A Few More Old Cameras

In this last installment of my old camera collection, I will present four different ones: a Zeiss Ikon Ikarex SLR, a Realist Stereo, a Flexaret Automat, and a Polaroid Image Pro.

Stereo Realist 1401

This camera is a gift from the late Bud Tucker who lived next to Jan’s parents’ house. He was a photography and camera fan and had many in his collection. The Realist was designed and developed by Seton Rochwite and presented to the David White Company. Although they made slightly different models later, my copy is from the first round introduced in 1947.

As expected, the camera features two lenses separated by about the same distance between the two eyes of humans. That placement provides sufficient overlap on two images to create the stereo vision, especially at medium distance. They also made attachments for close and distant framing shots. The lenses are marked Paragon Anastigmat and the aperture range is from f/3.5 to f/22.

It has a viewfinder and a rangefinder focusing, located at the bottom of the camera. That placement uses your forehead as support. The focusing is done by rotating a knurled knob on the right side of the body while viewing through the rangefinder window. The rangefinder windows are just outside the lens edges and the view is carried via prisms to the back of the camera for viewing.

The 35mm film was framed by jumping over the exposed ones. The camera format was also known as 5-p or 5 perf as each frame was 5 perforations wide. According to the Camera Wiki website, the 23.4 x 24 mm frames were marked A for right and B for left and sequenced like 1A-blank-2A-1B-3A-2B-4A-3B-etc.

The camera still seems to function from rangefinder focusing to a “correct-sounding” shutter. No markings are visible on the camera except for an embossed reference to its manufacturer inside the body. I remember seeing some photographs that Bud took in a stereo viewer, but I have not loaded or shot any film with it. Having the film developed and slides mounted for viewing will be a challenge today. But the hefty camera echoes sounds and images from a bygone era. Here is Stereo Realist.

Click on the images to see them larger, uncropped, and read their titles.

Zeiss Ikon Voigtländer Icarex 35 S TM

This 35mm SLR Zeiss came to me by way of Ergun. I believe it belonged to his brother-in-law. This old camera was originally designed by Voigtländer but released after they merged with Zeiss under the joint name. This model has a screw-in lens mount and the S TM denotes that distinction from its earlier sibling with a bayonet mount.

The Ultron f/1.8 lens closes down to f/16 and its focal plane shutter has a maximum speed of 1/1000. The pentaprism is not removable and the CdS light meter requires the actual aperture opening to determine the exposure. Focusing gets some help from a diagonal split-image zone at the center, and the exposure is determined by centering a needle in a notch in the viewfinder. The button battery was missing, so I don’t know if the light meter still functions.

Like many old cameras, this Iconta is also quite heavy, with substantial metal construction. The Icarex series cameras were manufactured between 1966 and 1972 when Zeiss stopped making cameras. Meet the oldie from around 1966.

Polaroid ImagePro (SpectraPro)

This one certainly comes from Ergun! It was one of the later Polaroids and had advanced features like LED display and better lenses. It was known as the Image series in Europe, and in the US, Spectra. It has been on a closet shelf for at least 20 years. I pulled it off the shelf like the others, dusted a few accumulated spots, and started photographing it.

Although the display did not show anything while photographing it, I was surprised to see the LED display turn on after a while, the film pack was still in it! I was not sure if it was an empty film pack or if it had film as well. I came downstairs, asked Jan to pose for me, and pressed the shutter. Whurrr, nothing!

I thought it was an empty film pack and opened the front (with difficulty). No, there was the edge of a sheet of film but it could not push through. I pulled it out and tried it again with the same results. The battery was good enough to power the LED display but not strong enough to push the film through the rollers. The other contributing factor could have been the chemicals embedded in small pods on the film edge might have hardened. In any case, that’s the reason you see the film pack next to the camera in the lead image!

Polaroid defined an era in photography in many ways. The magic of instant photography, the unique qualities of Polaroid images, and the huge cameras they made for one-of-a-kind originals were legendary. Until their SX-70 model, all Polaroid films needed to be pulled out manually, timed for development and then peeled apart. The process could challenge many users and the self-developing SX-70 film was welcomed. They have developed and produced many different cameras and film, following the SX-70 like the Image and Spectra series.

The Pro models had many advanced features like manual exposure control and easy multiple exposures. Alas, the film is no longer made for me to try! I can only look at the old film pack with amazement that its battery remained intact and with some juice! Here is the ImagePro.

Meopta Flexaret VI Automat

After receiving encouraging words for the photographs I took with a camera I borrowed from my uncle, I convinced my parents to buy me a camera. This is the first camera I have ever purchased, probably in 1963. It was modeled after Rolleiflex cameras and the TLR cameras were desirable in those days. I took many rolls of film with it for 4-5 years until I graduated from college and to a new Exacta VX 1000.

Flexaret was made in Czechoslovakia from 1939 till 1970. My model, Felexaret VI was introduced in 1962 and I probably bought one in 1963. It had a 35mm adaptor which I probably tried once or twice, but I used it mainly as a medium-format film camera. It took 6×6 cm frames and the quality of the images was very good. The body is made of aluminum and covered with textured gray vinyl which gives it a brighter look.

The lenses are Meopta Belar, 80mm f/3.5 and the optical quality is quite good. The aperture setting and shutter speed are locked so that a good exposure value will be retained even if you change one or the other. The locking mechanism is quite simple, a double-notched lever at about 4 o’clock position latches on the edges of a cogwheel.

Focusing is done using the double-knobbed lever below the lens. I remember it being quite easy to use with either hand. The shutter button is located on the right edge of the camera and around the corner is the film advance knob. The waist-level viewfinder was easy to see then, but I find it difficult now. There is also a magnifying glass that can be easily flipped so that you can bring it to your eye to see the ground glass viewfinder. It is still operational and I have a roll of film in it. But, I don’t remember when I loaded it nor do I recall its speed! Meet my first camera, Flexaret VI.

Many square frames from the early 1960s taken with this camera are in a related post.

I promise not to bore you with more old cameras after this one! In case you may wander, the background color is an indirect way of tipping my hat off to the film days.

Other articles in this series