Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 35

This is a folding camera from Zeiss Ikon based on the medium format Ikonta series. This camera gave rise to two lines of cameras in the mid-50s - the Contina and the Contessa cameras. I have two of these,  an early Ikonta 35 late 1940s to very early 1950s and a slightly updated version.  First I am going to describe the early/original version and then briefly the changes on the updated version.

Ikonta 35 ready for use

lens: Novar

focal length:  45 mm

apertures: f/3.5 to f/22

focus range: 0.8 m to infinity

lens fitting: fixed

shutter: Prontor S

speeds: 1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/300

flash: PC connector

film size: 35 mm

It measures 120 mm by 75 mm by 40 mm (closed), 80 mm (open) and weighs 440 g.

Ikonta 35 with its carry case

The lens door opens downwards which leaves plenty of room at the sides for the fingers of both hands. On my Ikonta 520 (120 film camera) - and my Nettar folders - the lens door is released by pressing a button on the top and the lens door snaps open on springs and pulls the lens forward to its operating position. On this camera, you slide a button on the top of the lens door and pull the door down by hand. When the door is fully open you have to give it a firm press to click it into place.

Ikonta 35 - folded

The lens is a Novar made by Rodenstock, which is a triplet.  During WWII, bombing of Dresden destroyed Carl Zeiss's lens factory and after German partition West German Zeiss set up new lens making facilities in Oberkochen. It was a long time before they could make enough lenses and so used lenses by Rodenstock and Schneider. Novar lenses are usual excellent if stopped down to f/8 or so - which is what I generally do for all lenses - so I am expecting this lens to be a good performer. Its maximum aperture is f/3.5 which is not spectacular  but plenty wide enough for most practical purposes. The focal length is 4.5 cm - this dates the lens as usual practice in the first half of the 20th century was to quote focal length in cm and in the second half of the 20th century to quote in mm - so, the last of pre-war stock or very early post-war production. The serial number of the camera is followed by an asterisk which I am told probably means the camera was partially made from pre-WWII components so I expect the lens is a pre-WWII lens - the last of Zeiss Ikon's stock? 45 mm is 'normal' for 35 mm film so this lens will render scenes much as human eyes see them.

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Blog copyright by John Margetts, 2014
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Ikonta 35 - right hand view

The shutter is a Prontor S - pre-war Zeiss Ikon used their own Klio name for Prontor II and Prontor S shutters - they seem to have abandoned this after the war.  The S signifies the shutter is synchronised for flash but there is no means of selecting between X or M synch (this was introduced on later Prontor S shutters  - see below - and was standard on the Prontor SV and Prontor SVS shutters). At this age, the shutter needs to be cocked by hand. This is different on this camera to any other shutter that I have come across. You pull the cocking lever anti-clockwise and the lever pulls a second lever across - the first level returning to its rest position.

Ikonta 35 - left hand view

The Prontor S shutter has a top speed or 1/300 which I generally find to be fast enough. My usual films are either 100 ISO or 200 ISO and this allows me to use f/8 or f/11 in good light year round. The shutter has a self-timer (Vorlaufwerk) which we are always told not to use on old cameras. On this camera, the self-timer is very hesitant and took over a minute to fire the shutter - design time is eight seconds! As is usual with old cameras, the slow shutter speeds are way off and unusable - 1/5 seconds is about 5 seconds. On the other hand, I use these old cameras hand-held and so my longest exposure will be 1/50. the slow speeds and fast speeds use different mechanisms within the shutter - 1/50, 1/100 and 1/300 are in the right general area, judging by ear and I shall be surprised if they are not usable. Half a stop either way is well within the latitude of film.

The shutter release is a strange affair. It is not the lever provided by the shutter makers, nor is it a body release. It is a secondary lever attached to the shutter barrel at the top. It is marginally better than the primary release but not as good as the body releases that Zeiss Ikon were using in the late 1930s. Actually, it is very similar in position and action to the shutter release on the Tenax I of 1939 (both cameras designed by Hubert Nerwin). There is also the ubiquitous cable release socket.

The adjuster for the aperture is non-standard as well. It is a toothed wheel on the left side of the shutter housing which is not obvious without the manual (I do not have the manual) and took me a few moments to work out.

Ikonta 35 - top plate

The top plate is very uncluttered. In the centre is a raised part housing the (very small) viewfinder. It measures 9 mm by  6 mm (the same as on my Voigtlander 35mm folders of the same date) and is the weakest part of the camera. This is a reverse Galilean finder ('reverse' because it is like looking through a telescope from the wrong end giving a reduced size view).

