A Class Act

<p>This little camera gets my nomination for the prettiest camera ever made. It's certainly the prettiest in my collection. It's the Ikonette 35.</p><div></div>

<p>The Zeiss Ikonett 35 was manufactured for only a couple of years, cira 1958-60, and was intended to be the most basic model in the Zeiss camera range. It's body shell is constructed of a solid grey plastic, though the internal components are metal.</p><div></div>

<p> It has the film wind and shutter release combined in a large frontal lever that revolves about 90 degrees around the lens, a first movement winding the film and cocking the shutter and a second little movement that trips the shutter. It's very similar in this respect to the somewhat more advanced British Agimatic, which has featured on this forum a few times. Focus is by guesstimate, it has a bright viewfinder and a Pronto shutter with speeds from 1/25 to 1/200 plus B. Rewinding is achieved in a tedious fashion by revolving the knob set into the side of the body below the top deck.</p><div></div>

<p>The lens is the ubiquitous 45mm Nova Anastigmat f/3.5, one of the better triplets of the era. It stops down to f/22 and is very sharp from f/5.6 to f/16, as good as many Tessar designs I've encountered, with excellent contrast and colour rendition.</p><div></div>

<p>So the story goes, the Ikonette 35 was withdrawn from sale by Zeiss and as many copies as possible were recalled and destroyed, due to an ongoing problem with light leaks. That may be fact, or apocryphal, or even some sort of internet meme, but it seems to be generally accepted as the truth. From my experiences, it's hard to see how such a well-designed and nicely-constructed little camera could have such a problem; as a friend once remarked,"If you have to take a camera's trousers off in order to load film it's unlikely to leak light", and I'd agree with him. With these simple cameras it's usually hinged doors that give trouble. I had two inoperative examples and by a stroke of good luck found a beater for parts, and I now have two working examples, neither of which suffer from light leaks. Certainly, working examples are getting more expensive and harder to find. As with most grey cameras, rumour hath it that "it was designed with the feminine market in mind", and this may well be true, but I've been unable to find any advertising that would suggest this. But it <em>is</em> pretty...</p>

<p>I shot off a roll of Fuji Superia 200 and enjoyed the exercise. One has to be careful with the winding and shutter release procedure as the system just feels a little delicate, though a little red flag appears in the viewfinder to indicate that the film needs winding, a necessity when the one lever does two jobs. I'll post a handful of samples, scans being from the Fuji Frontier</p><div></div>

<p>No.2</p><div></div>

<p>No.3</p><div></div>

<p>No.4</p><div></div>

<p>No.5</p><div></div>

<p>No.6</p><div></div>

<p>No.7</p><div></div>

<p>No.8</p><div></div>

<p>No.9</p><div></div>

<p>No.10</p><div></div>

<blockquote>

<p>So the story goes, the Ikonette 35 was withdrawn from sale by Zeiss and as many copies as possible were recalled and destroyed, due to an ongoing problem with light leaks.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That is certainly the account given by Barringer and Small in the Zeiss Compendium. As of 1995 they wrote that the Ikonette was 'rare' and 'sought after by collectors.' Wonder if that's still true in the digital age?</p>

<p>Very nice results from something that age. I don't know why but it makes me want to get out my Agfa Ambi Sillette and run a roll or two through it. Nice work as always.<br>

<br />Rick H.</p>

<p>Cool, we both put up Zeiss cameras with Novar lenses at the same time...very different though. I love the look of that beast, and that matching case and flash really makes a neat looking outfit.<br>

That is the first one I have seen, and like Prof.K I read about it in the Zeiss compendium. Seems bereft of light leaks though, and takes a good photo for what was designed to be a simple camera. Really like the light in the second last and final shot....nice work!</p>

<p>Pretty!</p>

<p>Great little performer. The lens might be a triplet, Rick, but you made the most of its capabilities. Thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>Rick,</p>

<p>What a colorful set of pictures. I really like your relic pictures. I even like your product photos.</p>

<p>I had a post of an ad for this camera last November. Here is a repeat.</p>

<p>Well I messed that up. Here is another try .</p><div></div>

<p><strong>Marc</strong>, I'd hoped you'd come to the rescue! That ad seems to suggest that it was indeed intended to be a "Ladycam"! Many thanks. Go for it with the Ambi Silette,<strong> Rick</strong>, the Solinar is a lovely lens. Thanks, <strong>Louis</strong>, good to see you around, and <strong>Professor K</strong> for the confirmation from the Compendium. <strong>Tony</strong>, great downunder minds must think alike; perhaps you should let me know just what camera you're going to feature next... My pleasure, <strong>Mike</strong>, I'm pleased you enjoyed the post.</p>

<p>Rick, once again outstanding composition and forethought regarding the images. </p>

<p>Nice images Rick. The textures in the Relic 002 and Seedling shots show the Novar to be a sharp little lens. And those exposed gears on the relic look to be ready to mash fingers to pieces, if they're not completely frozen up, that is.</p>

<p>With you and Tony both posting shots from Zeiss cameras, I'm feeling ashamed about the roll that's been languishing half-finished in my Contaflex for the last 6 months or so. If it warms up a bit this week, maybe I'll get a chance to do something about it.</p>

<p>As an archaeologist, Moa is always great!<br>

Perhaps even less is Moa. I do like the other shots too.<br>

However, I think the Ikonette may owe something to the Taxona, on the left in the DDR post-war version.<br>

Prettiest? <br>

Well, there has to be some competition for that prize from the (also DDR) Penti on the right. ;)</p><div></div>