratches.

 

[Agulliver]

I've tried to clean it up and paint those two plates. I've got 4 other pre-war Ikontas but this is my first Super...the others don't have those plates be they 6x6 or 6x9. Was the body adapted from a 6x9? The ruby window is in the position for 6x9 and it even says 6x9 on the inside of the door.

It's the 530/16 model which seems to be particularly early and shoots 11 6x6 frames on 120 film. I'll try a test film though I don't really have anything in mind to shoot and the weather is pretty grim here at the moment....just wet and dull.

 

[ic-racer]

The film shouldn't touch that area, but make very certain the rollers spin freely. The film does touch those and if they don't spin there will be scratches.

 

[Agulliver]

So, I've run a film through it (Delta 3200 at a gig) and other than missing the first exposure due to not fully understanding where to begin the first exposure everything worked fine. No scratches that I could detect. Focus seems accurate - I was shooting at f2.8 so very small DOF.

So I can add a medium format rangefinder to my arsenal

 

[Jojje]

Splendid!
I don't use much Ilford film in my red windowed folders, numbering is harder to see than on other films.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Splendid!
I don't use much Ilford film in my red windowed folders, numbering is harder to see than on other films.

Ilford and Kodak are not very good for use "ruby window" or red window folder users. I give Foma a A+ for their numbering. So much easier to see.

 

[Agulliver]

This model is a bit odd. It's a 6x6 but there is a ruby window in the usual place for 6x9....almost as if they changed their minds when finalising the design.

Additionally, there's a frame counter on the top and the winder stops for each frame. So I only used the ruby window to estimate where to begin, and I got it wrong losing one exposure. No big deal, I'll know next time.

I fully agree that Foma (and other brands that they do the confectioning for such as Lomography) have much better backing paper in terms of visibility through ruby windows. As most of my medium format cameras are ruby window models I tend to use Fomapan and Lomography colour negative though I also do some Kodak Gold because I like it in 120....and Ilford Delta 3200 for low light.