Jump to content

Ikoflex and Tessar


Recommended Posts

A couple of years ago I spied an Ikoflex sitting on the shelf at my favorite

classic camera shoppe (has an old sound, right?). Never having had one in my

hands before, I was soon enamored of it (OK, I'm easy). I have never gotten all

the different models straight but the Opton Tessar puts it in the mid-50s, I

think. I took it along on a trip to Georgia and stopped at the old Pebble Hill

Plantation near Thomasville where I took a quick tour and shot these. Please

forgive the quality (or lack thereof) of the scans. I just started scanning negs

and the nuances of settings are eluding me at this point.<div>00PbUa-45457584.jpg.4af81d84291503cee08c94873615f38e.jpg</div>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have done well. The Ikoflexes are very interesting cameras with a really good lens, keep using it.

 

I have dug out a pre war Ikoflex with an uncoated Tessar, but I find it really hard to focus, the older coffee can Ikoflex that I have been using is no problem.

 

How do you find the focussing on yours?

 

Tony

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's tough to evaluate the lens from the first and third scans. The second looks great, but shadows are too blocked. Not sure which scanner you've got, but adjusting curves in some fashion before or after scanning is a must. Play around with the presets in your scanning software too. The straight scan rarely produces good results.

 

Great compositions though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I am not a technician the only thing I can say is that love the three of the pictures: "The Stables": What a Shame the wagon isn't in the middle to balance, even more, the composition. 6/7. "Magnolia": The darkness of the background helps to stand out the flower. I can fill the sweet smell from here:-) 7/7. "The Pergola": Perfect composition. The top eaves "cutting" the parallel lines formed by the columns and the chimneys broke the escape to the infinite. 7/7.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. I remember using the wagon to cover a distracting sign by the doorway and its shadows to highlite the dog statue. The magnolia was hanging over a fence which I was leaning into to try to offset the blossom against the shadows of the tree. The detail is all in the shadows on the neg, by the way - I've got a long way to go on the scanner. I don't see any way you can downsize a scan to 120 dpi for posting and still get the real quality of the lens to show. In the last one, I was trying to keep the spouting turtle in the clear along with everything else.

Tony, I have no problem with the focus on the Ikoflex. The screen is a little coarse, but the magnifier is large enough to cover the whole glass even with my glasses.

So Luis, how did your negs turn out?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chauncey,

 

I just finish scanning the negs from the Ikonta. I saved some of them. Some problems with the scanner: it doesn't like 6X4.5 when they are so closed and made me few pranks. I'll show them tomorrow. There are not good pictures because of me. Hope to do it better next time. I need to practise a bit more.

 

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...