On the left-hand end is a reminder for film type - daylight colour, artificial light colour and monochrome. On the right-hand end is a tripod boss. This is the only time I have seen a tripod boss on the top of a camera and means that the camera would be upside down when fitted to a tripod. It would be just about possible to fire the shutter with the release lever but I suspect that anyone who put this camera on a tripod would have used a cable release. The MK II Ikonta 35 had the tripod boss on the lens door - a very big improvement! At either end of the top plate is a rectangular strap lug.

Ikonta 35 - bottom plate

The bottom plate has the film advance on left-hand end - this  is a knob. On the right-hand end is the rewind knob and in the centre of the base plate is a frame counter. In the centre of the film advance knob is a button to allow the take-up spool to turn backwards for rewinding the film.

Ikonta 35 in use.

I have run a roll of film through this camera now.  It is a nice camera to use (I know 'nice' is not a good word to use here) with no design problems getting in the way.  Using it is very similar to using a folding Voigtlander Vito camera.  The shutter release falls naturally (for a right-handed person) under the index finger of the right hand and the ring finger on the left hand can easily turn the film advance.

My main problem with using this camera was, as with all cameras of this age, the small viewfinder. I have developed a technique now of deciding the framing of the picture without looking through the viewfinder, taking my glasses off and positioning dominant parts of the picture without the view being in focus.  This actually works quite well.

The camera has a fault with the film advance mechanism - possibly two related faults. Sometimes when I try to advance the film, the advance knob will not turn. To get this to turn, I have to put my thumb over the lens (to prevent any light getting in), cock the shutter and release it a second time.  This was necessary four times in a 24 exposure roll of film. This suggests that the double exposure prevention mechanism fails to release the film advance on the first firing of the shutter. The second fault is that sometimes the film will advance two frames instead of stopping at one frame - this happened a couple of times wasting two frames. Apart from these two intermittent faults the camera behaved perfectly. There are no light leaks either from the back or from the bellows, exposure is fine as is focus.

New improved version.

Before sharing the results of the test film, I am going to briefly discuss the changes made between the original design as described above and the next version.

There are a couple of minor changes between the original version and the next version. The most obvious is the addition of an accessory shoe above the viewfinder, on the top plate. This is a 'cold shoe'  - there are no electrical contacts for a flash gun yet.

The other change is the use of a more modern Prontor S shutter. On the original Ikonta 35, the Prontor S shutter was synched for flash but there was no means of selecting the synch delay. There was also a self-timer lever. This updated version of the Ikonta 35 has an improved Prontor S that offers either X, M or F flash synch. For X synch you set the selector lever to X (or red) - the flash will fire as soon as the shutter is open. For M or F synch, it is more complicated. First, you set the flash synch selector to yellow. This will give you synch for F flash bulbs (the flash is fired 5 milliseconds before the shutter is fully open to allow the brightness to build up). For M synch, you set the flash synch selector to yellow and the self-timer to M which will fire the flash 20 milliseconds before the shutter is fully open, again to allow the brightness to build up. To use the self-timer actually as a self-timer, the flash synch selector must be set to X/red

There are also a couple of very minor changes - the shutter assembly no longer has a cable release socket so Zeiss Ikon has added one at the top on the other side to the shutter release lever. The release lever is now about twice the diameter of the original one. The last change is that the focal length of the lens is now quoted as 45 mm rather than 4.5 cm.

There are also changes to the leather case. It is now an every ready type case which has a secondary film advance on the underside that meshes with the film advance on the camera. this means the camera can now be used without removing it from its case. There is also a tripod boss on the underside of the case which means it is no longer necessary to have the camera upside-down to attach it to a tripod.

The photographs ( from the original version):

St John the Baptist, Lincoln

Orthodox church, Lincoln

St Mary's Church, Frampton, Lincolnshire

St Peter & St Paul, Kirton, Lincolnshire

St Peter & St Paul, Kirton

St Peter & St Paul, Kirton

St John the Baptist, Lincoln

St Mary le Wigford, Lincoln

St Benedict, Lincoln

St Benedict, Lincoln

St Mary's, Frampton

Gravestone, St Mary's, Frampton

St Mary's

St Mary's

St Peter & St Paul, Kirton

Exa 500

This is my fourth Ihagee camera and my third Exa.  The original Exa was a cut-down low-cost version of the Exakta and then the Exa line developed in its own right.

