[rollei_list] Re: OT - Super Ikonta 6x6 532/16 Film Winding Anomaly
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:40:25 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Lilley" <54moggie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 7:51 AM
Subject: [rollei_list] OT - Super Ikonta 6x6 532/16 Film
Winding Anomaly
>
> Sorry for the off topic but thought I'd run this one by
> you all. A year and
> half ago I sent my Super Ikonta 532/16 B to Henry Schere
> in California for
> an overhaul. Well, the camera is now being worked on and
> as such I talked
> to Henry about defeating the exposure interlock on the
> camera. As you may
> know this camera suffers from overlapping frames
> especially in the beginning
> of the roll. This is supposedly because the camera was
> designed to use
> Zeiss film which was thicker than what is available today.
> I figured if
> Henry could defeat the interlock that prevents double
> exposures, I could
> position the next frame in the camera using the red window
> on the back. The
> film counter would tell me the frame and the little number
> in the window
> would tell me it was spaced properly. What follows is
> Henrys response after
> trying all this out. According the Henry, Zeiss made a
> mistake. Has anybody
> ever come across this or noticed this before? Thanks for
> your time.
>
> Rob
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Our plan to defeat the automatic wind frame stop
> mechanism was undone by
> Zeiss. I tested your camera with a roll of film to see
> how closely the film
> counter matched the red window and got taught a new and
> very big lesson that
> has gone unnoticed and unrevealed to anyone until now.
> Here it is: The red
> window and the frame counter did not match and they did
> not match a lot.
> When the camera frame counter read "11" the red window
> read "8". The
> problem turns out to be very simple and there is no fix
> for it. Inside the
> back of the camera is the notation embossed into the metal
> "B 2 1/4 x 3
> 1/4". The camera is a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 camera and a 2 1/4 x
> 2 1/4 camera and
> so the red window is positioned to read the numbers on the
> film backing
> paper for nine exposures total which is for a 2 1/4 x 3
> 1/4 camera. Now, if
> you look at the Zeiss Ikon catalog the Super Ikonta "B" is
> supposed to be a
> 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 camera. So the back is wrong in two ways.
> The first is that
> it should be embossed "2 1/4 x 2 1/4" instead of "2 1/4 X
> 3 1/4" and the red
> window should be positioned in the middle of the back
> instead of at the top.
> Having figured all this out I decided to check out my two
> Super Ikonta B
> parts bodies to see if I had a real "B" back with the
> right size marking
> with the window in the right place and guess what, both of
> them were just
> like yours and one was made before the war and one was
> made after it. So
> here's what happened. Zeiss screwed it up and made a
> million wrong backs
> and decided to use them rather than dump them. It's
> likely that so many
> backs had been made there never was a chance to correct
> the mistake. After
> all, it didn't matter because the film wind was automatic
> and no one would
> notice the difference. Well, it wouldn't be noticed until
> now. So I'm
> going to go ahead and restore the automatic film wind
> interlock on your
> camera and that will be that. If ever it happens that
> someone sends me a
> Super Ikonta B with the right back I'll be sure to let you
> know but I don't
> think this will ever happen."
>
>
I am not very familiar with the Super Ikonta but a
couple of things occur to me. One is that there were
evideently two film metering mechanisms, one for 11 frames
and the other, on the BX version, giving 12 frames. Why only
11 on the standard B model?
Another point, if the red window is used only to set
the starting point of the film it may well not be on the
center line. Note that the red window in the older versions
of the Rolleicord is on one side, at the bottom. Setting the
first number in this window sets the starting point for the
winder which then winds to the first frame and stops. Later
Rolleicords used the dot and arrow setting but I suspect its
the same point. I wonder if the film counter on the Super
Ikonta works like this.
I can't imagine a reputable company like Zeiss with an
enviable reputation for quality sticking with a goof like
this. Something fishy here. It would be interesting to know
how the Super Ikonta meters the film and why it would yield
uneven spacing.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
Rollei List
- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
Other related posts:
