|
Post by heath on May 18, 2006 7:56:08 GMT -5
I have a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/2 6x9 folder that is in very good condition..... exept for one thing. The shutter/lens assembly is half missing. I would dearly love to restore this beauty, but so far have not been able to find the parts needed, namely a complete shutter/lens assembly. I have been looking for junkers but nothing has shown up. The cameras I have seen on ebay have been complete, and I don't want to wreck a complete camera to rebuild mine. That would be insane.
What I am after is an Ikonta 520/2 that the body and bellows are in a very bad state, but the shutter/lens assembly is intact, or even just the assembly in working order.
Do any of you know where I could possibly find either of these? Or does any of the members here have such items stashed away in a box or drawer somewhere?
If possible, coould some of you keep your eyes open for what I am after. I would gladly pay what you paid plus shipping to Australia for it. Plus I would be eternally greatful for this.
Thank you.
Heath
|
|
|
Post by herron on May 18, 2006 9:56:54 GMT -5
Heath: I'll keep my eyes open when I'm prowling the flea markets and garage/estate sales.
|
|
PeterW
Lifetime Member
Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
|
Post by PeterW on May 18, 2006 18:28:34 GMT -5
Hi Heath,
Also keep your eyes open for a junk Nettar 515/2. The Nettars were made in the same factory as the Ikontas, the old Contessa Nettel factory in Stuttgart, and shared the same body.
The Nettar is sometimes called the bargain basement Ikonta, and that's what it started out as in 1934, but during the rest of the 1930s it was offered with optional better lens and shutter equipment and some of the top of the range Nettars were better equipped than the bottom of the range Ikontas.
Except for the very early pre-launch Ikontas all the parts are interchangeable between 515/2 Nettars and 520/2 Ikontas, so the lens and shutter assembly fits either, though you might need a diffferent thickness paper shim behind the shutter. In fact, if a Nettar 515/2 and an Ikonta 520/2 have the same make of shutter (Derval, Telma or Compur) you should in theory be able to swap over the pairs of lens components because the threads and separation was standard.
The Bob 510/2 from 1938-39 is also very similar and I think the lens and shutter from one will go straight on to a Nettar or Ikonta, but I can't gurantee it.
At the moment I'm restoring an 'odd man out' 520/2 Ikonta. I'm told it's one of a pre-launch or pre-production batch, serial number P007682, made in early 1928. The model wasn't announced till, I believe, June 1929 and most dealers outside Germany got their stocks slightly later, probably in time for Christmas 1929 and the Ikonta's sometimes referred to as starting in 1930.
Mine's almost the same as the later production models but the body is slightly larger and not so elegantly styled, the self-erecting struts are slightly different, the door at the front is flat, not domed, and it looks generally slightly more old-fashioned, but it's stamped Ikonta 520/2. It's got an f/6.3 Novar which, quite unusually for a Novar, is numbered (883218) in a simple three-speed Derval 'everset' shutter. I believe this is the base model lens and shutter with which it was launched.
No great shakes as regards specification, but mine's quite a rare bird, or so I'm told by a Zeiss Ikon specialist collector, which is why I'm restoring it. It's been sadly neglected and been in the wars rather, but it's restorable. I don't know how many of these were made, nor how many went on the market, but I'm told it wasn't many.
Peter W
|
|
|
Post by heath on May 19, 2006 0:44:27 GMT -5
Thanks for the information and held guys. I did not know that the Nettar 515/2 was esentially the same camera as the Ikonta 520/2. You learn something new every day.
These cameras are very hard to come by here in Australia, and when you do find them, people want an arm and a leg for them.
Peter, mine has the serial number of Q 66683. Is there any way of finding out approximately when it was made? I woould love to find this info.
Heath
|
|
PeterW
Lifetime Member
Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
|
Post by PeterW on May 19, 2006 6:08:48 GMT -5
Hi Heath,
You asked:
I don't have a list of Zeiss Ikon body serial numbers, but there are two other things which could help date your camera.
It will have a Zeiss lens and there will be a serial number on the front element of this - unless it's a Novar, not very many of these were numbered for some reason.
If it has a Compur shutter there will be a serial number in a panel somewhere round the outside of the shutter body on the patterned black part.
If you can quote either or both of these numbers I may be able to help with dating.
Peter W
|
|
|
Post by heath on May 21, 2006 6:47:49 GMT -5
Thanks again Peter. I have looked on my Ikonta, and the only identifying feature on the shutter is the serian number 1040979 that is on the left hand side next to the support strut when you are looking at it from the front.
Heath
|
|
PeterW
Lifetime Member
Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
|
Post by PeterW on May 21, 2006 14:29:20 GMT -5
Hi Heath,
If it's a Compur shutter on your Ikonta the serial number 1040979 would date it as mid to late 1929, the year the Ikonta was launched, so it's an early one.
Also, if it is a Compur I would guess it's a Compur size 0, the size usually fitted to 6x9 and 6x6 folders. You can check by the dimensions. The overall diameter will be approx 58mm, and the thickness approx 20mm (give or take half a mm on either dimension). The hole in the lens panel to take it will be 34.6mm.
If it is a Compur size 0 the front and rear lens elements will fit in ANY OTHER Compur size 0 (M32 thread) and any other Compur size 0 will fit your camera. This widens the search a lot because this size Compur was fitted to literally dozens of German and other European 6x9 and 6x6 folders from 1929 right through. All you need to search for is a scrap folder with a good size 0 Compur. The only thing you have to watch is that on cameras with a body shutter release the release lever on the shutter came out of the body in a different place (about 7 o'clock or 5 o'clock depending on whether the release button was on the left or right of the top plate). At that date, your Ikonta will have a shutter mounted release lever. Also, if you swap shutters, with or without a different lens, the serial number will be all wrong for dating the camera, but that will be a problem for some photo historian in the future! HEE-HEE.
Another possibility is if you come across a junk folder with a similar size Derval shutter. This was a fairly simple four-speed (sometimes three speed) shutter and was the cheaper option on the Ikonta. It was usually fiitted with a Novar lens. An earlier one with the speeds set by a dial at the top would be quite in keeping with a 1929 camera. I'm not sure if the lens elements from yours would fit because I don't know the lens thread and separation on a Derval but they may, though the f/stop markings may be out. Certainly a Derval fits the same size hole in the lens panel and the fixing ring is the same thread. I know that because quite recently I was restoring an old Voigtländer folder and had to cut the shutter fixing ring off. The ring from a junk Derval fitted perfectly.
I haven't got a spare suitable shutter, and I don't go to as many camera fairs as I used to because there aren't as many these days, but when I do I'll have a root through the junk boxes to see if I can find anything. Can't promise but you never know what you find. Even if it's not suitable for your Ikonta, or if you've found a shutter by then, I'll get it anyway for useful spares stock.
Peter
|
|