Exa 500 - front view

The Exa 500 is the end of the line for Exa cameras  and was developed after Ihagee was subsumed into VEB Pentacon, the state camera manufacturer.  The lineage from the Exakta is apparent in the shape.  This camera still has the rhomboidal shape introduced with the original 127 format Exakta in 1933.  It also still has the shutter release on the left, although the film advance is now on the right.  Another change is the fixed pentaprism viewfinder, so I cannot use the delightful waist level finder with this camera.

The immediate predecessor of this camera was the Exa II.  The body of the Exa IIa and this Exa 500 are identical although there are some internal differences.

Exa 500 - top view showing rhomboidal shape

The Exa 500 has a vertical cloth focal plane shutter which travels from bottom to top.  This shutter provides speeds from 1/2 to 1/500 seconds plus B.  This means it is twice as fast as the Exa II.  There are two flash settings: 1/60 for electronic flash and 1/15 for flash bulbs. This camera follows the Exa standard and flash synch is achieved by aligning a dot on the speed dial with either a zigzag icon or a bulb icon.  On the front of the body is a single PC connector.

This camera also has a shutter lock beside the viewfinder - cover the red dot to shoot, uncover to store the camera.  The only other real change between the Exa II and the Exa 500 is that the Exa 500 has an instant return mirror so the viewfinder does not go blank when you fire a shot.

Like other Exakta/Exa cameras, the film take-up spool is removable and can be replaced with an empty film cassette.  Doing this obviates the need to rewind the film but it does cost you one frame of film.  There is no internal knife to cut the film like the Exaktas have so this must be done after opening the back.  The only real advantage of this is the possibility of developing half a roll of film but I cannot imaging that many people have ever bothered.

The film advance is on the right as is normal in non-Ihagee cameras.  It has quite a short stroke of just over 90 degrees (compared to the Exakta Varex II where the advance travels about 300 degrees).

The back of these cameras come away from the camera body in one piece with the base.  This is supposed to make it easier to load film but I find this method harder.

Exa 500 - inside and the separated back  and take-up spool

Exa cameras were supplied with a variety of lenses depending on how much the customer wanted to pay.  This camera has a Meyer-Optik Domiplan. This is a triplet design so not as good as the Tessar option, but the Domiplan performs well enough when stopped down.  The lens is a semi-automatic lens - the diaphragm closes when the shutter release is pressed but stays open for composition and focussing.

The Domiplan achieves this automation by a hinged lug that protrudes over the shutter release - the photographer presses this lug which in turn presses the shutter release.

This mechanism in the Domiplan lens has a weak link that is prone to seizing but this particular lens performs OK.  My other Domiplan lens needed the mechanism cleaning with naphtha before it would work satisfactorily.

This camera would also work with my Exa fit Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar (we need to specify Carl Zeiss Jena in contradiction to Carl Zeiss Opton, the new (at the time) Carl Zeiss operation in West Germany.  East German Carl Zeiss Jena lenses are generally better than Carl Zeiss Opton lenses).

In use, this camera is much as you would expect.  The shutter speed selector is rather loose and I was not sure I was actually selecting any speed, but I tried exposures at various shutter speeds and they have all come out well exposed so the shutter speed selector must be doing its job.

There is a red flag in the viewfinder to tell you that you need to advance the film before taking the next shot.  In previous Exa cameras this was not necessary as the mirror would only return to the viewing position when you had wound on.  In this model, the mirror is an instant return mirror and it would seem that the makers thought users might get confused with such sophistication, hence the red flag.

The camera is light-proof (not a given with old cameras) and the shutter is moving smoothly.

Here are some sample photographs from my test film:

Serial numbers to help with dating cameras.

This is information that I have collected over the last few years from a number of sources.  Some of those sources contradict each other so I have had to make decisions as to what I wish to keep.  I cannot guarantee its accuracy.

The date a lens or shutter is made is not always the date the camera was made.  Both lenses and shutters are made and sold to camera manufacturers in batches.  A camera made in one year may have a lens made the previous year.  I have at least one camera (Zeiss Ikon Icarette) when the shutter was made the year before the lens.  It is also possible that either the shutter or the lens is a later addition made by a repairer.

Here are the links to the files:

Voigtlander lenses

Schneider lenses

Compur shutters

Carl Zeiss lenses (East and West Germany included)

Olympus Trip

Zeiss Ikon Voigtlander Vitessa 100 SR

This camera outlines the dangers of buying online.  One is reliant on the written description given by the seller and a photo or two.  Unfortunately, it is just not possible to physically examine what you are buying.

