Zeiss Ikon folding camera identification

[Pioneer]

I recently inherited a Zeiss Ikon folding camera which is great, but I have a little problem. I don't know exactly which one it is. It is in pretty rough condition externally. Basically all the leather has been removed from the outside of the camera and there is no identification of any type apparent to me. Internally it appears to be in pretty good condition.

The camera is identified as a Zeiss Ikon internally but there is no model evident. When you open the back it clearly is a 6x9 camera but there is no pressure plate. There is only one window on the back with a very dark red window covered by a sliding metal cover. The front is unlatched with a small button on the right upper side. Opening the front does not erect the lens and bellows. At the bottom and slightly in front of the lens assembly itself are two chrome buttons that are pinched inwards allowing the front standard, lens and bellows to be drawn forward on two chrome rails on the inside of the metal door. Releasing the two chrome buttons locks the slide in place. Along the right chrome slide is another chrome slider that is unlatched by pressing it inwards and when this is done it can be slid forward which, in turn, slide the two chrome rails forward. As this slider moves forward it is focusing the the lens in the front standard and the focus settings are visible in the white plastic/ceramic plate between the slider and the rail. The front standard can be raised using a screw knob on the right front that lifts and lowers it by turning the small chromed knob.

The lens is a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 105 cm f4.5. The lens is set in a Zeiss Ikon Compur rim set shutter with speeds from 1 second through 1/250 second along with the standard Time and Bulb setting. The aperture is set by a sliding lever around the bottom and runs from f4.5 through f32. I haven't tested it yet but it sounds ok.

There is a glass prism style viewfinder attached to the front standard that can be rotated for vertical use or for horizontal use. There is also a metal slide viewfinder in the back that can be raised allowing you to look through the hole in the slide and through a square wire frame that rotates out away from the front standard for that purpose. The bellows is black and appears to be in good shape. There is no rangefinder on the camera.

I don't believe that it is a Super Ikonta. I am not even sure it is an Ikonta, but it doesn't look like a Nettar or a Bob either. I am not an expert on folding cameras, let alone Zeiss folding cameras. I would like to see if I can find a leather kit to cover the exterior but I don't really know where to start looking for the leather to fit it. It really isn't critical and though it looks pretty ratty without any leather I'll probably take it out for the fun of it and test it anyway.

Anyway. I'm sure there are some of you out there who probably already know what it is. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Dustin McAmera]

Maybe an Icarette II:

Icarette - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

 

[Ian Grant]

We need pictures, OK it's 6x9 as it has a 105mm Tessar and post 1929/30 as it has a rimset Tessar, and Compur and Prontor where fully owned by the Zeiss Foundation by then, most probably an Icarette..
Middle of the road budget camera with a decent lens. If you were in the UK I'd send you off-cuts to recover it

IAn

 

[Pioneer]

Thanks.

I'll try to get some pix up tomorrow but I think you guys are right. It seems to be an Icarette II. Most other Zeiss folders I look at have self erecting lenses but this one does not.

 

[Pioneer]

Here are a couple of pictures, such as they are.

 

[Ian Grant]

Seen better days

Ian

 

[Dan Daniel]

Pull that shutter and put it on a Century Graphic and enjoy the look of those uncoated Tessars. Great lenses.

 

[Pioneer]

Pull that shutter and put it on a Century Graphic and enjoy the look of those uncoated Tessars. Great lenses.

You know, I hadn't thought of that. I have a nice old Graflex Series B 2 1/4x3 1/4 sheet film camera that it would probably fit perfectly with. It has a really good 127mm Kodak Ektar lens on it right now but I'll have to check if I can mount this one as well. Don't need the shutter but it may not be a big deal.

 

[Pioneer]

Seen better days

Ian

For sure. Found it in a friend's unheated barn. They don't even know where it came from. The camera itself was all closed up and inside a pretty tight cabinet. There were a few tatters of leather material still hanging off it but that poor aluminum camera body is pretty corroded externally. Surprisingly everything inside the camera looks decent. The bellows are still supple and have no pinholes that I can find. The shutter sounds ok but I haven't tested it yet. I was going to close the camera and brush it down good with a wire brush and then use it as is. There may be an option where I could use it with my old Graflex 2.25x3.25 sheet film camera if I decide to remove the shutter and lens from the camera.

 

[John Wiegerink]

For sure. Found it in a friend's unheated barn. They don't even know where it came from. The camera itself was all closed up and inside a pretty tight cabinet. There were a few tatters of leather material still hanging off it but that poor aluminum camera body is pretty corroded externally. Surprisingly everything inside the camera looks decent. The bellows are still supple and have no pinholes that I can find. The shutter sounds ok but I haven't tested it yet. I was going to close the camera and brush it down good with a wire brush and then use it as is. There may be an option where I could use it with my old Graflex 2.25x3.25 sheet film camera if I decide to remove the shutter and lens from the camera.

