An Ikoflex at the Station

[John Seaman]

<p >The Ikoflex was an Ebay acquisition. I've never had much to do with these so when it came I was a little surprised to find it was an Ikoflex 2 dating from as long ago as 1937. It seemed somehow more modern with its shiny nameplates and style, and was in great shape apart from the viewing hood being somewhat floppy, and the Compur Rapid slow speeds weren't working, but I fixed them with a little lighter fluid, and cleaned the Tessar lens. Then I took off the hood and found the mirror in great condition, just needing a very light rub. Ditto the focussing screen, the top of which is convex, probably to brighten up the view - its certainly brighter and more evenly lit than the average ground glass screen.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p >The film is loaded with the old "wind on until number one is in the red window at the bottom" method, and the frame number appears in a window at the top. There's no automatic stopping when it gets to the next frame so you have to wind until the number appears squarely in the window. There are lines between the numbers to help, but It was a while before I cottoned on to this, resulting in some uneven frame spacing. I suppose its better than a simple red window system, but not much.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p >The big quirk of this model is the lever focussing. It takes a little getting used to, and feels perhaps a little flimsy but it must be OK, it's lasted 77 years.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >The camera came in a lovely leather ever ready case marked "Hand Sewn. Made in England".</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >Like some some other Zeiss Ikon products, the ergonomics take some getting used to compared to, for example, a contemporary Rolleiflex.</p>

<p > </p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p >I put an old Fuji slide film into it and took it to the Leicester terminus of the preserved Great Central Railway. This is a new station, built where the line was cut off to the North of the city after its closure in the 1960's. Its a pleasant place to spend a bank holiday morning with the huge bonus that superb old main line steam locomotives bring the tourist trains in from Loughborough.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p >The Great Central was concieved by Sir Edward Watkin as the London Extension of the ambitious Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, and was built in the 1890's to a very high standard, with a view to linking with the future Channel Tunnel. Huge engineering works were needed to get it through the centres of Leicester and Nottingham, and towards the North of England. In the 1960's Dr Beeching closed the line, and the route was lost to housing development and neglect. Now the government want to build a new Great Central, called HS2, at a cost of heaven know how many billion, but it won't even go through the East Midlands cities, just to a station in the middle of nowhere before it carries on to Manchester etc.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Meanwhile the routes between Loughborough and the outskirts of Leicester, and Loughborough and the outskirts of Nottingham, have been restored by different preservation groups who are planning to close a gap north of Loughborough by replacing a bridge which was removed, at great cost.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p >Rant over. The engine is Oliver Cromwell, of a class of standard pacific locomotives introduced after the railways were nationalised. Its a tricky subject against the bright sky which has caused a lot of flare, although I used a lens hood. Perhaps not a fair test for the uncoated tessar which does better with the shots of the notices etc where there is no source of bright light in the frame. I also feel that flare is worse in old TLR's because of the relative smoothness of the body interior, unlike later models which have proper light baffling. Folding cameras with their corrugations have this as a natural consequence of the design.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p >The shots were scanned on my Epson Perfection 4870 with much post correction of the colours due to the out of date film.</p>

<p > </p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p>Another one of the engine.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p>The points man, flare can be seen in this image.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p>The engine again. I once went to Loughborough where they were just finishing restoring a similar locomotive. I asked a guy how long it had taken them to restore it. He said twenty-seven years.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p>Another one of the notices, maps etc.</p><div></div>

[John Seaman]

<p>Last one, a motor bike. Thanks for looking if you got this far.</p><div></div>

[User_5050610]

<p>John--thanks for posting! Great pix and a beautiful camera. The colors in the "gold Flake" picture are just excellent. The Brits seem to be way ahead of the US in steam preservation. Their locomotives are much better looking, too. Although the Union Pacific is restoring a Big Boy--can't wait!<br>

Thanks again for the pix. Well done.<br>

Paul</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Oh, the mintification! What a lovely camera, John. Too bad about the flare but enjoyed the pics anyway.</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

Flares like something that flares quite badly. Looks rather ugly, especially in that case.<br>Fun! Thanks for the presentation!

[Mike Gammill]

Great series. I always enjoy trains and railway stations. Thanks for posting.

[Two23]

<p>If you had to choose one, would it be the Ikoflex or a Rolleiflex? Or, are they actually pretty close?</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

[SCL]

<p>Very nice....I'm sure the original camera owner never imagined somebody still using it almost 80 years later and giving it the TLC it clearly deserves.</p>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>Very neat results from this beauty here. I love trains and motorcycles so this collection hits the right buttons for me. Thank you for posting.</p>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>Nice RR pictures, <strong>John</strong>! I note that the Loco does not have those powerful beam electric light mounted on top. But still uses the old style oil lamp! That must be a part of the heritage preservation value! Keep more coming. Thanks for the post. sp.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Great old camera, <strong>John</strong>, and one can't go wrong with pictures of old trains and their infrastructure. The lens seems really sharp, and it certainly makes one realise just how far lens coatings have progressed over the decades. Thanks for the post.</p>

[John Seaman]

<p>Thanks to all for the comments, as always, much appreciated.</p>

<p>I think the flare arises as much from the body of the camera as from the lens itself. I had similar problems with an old Yashicamat and improved it a lot by installing light baffling and spraying the inside with matt black.</p>

<p>As to Rolleiflex vs Ikoflex, there's no contest really, the Rollei is much easier to use, the only advantage of the Ikoflex over a Rollei of that era might be a slightly brighter screen.</p>

<p>Yes US and UK steam locomotives are very different, US engines have a lot more of the works on the outside. British loading gauges would prevent us using such huge locomotives as the Big Boys, even if they were needed. Even during the British Railways era the designers paid attention to their appearance, with a standard style including the high running plate sloping down to the buffer beam at the front. I dont think British engines ever had headlights as such, the oil lamp on the front, different companies had these in different positions according to the type of train I think, but I know nothing about it.</p>

<p> </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Nice, notwithstanding the flare. Beauty was never a strong design consideration for the Ikoflex, but it is cool ( my experience with the Ikoflex Ic and the Novar lens at http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00baYZ ).<br>

I envy you the Tessar in this case, flare and all (although often I have the Tessar lens and am envying something else like a Sonnar). :(</p>

[randy_cooprider1]

<p>I think you are correct about the non baffled body increasing the light noise. Would be fun to see before and after if you baffle it. Enjoyed the post.</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Aah, steam trains and old cameras....that's why we come here! Trying to photograph black objects into the light will test even modern coatings, so no disgrace there. I find uncoated Tessars quite satisfactory, so the baffling may work, but also there may be some haze inside...not uncommon in a lens of that age.<br>

I have not seen that model of Ikoflex, but I do have the earlier Coffee Can Ikoflex...now that is not pretty! Also have a post war Ikoflex with the Novar lens...amazing how well that performed.<br>

Interesting to note that Zeiss Ikon never fitted anything more exotic that the Tessar, even on the top line Favorite, while the Rolleis were using Planars at that time. Maybe Rollei was such a good lens customer that Zeiss didn't want to tread on their toes?<br>

You have such an amazing steam train culture over there, really jealous! There are a few popping up here, but hard to find. I did visit a stem train workshop in Tasmania, and one of the volunteers did mention that he was saving up for a trip to Blighty to check out all that fabulous hardware you have there.</p>