In this case, the camera was described as 'good and clean' with the seller saying that they knew nothing about cameras and so could not comment on functionality.  That last should have been a red flag to me - anyone can press the shutter release and tell if anything happens or not.  Similarly, other controls either turn, press or not and any seller can report such.

This camera is missing the battery cover which is blindingly obvious on even a cursory examination of the underside of the camera.  Less obvious but still well visible is the loose leatherette on the top (not visible in the picture supplied on Ebay) which covers two holes from which the screws have been removed.  Clearly, someone has attempted to take this camera apart.  The seller?  Or did the seller buy it in this condition and try to pass their mistake on?  I cannot know which but a small honesty on the part of the seller would have saved me buying an unusable camera.

I could have taken this up with Ebay but the cost to me was less than £10.00 including postage so it is not a major issue.  I just do not like people being dishonest with me and they now have a negative feedback for their troubles.

As to the camera itself, there is much to admire.  This model is one of the last engineered German cameras - Leica excepted - before Japanese plastic took over the world.  I don't mean that in a derogatory way as Japanese plastic has much to recommend it if only in weight.

This camera is heavy and you are not going to forget that you are carrying it.  The three main controls are easy to find by feel - at this time Zeiss Ikon had taken to putting plastic tabs on the focussing ring, aperture ring and shutter speed ring.

The aperture ring is between the other two and has the widest tabs.  The shutter speed ring is closest to the camera body and has tabs that extend to less than half the circumference of the ring.  The focussing ring is at the front and has only a small tab at the bottom below the lens.

This set-up means that it is easy to find the correct control by feel - the values are repeated in the viewfinder with a rangefinder spot in the centre for focussing.

The rangefinder is the worst aspect of this camera - the rangefinder spot is fairly small and quite faint.  It works fine but could be easier to use.

Exa IIa

Exa IIA front view

lens: Meyer Domiplan

focal length:  50mm

apertures: 2.8 to 22 in 1/2 stops

focus range: 0.75m to infinity

lens fitting: Exakta bayonet

shutter: vertical cloth focal plane

speeds: 2, 4, 8, 30, 60, 125, 250

flash: bulb or electronic

film size: 35 mm

Externally, this is very like the Exa Ia and exactly like the Exa 500; it has the usual Exakta trapezoidal shape.  The layout on the front fascia is the same - shutter release on the left at the top, PC connector on the right at the top.  The lens fitting is the standard Exakta double bayonet (an internal bayonet for short focal length lenses and a larger external bayonet for longer focal length lenses).

A PDF manual is available on my Google Drive

There are differences, however.  The IIa has a fixed pentaprism and eye-level viewfinder with a Fresnal focussing screen with a split-image centre.  The shutter is now a vertically running cloth focal plane shutter rather than the strange mirror shutter of the Ia.  Along with the more standard shutter comes a larger range of shutter speeds  - eight speeds with the fastest  now being 1/250 seconds.

The removable back/base is exactly the same as is the shutter lock on the left of the viewfinder.   Another change is that the rewind knob is now a fold-out crank.

Exa IIa, rear view

With a vertical focal plane shutter, it should have been possible to increase the flash synchronisation  speeds but they are rather slow - 1/15 for bulbs or 1/30 for electronic flash.  The fact that bulb flash needs a slowest synch speed suggests that the only synch available is as the first shutter curtain ends its travel, bulb synch relying on the shutter being still fully open when the flash bulb reaches full intensity.

The Exa IIa came with a Meyer Domiplan lens rather than the Carl Zeiss Tessar that was standard with the Exa Ia.  I have yet to see the results from this lens but it has the reputation of delivering good results when stopped down.

This lens, like the Tessar, automatically stops down the aperture when the shutter release is pressed.  Exa lenses manage this by means of a lug on the lens barrel that covers the shutter release on the camera body.  The shutter is activated by pressing this lug which in turn presses the shutter release.

On the Domiplan lens, this lug is hinged and so presses the shutter release through an arc.  Because the release is not pressed straight in it can cause internal damage to the release mechanism.  This is made worse if the lug does not exactly line up with the shutter release so that it presses on one side of the release button.

shutter release lugs - Domiplan on left, Tessar on right

There is a further fault with the Domiplan.  As mentioned above, the release lug is hinged and this hinge dries out with time.  When the lubricant has dried out, the lug will not always return to its rest position after a photograph is taken.  This means that the aperture does not re-open to f2.8, leaving the viewfinder dark.  In use, this is easily remedied by flicking the lug with the shooting finger but it is annoying, nonetheless.  I have applied clock oil to this hinge and it is showing signs of freeing itself up.

