Those that know Meghan and I know that we have what appears to be an on going camera acquisition problem. To remedy this but continue to try out ALL of the cameras we have decided to start borrowing cameras from our fellow camera enthusiasts instead of trying to purchase or hoard them all to ourselves. Not all are winners though and some are just easier or more fun to use but you have to shoot with them first to find out! Thus, we decided if we run a roll through every camera we are interested in, not unlike going on a 5 minute date with a bunch of strangers at a singles night, we can quickly see which are worthy of being added to our collection (or put on our list of “must haves.”) Camera speed dating!
Here is the most recent camera I had the pleasure of a quick date with…Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 532/16.
A few quick facts about the Super Ikonta 532/16. The Super Ikonta 532/16 is a folding camera that takes 11 – 6×6 photos on 120 sized film. The Super Ikonta has an easy to use coupled rangefinder, controlled by a small focus wheel (with really rough grip treads!). It has a fast shutter speed of 1/400, which is pretty good for a camera of its age. The most open aperture is 2.8.
My friend and I had planned a visit to the Polygon Gallery in North Van. We got lucky and it was sunny out so I decided to take the Super Ikonta out with us. I found it a tad complicated to load, syncing up the exposure counter proved a bit confusing but it also doesn’t really matter as the film lead on 120 is long. Once I got the Super Ikonta loaded I really enjoyed using it. I can’t wait to try it out on a hike or camping trip in some summer weather, the fact it folds up is great, still a tad heavy but very slim! I also noted just like with my friends 645 Zeiss Ikon Ikonta B2 the film pressure plate in this Zeiss Ikon B2’s was also misleading…it reads ‘Zeiss Ikon Film 6x9cm B2 2 1/4 x 3 1/4’.
When we mentioned this on our previous blog installment a kind reader explained why this was…. “B2 film, at the time when the Zeiss-Ikon Super Ikonta was made, was 120 film numbered for 6 X 9. I believe that B1 film was a smaller size. So every camera of the day was marked for B2… 6 X 9 film, regardless of exposure size. Model A was 6 X 4.5.” Thanks again for the insight!
