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 most recent camera I had the pleasure of a quick date with…the Zeiss Ikonta 35.
A few quick facts about the Zeiss Ikonta 35; this model was made from 1949 to 1953. It has a trap door front and center that the lens pops out of. It was manufactured with different lenses, this one is fitted with a Novar 45mm f3.5 lens on it, which I believe is the least quality one, the Xenar and Tessar that other variants have better all over sharpness. It has a fast shutter speed of 1/250.
This particular Zeiss caught my eye because of its small size and unique design. It didn’t seem very “Zeissy” to me. I did enjoy using it, however like many other old point and shoot cameras I got loads of flare in my photos because of the lack of lens coatings, that mixed in with the soft edges on this lens and its pretty much a more unique way to take LOMO style photos. I noticed the lens on my camera does seem to have a ‘sweetspot’ which is closer rather than far away. I did have a moment of panic thinking it was broken because like all tiny cameras made mid-century, they have a certain order shutter cocking, winding and shutter releasing that has to happen…annoying to remember only if your prone to using many cameras all the time. I think I will take this camera on a second date however and give it another chance.