4 February 2013:

Having run a test film through this camera, it is difficult to assess the camera's performance.  All the pictures ended up bright green.  This could not have  been down to the camera - it is an SLR and I would have seen the green through the viewfinder.

There are three possible causes for this green - defective development, defective film or defective scanning.  The staff in the lab assure me that mine is the only film to have come out green and so they do not think it was their development.

Defective scanning is a possibility but I would think it to be an automated process and if they have not changed any settings then the scanning process should not produce any colour cast.

The third possibility is a defective film.  The film I used was Agfaphoto Vista + 200 ISO, made under contract in Japan by, I think, Fuji-film.  Reputable makes of film should be reliable but in any factory process it is possible for the occasional item to escape the quality assurance system.

I am thinking that the reason for the green cast in my test film is the middle one - a defective scan - looking at the negatives, there is evidence of all three colours on the perforated rebate of the film (these are the frame numbers in magenta (the negative of green) and test lines in red and green (the negatives of cyan and yellow)) so it looks like at least part of the film has the requisite colour layers in the emulsion and the development has developed these correctly.  When I have time, I will scan the film myself to check the scan quality.

In addition to the green colour there are other problems which are definitely down to the camera.  At the bottom of each picture is a very over-exposed strip - this equates to the top of the film in the camera.  As the shutter travels vertically from bottom to top, this is most likely caused by the second shutter curtain hesitating slightly at the end of its travel.  This might cure itself with use which is quite common with 'stiff' mechanisms in old cameras.  I also need to be aware that I used this camera in sub-zero temperatures.  The lubricant in the shutter will be thicker at these temperatures and the shutter might well work better in warmer weather.

In general, looking at the negatives, the film has been exposed appropriately with good, but not excessive image density.

Some of the negatives are blank but this is down to operator error.  The shutter release is in the 'wrong' place.  Years of practise have taught me to be careful with the placing of my right hand when holding the camera.  With Exas I need to be careful with the placing of my left hand instead.  I also need to learn to use the shutter lock when not actually shooting.

This is my second Exa camera and my third roll of film on Exas.  That is enough to know that I like using Exa cameras with their various idiosyncrasies.  See further down for well exposed pictures from my second roll of film.

Witham by market Square

Lindum Terrace, Lincoln

Steep Hill, Lincoln

 I now have a test film with correct colours.  Nothing to complain about there,

Ihagee Exa 1a

Ihagee Exa 1a

Exa 1a, front view

This is a German SLR camera made by Ihagee of Dresden, Germany.  Ihagee (short for Industrie- und Handelsgesellschaft) was started in 1912 by a Dutchman in Germany.  Until the mid-1930s, Ihagee made more or less standard folding film cameras.  In 1933 they introduced the first Exakta, an SLR which used 127 film (the roll film equivalent of 35mm).  Using 127 film enabled them to make very small cameras.  In 1936 they introduced the Kine Exakta, an SLR which used motion picture (35mm) film (hence Kine).  The Exa range was a smaller and simpler version of the Exakta.

lens: Carl Zeiss Tessar
focal length: 50mm
apertures: 2.8 to 22
focus range: 0.5 m to infinity
lens fitting: Exakta bayonet
shutter: Exakta mirror shutter
speeds: 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/175
flash: PC connector, bulb or electronic synch
film size:  35 mm

The Exa 1a was introduced in 1964 and was produced until 1977.  In some markets it was called Elbaflex 175, Exakta 100 or VX 100. The Exa II range were made concurrently with the EXA I range.  The camera can be dated by the origin engraved on the top plate.  This ranged from 'Ihagee Dresden' to 'aus Dresden', the Pentacon tower, to 'Dresden' to no engraving.  Mine has 'aus Dresden'.  The back of the camera has 'MADE IN GDR' stamped in the leatherette as well as '1' in a triangle.  The '1' in a triangle is a quality mark indicating the finished product is of the first quality.   (There were briefly two Ihagees - the original Dresden Ihagee in East Germany and a new Ihagee formed by the pre-war owner in West Germany - this camera was made in East Germany.)

This is an idiosyncratic  camera in some ways.  The camera is rather wide front to back (150 mm) in the middle and narrows at each end with the typical Exakta trapezoidal shape.  The shutter release is on the left side on the front and presses in rather than down.  The shutter release continues through a lug on the lens which shuts down the iris diaphragm just before the shutter is released.  The shutter itself is idiosyncratic  - it is neither an leaf shutter in the lens nor a focal plane shutter next to the film.  Rather, the mirror acts as the shutter in a way that I do not quite understand - but see here for details.  The viewfinder and pentaprism are removable, the focussing screen replaceable and the whole thing can be replaced with a waist-level finder.