Why not just slip a roll of 120 in it and see how it does? The uncoated Tessar lenses are a breeze to clean if they are dirty. If your lens is clean and the speeds are fairly up to snuff it should give you some pretty good results. I have the same exact camera and it works just fine. The Ihagee folders from that time period were very well made. The only thing I had to do with mine was adjust the infinity focus a little. For some strange reason when it was set at infinity it would slightly front focus. Works fine now and is one of my better folders. Oh, I did add a very thin piece of black yard along the hinge on the opened back as it had a very small light leak there.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Pull that shutter and put it on a Century Graphic and enjoy the look of those uncoated Tessars. Great lenses.

FWIW, I have an Agnar 105/4.5 that (just about) covers 4x5 if stopped down to f/16 or smaller (goes to f/32) and focused to about 12 feet (which gives 6 feet to infinity hyperfocal at f/16). FAR sharper than I'd have expected for a cheap triplet. The shutter it's in is no star (four speeds, as I recall) but my Speed Graphic can cover speeds both faster and slower...

 

[MattKing]

For sure. Found it in a friend's unheated barn. They don't even know where it came from. The camera itself was all closed up and inside a pretty tight cabinet. There were a few tatters of leather material still hanging off it but that poor aluminum camera body is pretty corroded externally. Surprisingly everything inside the camera looks decent. The bellows are still supple and have no pinholes that I can find. The shutter sounds ok but I haven't tested it yet. I was going to close the camera and brush it down good with a wire brush and then use it as is. There may be an option where I could use it with my old Graflex 2.25x3.25 sheet film camera if I decide to remove the shutter and lens from the camera.

Sounds like a season of "Unforgotten"

 

[JPD]

After the Icarette came the sturdier Ikonta with front cell focusing, better finder, and pressure plate, and the Super Ikonta with it's iconic rangefinder.

Some Icarettes could use both roll films and plates, and during the ICA days you could choose between different lenses, like an aplanat (ICA Helios), dialyte (ICA Litonar), double-Gauss (ICA Hekla), Dagor-type (ICA Maximar, Zeiss Doppel-Amatar), triplet (Zeiss-Icar/Zeiss Triotar) and Tessar (Tessar, ICA Dominar). After Zeiss Ikon was founded you could still get the Icarette with ICA branded lenses for a while, but after that it was Tessar, Tessar, Tessar, Tessar...

 

[Dustin McAmera]

Sounds like a season of "Unforgotten"

'It's a mystery Ma'am: the body's pretty decomposed, but its bellows are still supple...'

 

[Pioneer]

Took it out yesterday afternoon and used it. We'll see if there is any life left in it. Maybe the appearance is not the end of this story.

 

[Pioneer]

"Forgotten" is probably more true than you think. I actually found this thing several years ago but never really paid a lot of attention to it. It has laid in a drawer for quite a long time. I was getting ready for another purge when I came across it again. Thinking perhaps it might be worth a bit of coin on fleabay if I spent some time and recovered it. Still might do that if it works. Or at least give it a quick roadkill custom paint job.

 

[Dustin McAmera]

I wonder if mice ate that leather?

 

[Pioneer]

I wonder if mice ate that leather?

It is possible. There was not much left when I found the camera. A few tattered pieces that I threw away.

Well...there are negatives. That itself is a positive. I'll wait until everything dries and I scan a few to make any kind of judgement but I don't think that the results are going to be very amazing. Considering what I know about this camera I really didn't expect much but it was at least worth a try. I'll try to scan and post some this evening.

 

[Pioneer]

Results of test. Lots of light leaks. One big one through the latch at the top of the camera, You can see that in the photo of the car. Then there are many smaller ones coming through the bellows themselves which can be seen in the photo of the mountains (you can just see the railroad tracks along the bottom of the photo and a powerline across the top and even the snow covered mountains at the left of the photo.) The 2nd photo of the car was taken from the shade into the sunlight and the first with all the light streaks was taken out in the open with the sun coming from above.

Anyway the lens, shutter and focus are working. That is pretty obvious from the photo of the car. The problem is that the camera body are in such bad condition that correcting the light leaks is IMHO definitely not worth the attempt.

BTW, I did take photos of the mountains with another camera which shows what was actually photographed.

 

[Pioneer]

At this point I will probably remove the lens and shutter itself from the camera body and bellows. I am thinking of mounting the lens and shutter on a lens board for the Intrepid 4x5 and testing it further. I think those are salvageable but the rest of the camera is not. I do think the uncoated Tessar is worth experimenting with. From what little I've done here the lens seems to be in pretty good condition.