Zeiss Super Ikonta A 530 cleaning/repair UPDATE

My eyeball reassembly of the lens cells and the SLR collimation

method suggested on this forum was successful as confirmed by the

pictures. I did detect a red cast to some of the pictures ? from

the two ruby windows (I cover with tape when not in use) or just bad

Kodak processing?

 

Please excuse scan from my $55 Umax Astra 2200

Another Super Ikonta shot

Oops - I think I now have the hang of it; here is one you can see

Looks like you took that shot around midday hence the dark eyes and shadows under the arms. Thats an absolute no no when photographing people. To avoid that look you need to use a reflector or just photograph in early morning or late afternoon. Not a very flattering pose either.

David,

You sound like my wife who just asked why I bother to take terrible pictures just to test cameras. Of course you are both right but until you know whether the camera will even focus why waste the effort and miss the moment using untested equipment - just shoot the roll off and evaluate. The adjustment of the scan is also off. As a critique I would also add that the focal length of the lens (70mm) does not give a very good perspective for this shot.

I had red-window leakage with an otherwise wonderful 520 Ikonta (tessar/compur), so you may have the same. Try checking out the inside of the back, see if there are felt light seals around the windows. if there are, and they fit well against the pressure plate, you may be able to control the light without having to tape the windows over.

"Thats an absolute no no when photographing people"

 

If one is to stick to such dogma, one might take photos just like a professional portrait photographer. That may or may not be such a good thing. I suppose it would also rule out Mr. Karsh extinguishing Winston Churchill's cigar. The unflattering pose is an interesting compositional solution...one could debate the stability, the balance of the component 2-D planes, etc. I find that those arms describe a tilted triangular surface that gives this composition a rich, stimulating dynamic that I don't see in the "proper" portraits outside the photographer's joint at the mall.

 

Someday I'll learn the "no-no"s and become a good photographer instead of an amateur snapshooter, but I fear that, by then, I'll have lost the fire.

 

M.

David, I've been abrasive; accept my apologies...(and I really need to learn about reflectors!)

 

Michael, the more I look at Katharine, the more excited I get. Did you crop this substantially? The truncation of the elbow unifies the figure within the frame. There is a fascinating "entry point" and path of interest in the lower left, leading one up to the pretty face, and a circular compositional element (the arms around the face) that lends energy. The face positioning and the upper right dark triangle bounded by the forearms would be most appealing to the "fibonacci ratio" crowd (whose photographic cousins are people who teach about "the rule of thirds"). The chair in the lower right foreground is a counterpoint to the "tilted triangle" of the arms and emphasises the appealing spatial distribution of elements.

 

You composed like Edgar Degas painted. In my humble opinion.

 

What does this have to do with classic cameras? Well, I reckon that when I use slow film in a medium format classic camera without a tripod, I am constrained by aperture and start to think in 3-D. I think about what is behind and what is in front and how blurry it will be. And what planes intersect my sharp depth of field. And so do many of the other people in the forum, even though they express it less pretentiously than I do.

 

The modern shooter is less concerned with these issues and their compositions tend to be different.

 

At least, that's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

I agree, i like the composition, the angle of view on the photo. Indeed reminds a bit of Degas. But the colours are scary:)

It definitely looks like red window problem. It's only in the middle region where it's too red. Also, the colours are too saturated overall, for my taste. But it's a quite good shot for a test-shot, certainly much better than brick walls or millimetric paper (like my first test shots of the repaired yashica-D),lol.

I liked the composition also; there was no cropping save to square up the print (my bad scanning again). The "victim" was one of my daughters who is barely concealing her annoyance at being (yet again) a target for camera tests. The remainder of the roll was shot up at a visit to nearby Vassar College's art museum; just static shots of buildings and benches etc. Confirmed good focus, reasonably sharp lens and lots of red.

 

The felt light traps are intact around the ruby windows. I have been using the non-rangefinder version of this since I was eight years old but I don't recall one frame of color film ever having gone through it. Might be worth a try to see if I get the same red veiling. Anyone have experience with this? With the 4.5x6 format you have two windows and therefore a double dose of red. Perhaps color film is a no no in these cameras and I should stick to slow speed B/W film..

it looks like poor processing to me.

HOWEVER, it maybe the red widnow problem you mention, can you add a layer or 2 or clear red tape from the inside? that may diminish the problem.

 

I'd keep shooting color and BW in that camera, it actually has a very interesting look

Pablo,

 

Does anyone make clear red tape?

I'm not sure who makes it, but we had a few rolls here in the university, and it is used for lith.

Let me double check.

I says 3M Tape 616.

 

The 3M website says:

 

"3M? Lithographers Tape 616

Ruby Red, 2.4 mil (0.06 mm) UPVC film tape with rubber adhesive. Is optically transparent and photographically opaque. Used for many lithographic stripping applications in the graphic arts industry.

"

 

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/manufacturing_industry/specialty_tapes/node_GSDGZKJDN5be/root_GST1T4S9TCgv/vroot_GSNYTMLW46ge/gvel_GH80MVMMN5gl/theme_us_specialtytapes_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html

That's brilliant - I bet it will work. I just have to find a source that will sell just one roll. Freestyle does but only 1/4" and ruby window work requires at least 1/2" or more.