Ihagee did not make lenses so the Exa 1a was supplied with various lenses. My Exa 1a has a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar (as opposed to a Carl Zeiss Opton Tessar from West Germany) dating from 1970.  It is a f2.8 50mm lens with an Ihagee bayonet fitting.  Any Exakta or Exa lens should fit although I am told that long lenses (i.e. 100 mm) will cause vignetting.  There is an idiosyncratic aspect to the Ihagee bayonet - it is, in fact, two bayonets - one inside the mouth (for most lenses) and one outside the mouth for larger lenses.  The lens focusses from 0.5 m to infinity and has apertures from f2.8 to f22 available in 1/2 stop click positions.  As mentioned above, the shutter release acts through a lug on the lens and stops the lens down as it releases the shutter.

Shutter speeds are 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/175 (+ B).  Because of the way the mirror is used as the shutter, faster shutter speeds are not possible.  On the shutter speed dial there is a red dot for synchronising the shutter  for flash.  For electronic flash this is 1/60 seconds and for bulb flash it is 1/30 seconds but the actual setting is against a lightning icon for electronic flash and against a bulb icon for bulb flash.  There is a lever to the left of the viewfinder that will lock the shutter to prevent accidental exposures - a feature I wish more cameras would have.

There is no accessory shoe for a flash gun but grooves around the viewfinder eyepiece suggest that an optional shoe might have been available.  This does not matter to me - I never use flash - except I usually put a film type reminder in the accessory shoe to remind me that there is a film loaded and which type it is.

Exa 1a, top view

The film advance lever is rather small but moves the film on with one movement.  In the centre of the film advance is the frame counter   A wheel under the the film advance sets a reminder for the type of film in use - DIN, ASA, negative or reversal.

The viewfinder gives a 1:1 view of the scene and with the focussing screen supplied is clear and bright.  As is usual with a new old camera, near the end of my test film I am beginning to use the camera automatically.  I also have a waist-level viewfinder for this camera.

Waist-level finder, closed

The viewfinders snap out of position fairly easily when you want to change them (but are firmly held in place normally going on) and both the finder and the focussing screen can be replaced.  Both my focussing screens are plain ground glass.

Waist-level finder, open

 It is fairly easy to use from waist level but critical focussing is difficult from that distance.  Using zone focussing, this viewfinder is certainly ok for composing the shot and is much more discrete than holding the camera to your eye.  For critical focussing, there is a built-in magnifier but to use this, you need to raise the camera to face level and you then lose the advantage of having a waist-level finder - but still better than changing finders mid session, I would think.

Waist-level finder with magnifier

I think this camera will be a user if there are no shutter problems or light leaks.

15-12-2012:  

I have just bought a 2X teleconverter for this camera.  It cost me £7.00 including postage.  It was described on Ebay as a Pentax teleconverter and only attracted one bid - mine!  I could easily see it was an Exakta fit converter by the offset shutter release on the lens body - a feature that I have only ever seen on an Exakta (or Exa) camera lens.  It is excellent condition - there are no moving parts to go wrong - and just needed a good clean.

2X teleconverter, Exakta fit

 Unfortunately, I cleaned it with ROR lens cleaner and sprayed directly onto the glass instead of on to a tissue and I now have condensation between the lens elements.  I am thinking that if the moisture got in that easily, it will dry out again fairly easily. When it has dried out, I will try it and post the results here.

2X teleconverter, top view

12-1-2013: 

I now have my test film developed so here are some of the test pictures.  They disclose a slight fault as many of the pictures have a dark wedged shaped line at the top of the picture.  It is present on the negatives so is not down to the scanning.  I suspect the shutter is slightly out of line.  Bearing in mind that this camera has lain unused for many years before I bought it, I am hoping that the fault will rectify itself with the camera being used.

Lincoln High Street through the Stonebow

Lincoln Corn Exchange

River Idle at Gringley Carr

Lincoln High Street

19/07/2013

I now have finished my second film on this camera and the shutter is working fine.  Those black wedges have gone from the tops of the frames entirely.  Many old cameras that are a bit 'hesitant' just need to be used for a couple of films to be alright.

The Trent, viewed from the Nottingham-Lincoln train

Canal in Nottingham