Saturday, September 01, 2012

Into the Archives II

Margaret - October 15, 2003
This is one of the few pictures I could find that I like from the Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 532/16.  I bought the camera from the Classic Cameras store in Phoenix when they still had a walk-in retail shop there.  It was fairly early on in my experience with old cameras, and I decided I wanted a no-compromises film camera.  The Super Ikonta, yielding 6x6 images on 120, seemed to fill the bill with its f2.8 Tessar and a coupled rangefinder.  The camera needed little attention to get working, but the uncoated lens was prone to flare, and I could seldom coax decent pictures from it.  I finally traded away the camera for a couple other Zeiss Ikons, neither of which I liked either.

3 comments:

Jim said...

Margaret seems like an elegant woman.

I understand about having to try some cameras before you find one that you like. I came to collecting with almost zero knowledge of photography and had to climb that hill too, at least partway, before I really came to know which cameras worked for me and which didn't.

Mike said...

I might have a different impression of the Super Ikonta if I picked up one today. I'm not sure. I have several sophisticated German and Japanese cameras I still enjoy, but I generally have more fun with the simplest of my old cameras.

Jim said...

I can tell. And when you nail an image with one of your simple cameras, I can easily imagine the pleasure it must bring.