What is with my Super Ikonta B?

[evgenys]

Hello friends,<br>

 

Some time ago I've aquired the nice sample of Super Ikonta B (532/16).<br>

I've shot one roll of the film and was happy by the results I've got.<br>

I've planned to use it as my MF camera in my nearest big trip to

Norway fjords and I was going to use it mainly to photograph the

landscapes on the Fuji Velvia film. Today I decided to check the

camera attentively and for my horror I've noticed that there is

something wrong with its aperture.<br>

This "something" was the absence of the round of the aperture hole

when I use the aperture settings less than 2.8. I mean this round

doesn't look like real round (see the pictures)!<br>

As I intended Ikonta for landscape work, the aperture settings of the

f/16 and f/22 will be the most usable for me. And... at f/22 the

actual size of the aperture hole is looking 1/3 less as it should be I

think. This situation brings more difficulties to the usage of

transparent film which is very sensitive to under- and overexposure.<br>

So, could you advice whether I should leave this camera at home and

repair it later (my trip starts in the next week) or... this situation

is OK and I shouldn't worry about it????<br>

Hope for your advices!<br><br>

 

BTW, the aperture of my Ikonta has 10 leafs.<div></div>

[evgenys]

<center><img src = http://www.fotoclub.ru/gallery/images/photo/436567.jpg></center><br><br>

<center><i>Film: Fuji Superia X-tra 400</i></center>

[jon_goodman1]

Privet, Evgeny! I think one of your aperture leaves has broken. I think there is a hole at one end and a pin in the middle. The hole acts as a pivot, and the pin moves the aperture leaf in and out. The leaves move in unison to make a complete circle, but in your case, one leaf is not moving correctly, so it produces the "lopsided" circle. To repair it, you will need a good leaf from another camera (one of your "pins" has broken). I would not worry with it now. The worst that will happen is that your pictures will be slightly underexposed, so maybe you could compensate by using a slightly larger aperture setting. Your English is excellent, droog. Much better than my Russian!.

 

Vsego dobrogo,

 

Jon

[jeff bishop]

If you've ever taken apart old shutters, you will notice that sometimes while going back together a blade won't line up. It's usually tangled with another blade. While I've never seen this in a shutter that wasn't currently apart, that's what this looks like to me.

 

Thus, if you (or someone else) have had the shutter apart, it's possible that it went together this way and you just haven't noticed it. It may be possible that it was dropped or banged hard, but I doubt that.

 

I would take the camera as it is and use it. Once you come back, if you want to fix it then go ahead.

 

The repair may or may not require a leaf. The other poster seems knowledgable and is likely to be right. This (above) is what I would expect to see. Good luck!

[mike_elek]

One of the aperture leaves has jumped off track. It often is possible to get it back into place by opening the aperture wide open and then using a small tool to push it back into place.

 

Then open and close several times to fully seat.

[mike_elek]

I've dealt with this in a couple of cameras recently. You would need to remove the rear lens element. Ideally, you should remove the shutter, because it makes it a bit easier to do the work, but it's not necessary to pull the shutter.

 

If you work carefully, you can fix this in about two minutes, provided the seating pin isn't broken (it probably isn't).

[patric_dahl_n]

Mike Elek wrote: "One of the aperture leaves has jumped off track. It often is possible to get it back into place by opening the aperture wide open and then using a small tool to push it back into place."

 

Yep, that happened to me once when cleaning the leaves from oil in a Compur. Got the leaf back into place with the help of my best tools (my fingers).

 

I guess the best way to fix this problem on an Ikonta without disturbing the focus, is to remove the rear lens group only and get to the aperture leaves that way.

[eugene_folger]

I've seen a lot cameras with this problem.

Yes, the leafs pivot on two pins and this leaf has slipped off one of the pins. I've never been able to fix one without a near total dissasembly. I've never fixed one with my fingers. The cause typically is oil on the leafs which makes them stick together and not slide freely. If that is the cause it should be cleaned thouroghly.

Continued use could do more damage, or not. I would have it repaired by someone experienced with Compurs.