Little Sis, Meet Big Sis

Hive, how I miss thee. I have been so inactive lately, at least on Hive. In real life I've been ridiculously busy, building a humongous shed, trying to solve a car problem, painting my house, work, more work, side jobs, endless driving... And on and on and on. Not much time for anything, except perhaps getting another camera.

After I fell head over heels with the Contessa, I decided I had to meet her big sister, the Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta. Lo and behold I found her on my favorite auction site and after a short bid war she was mine!

For only $82 she and an old GE light meter arrived at my door.

Is it a little creepy that I looked up the name on the meter? Turns out he died in 2006 and as far as I can tell his brother inherited the meter (and I'm guessing the camera) and held on to it until his death in 2021. I was wondering if the family had fled Germany and brought the camera with them, but it turns out they immigrated to Milwaukee in the late 1800's. I guess they just loved the engineering of their ancestral home.

Anywho, back to the Ikonta, or "Frau Konnie" as I've taken to calling her. One of the last model 530 A's, she was born in 1937 either in Berlin or Stuttgart, it is hard to narrow down pre-war Zeiss cameras. The original US price was $100, which in today's money is around $2,121.42 thanks to the Federal Reserve.

I was super excited to get a medium format rangefinder, but auction sites are hit or miss, so I wasn't sure what I was getting. I excitedly opened up the package when it arrived and introduced the sisters.

Tessa, meet your big sister Frau Konnie."

As I always do, I immediately opened the back and snapped the shutter over and over again just to be sure. She works beautifully! Only a few times did the shutter seem stuck, but I think that is because in B or T the shutter doesn't have to be cocked, and I, not knowing this, probably jammed something. But all is well now.

The Frau is into Freikörperkultur, whilst Tessa prefers to be a bit more modest.

Supposedly she takes 6x4.5 negatives, so I was a bit surprised to see this printed on the film door. I assumed it meant that I needed a mat to adjust the frame size down. Oh well, 6x9 it is. (or is it?)

The Super Ikonta is a bit more complicated to use than her little sister, for one thing the rangefinder is not coupled to the viewfinder. So in order to take a photo, the user must flip up the rangefinder arm, look through a tiny hole and set the focus, then flip up the viewfinder and frame the shot. This of course after winding the film (more about that later), setting the aperture, adjusting shutter speed, and cocking the shutter. She is slow but she is fun.

Most 530's didn't come with a shutter button on the frame, that's how I know she's one of the last. In late 1937, Zeiss came out with the 530/2 to add more functional features, but they still made the 530 to use up parts. Some were "upgraded" as a bit of a transition.

So how did she shoot?

Well. I assumed I only had eight shots, since the camera clearly says 6x9. So I wound it just like the manual says for a 6x9 camera. Line up the number on the backing paper with the first window furthest from the winder, then wind until the next number appears in that window.

Boy was I shocked when I pulled the negatives! On the film strip were 8 perfectly spaced (well, except for one) frames. In between each 6x4.5 cm frame was a perfect slot for yet more 6x4.5 cm frames. I could have taken 16 shots! Next time I will wind from one window to the next.

I know you want to see samples, but since I've been so sparse on posts lately I think I'll drop only one here. You'll have to come back for more!

I 100% adore this camera. Almost 90 years old and still shooting sharp! And from what I can tell the shutter speeds are pretty close. I didn't bring the meter around with me so I just had to eyeball the exposures. I guess I did alright?

Check back this week and I'll post more examples.

If I'm not too distracted by other shiny boxes.

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