My Super Ikonta A

 The Super Ikonta A, Zeiss Ikonta's smallest 120 film folder.

 

The Super Ikonta as it appeared in ebay

Sometimes my photographic investigations wander slightly afield from my focus on Nikon and Tenax cameras. Here we have a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta A (Bestell #530) from the mid-1930s. It is of the second type with the shutter release moved onto the body, but before the addition of lots of chrome that marked the 531 versions.

It is equipped with a 7cm f3.5 Tessar in a Compur shutter. At the time it was sold, this was the top of the line in 4.5X6cm 120 size roll film cameras. The rangefinder uses a rotating wedge mechanism coupled to the front element of the lens. These cameras were not cheap and even today Super Ikontas in good condition generally sell for well over $100 on ebay.

The 4.5 X 6cm format has a certain appeal to me. Large enough to be medium format, but still small enough to allow compact lenses and a compact camera body. The extra frames on a roll of 120 film is a nice plus.
    So when I spotted this Super Ikonta A on ebay for only $50.00 (US) I took note. As you can see in the first picture, the condition was not promising, but I decided to take a chance and bought it.
    Several hours of labor using saddle soap, leather restorer, a soft toothbrush, toothpicks, Q-tips, lens cleaner, lens tissue and soft cloths and I had what you see here. Oddly enough, it came with two 620 spools, which I promptly sold on ebay.

    Bellows is still light-tight. Shutter is reasonably accurate, lens is clear. Everything as
works as well, except the frames of the albada finder are badly faded and the rangefinder is dim. Still a great picture taker. And results? Nice, sharp pictures with plenty of contrast and depth.

Quechee Gorge, Vermont

Scott and Charlotte at Quechee Gorge