In this blog post, I’m going to talk about the Zeiss Ikonta. In the Zeiss medium format folding camera line-up, it sits between the basic Nettar and the sophisticated Super Ikonta, is it piggy in the middle, or the Goldilocks camera?
I own three Zeiss medium format folding cameras; a 518/16 6x6 Nettar, this 6x9 524/2 Ikonta and a 533/16 6x6 Super Ikonta. They are all good quality cameras shooting medium format film and mine all date from the early 1950s. They all fold to a very compact size and have good lenses. I’ll summarise the differences for those less familiar with the range.
Nettar: (left) Small, light (561g), but lacks a rangefinder. This means you must add one onto the cold shoe, and it then won’t fit in the case or in a pocket. Mine is a 6x6 format with an f4.5 lens.
Ikonta: (middle) Slightly heavier than the Nettar, weighing 834g, but mine takes images 50% larger so not a fair comparison. It has a really good built-in rangefinder, albeit uncoupled. Mine is a 6x9 format with an f4.5 lens.
Super Ikonta: (right) Heavier than the Ikonta at 1,112g, even though it’s a smaller format. The rangefinder is coupled, but the complexity of this arrangement, with a remote element on the end of the lens, means that the rangefinder patch isn’t as clear or bright as on the uncoupled Ikonta. Mine has a built-in exposure meter. It also has the f2.8 Tessar T Coated lens, the best offered at the time.
The weight difference is quite remarkable, the 6x9 Ikonta weighs nearly 300g less than the Super Ikonta, even though the Ikonta shoots images 50% bigger! Of course, the Super Ikonta has an exposure meter built in but the selenium cells on these no longer provide the correct output, so the meter is completely useless anyway. This isn’t to say the Super Ikonta is a bad camera, far from it, and I’ll write about that soon. But for me, although the Super Ikonta is the most sophisticated with the best lens, it isn't an unqualified winner.
In addition to the very bright viewfinder and bright, clear rangefinder, the Ikonta produces stunning images even though mine only has the f4.5 Novar Anastigmat. Sadly, enlargers which can handle 6x9 negatives are few and far between, so at present I have to scan the negatives into the computer. I’ve made one small modification to the camera; the rangefinder eyepiece has a sharp metal frame around it and to avoid it scratching the coating on my glasses, I’ve put a small piece of sticky-backed foam around it. Not pretty, but it does the job and can be easily removed.
I think the Ikonta is the best of the range, the balance between weight and functionality is good. The viewfinder and rangefinder are the brightest and clearest; I’ve tried several of each model and it’s a general truth, not just a feature of the cameras I currently own. Although I love shooting square format, all my other medium format cameras are 6x6 so it's nice to have a 6x9, too. It is such a shame the Ikonta was never offered with the Tessar f2.8 lens although focussing with the lens wide-open without a coupled rangefinder would have needed great care. Here's an image taken with the camera, you can see the full-size scan on Flickr where it reached 344 in "Explore". This means it was the 344th most interesting image uploaded that day, quite remarkable for a simple black and white test shot taken on an old camera!
Some of you will have read how I bought this Zeiss 6x9 Ikonta from a charity shop in Wolverhampton and found a partly exposed film in it, showing a family in the 1970s. The local paper found them, if you would like to know about this story, you may read about it here.
In 2023 I think I shot more images with the 6x9 Ikonta than any other camera. I took it to the Gower in Wales for a week-long holiday and I made a short video about it here.