Ikonta 520 novar

This is a medium format camera (i.e. takes 120 film) from Zeiss Ikon.  It is a half-frame camera - 6 x 4.5 cm negative - which is half of a standard 120 frame of 6 x 9 cm.

Ikonta 520, front view

lens: Novar
focal length:  75mm
apertures: f6.3 to f32
focus range: 4'6" to infinity (that is the scale, actually about 4 feet)
lens fitting: fixed
shutter: Derval
speeds: 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, B, T
flash: n/a
film size: 120

The body is made from cast aluminium.  This body casting is shared between the Ikonta 520, Bob 510 and Nettar 515. It is quite hard to understand why Zeiss Ikon shared the body between three different camera lines instead of calling them all Ikonta (the oldest name) seeing as Bob, Ikonta and Nettar all come with a range of lenses and shutters and can be considered to be one range in effect if not in name.

So, this Ikonta.  The lens is a Novar which is a triplet and performs surprisingly well once stopped down to f8 or smaller.  Ikontas were also available with Tessars at a higher price and wider aperture Novars.  The Novar on this camera is quite a slow lens with a maximum aperture of f6.3.  The focussing is front cell only, rather than the whole lens moving (giving not quite so good image quality) and the focussing scale is in feet indicating that the camera is an official import into the UK.

The shutter is an everset Derval (everset means it does not need cocking before firing as a Klio or Compur would).  This is a fairly crude (and so cheap) shutter with two blades only and only offers three speeds: 1/25, 1/50 and 1/100.  With a slow lens like this camera has, faster shutter speeds would have been superfluous, particularly with the slow, by modern standards, films available in the 1930s.

Detail of rim-set shutter adjuster on Derval shutter

The shutter is a dial set shutter which means that the speed adjustment is by a dial set above the shutter housing.  More modern shutters have a rim set adjuster which is a ring around the shutter housing.  This shutter does not have a V (=Vorlaufwerk) setting for delayed action and as is usual with cameras made before the late 1940s, there is no flash connection or synchronisation.

As I mentioned, the maximum aperture is rather small at f6.3 but the minimum aperture is surprisingly small - f32 - so the range of exposures possible is still respectably large.

A standard photograph with this camera (as with the Bob 510 and Nettar 515) is in portrait format and in this orientation the shutter release is underneath the camera and is uncomfortable to use.  To take landscape pictures, the camera must be used on its side and the shutter release is on the side and easy to use.

King Regula Ip film advance

King Regula Ip

 This is a quite well designed and cheap 35 mm camera from the 1950s. On looking at the Interweb to research this camera, it seems never to have been made.  This highlights a problem with the Interweb articles - they all rely on the same sources and then repeat the mistakes they find.  I have an actual example of a King Regula Ip in front of me and I am quite sure that they made the configuration of this camera.  Therefore, the Interweb articles that exclude this particular configuration are wrong.

The inside of the camera is engraved Regula Ip (not I-p), the shutter is a Prontor SV (not a Prontor S), the lens is a Cassar f2.8, 50mm, and the film advance is a knob (not a lever).

The shutter is still a manual cocking shutter made at a time when Voigtlander's cameras were self-cocking - I assume that Gauthier were still offering both options.  Similarly, the shutter release  is a lever on the shutter housing with an indirect linkage to a shutter release on the top plate.  Again, Voigtlander cameras from this time  have a direct  internal linkage between the shutter release on the top plate and the shutter mechanism.

The SV designation tells us that the shutter is synchronized for flash (s) and has a delay mechanism (V for Vorlaufwerk).  In the SV version there are separate levers for flash synchronisation (either M or X) and for delay.  In this particular camera, the delay is marked on the shutter bezel as 'M' rather than 'V'.

There are eight shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/300 seconds  and apertures from f2.8 to f16. The lens is a triplet and appears to be coated ( there is a blueish sheen to the lens).

Prontor shutters, although the poor relation of Compur shutters, are very good pieces of kit - witness the fact they are still working after (in the case of my oldest camera) 75 years with no attention or servicing.   All other parts of this camera are clearly cheap - or at least built down to a price.  The general feel of the camera is tinny especially when compared to a Zeiss Ikon or Voigtlander  equivalent.

The top plate contains the film advance knob, rewind knob, frame counter and accessory shoe.  It also has the king logo embossed in the metal just in front of the accessory shoe.  There is also a fairly crude serrated lever to free the mechanism for rewinding the film.

Inside,m the take-up spool  is permanently attached and there is a toothed wheel  which engages with the film sprocket holes to advance the frame counter and free the double exposure mechanism which has no effect on the shutter itself but prevents the secondary button on the top plate from being  depressed.

The base plate is completely clear apart form the tripod boss which is the 1/4 inch Whitworth thread.  The camera back is hinged and fits without light seals which is always a plus on an old camera.