My late Fathers Super Ikonta.

James, I've just come across this thread, thank you so much for posting. Fascinating pictures and background stories.
Kind regards,
 
Super Ikonta Service.

Super Ikonta Service.

Well I have just got my late Fathers Super Ikonta back from Ken Ruth, the chap who Zeiss in Germany told me was a service man for older Zeiss cameras.
My issue for having it serviced was mainly because the lubricant had dried up in the focusing dept and the viewfinder had become so yellowed that I could hardly see through it. Ken said that when he got in close the shutter blades had oil on them so he needed to do a full clean and lube, the camera is nearly sixty years old so it is a no brainer it needs some TLC.
Well he has done a lovely job, the shutter is smooth as silk, the lens glass looks like new and it's coating is more obvious than before so he has done a lovely cleaning job.
Last of all I can now see through the viewfinder, like brand new again. We talked and I said I did not want the middle two lines replacing because they were distracting, he said he was not going to put them in anyway because the camera needed to be used for 6x9 only.
I paid $260 for the work and he included a shutter speed report. One thing that was typed in was this info and I think some of you may find this worth thinking about.
Do not store with shutter cocked ( kind of obvious )
but this one came as a shock.................
Do not change the shutter speed after the shutter has been cocked, now that was a big surprise. I have emailed Ken and asked why this is important. All photographers change shutter speeds, depth of field, flash usage even though this shutter does not need a sync speed because they are all in line. So I am disturbed by this restraint. When he answers my question I will post it.
So if you need a service done on your Zeiss model Photography on Bald Mountain, is a good place in my opinion. Oh by the way Ken told me he is seventy, so get in there before he retires.
Cheers for now,
James
 
Hello,

Thank you for the information.

I was actually looking for a service person for my newly purchased Super Ikonta (532/16) 6x6 camera. The shutter doesn't work at all, and the focusing, aperture dials are not smooth enough.

I'd like to know if you can provide the contact information of Mr. Ken Ruth and if he speaks English (or French if there's any chance..)

At the same time, it'd be much appreciated if anyone could recommend some reliable persons for these old beautiful Zeiss Ikon folders.

Best Regards
 
jmpgino said:
Do not store with shutter cocked ( kind of obvious )
but this one came as a shock.................

Do not change the shutter speed after the shutter has been cocked, now that was a big surprise. I have emailed Ken and asked why this is important.
Click to expand...

The old idea was leaving the shutter cocked weakened the spring. If so the tempering and quality of the steel was very poor, I always figured that someone some time thought that one up and ever since it has been parroted like the "Eskimos have 65 words for snow (the original author of which has said he just made that up).

I think the second is due to the auxiliary springs on the high speeds. Changing to those speeds against the cocked springs can potentially damage the mechanism. However, I have never heard a report of that having happened to some one's camera, so it it probably in the same category of the first one.

The fact is very old cameras, pre-1920's, often did have inferior steel in them, and that is most likely where those came about.

OTOH, if Ken is warranting his work, I would do as he says, just to make sure that he will have no reason to refuse the warranty.
 
I think that it's perfectly acceptable to change speeds after the shutter has been tensioned, except for 1/500. That speed should be set before the shutter is tensioned, and that's also true of many Rolleiflex and Rolleicord cameras with Compur shutters.

Photographers have been changing speeds after tensioning Rolleiflexes for decades with no ill effects, so I would apply this caution only to the 1/500 speed.
 
Here is Ken Ruth's web site, he is English speaking, in fact we talked about when he lived in Wales, I am from the North of England

http://www.cameraquest.com/zikontc.htm

Today I started at 11AM and finished at 7PM on the job of removing the leather covering on the camera, I would never have imagined it would take that long to clean a camera of leather and glue. So off she goes again in the post tomorrow for a new cover of "GRIPTAC" this stuff is supposed to be a fantastic camera covering. The old cover although fine was just too smooth, I have been frightened of dropping the thing, this stuff will solve that problem I hope and giving her a new look at the same time.
We are going on vacation over to Seattle, then up to Canada and Vancouver and then up to Whistler. I just hope she is back in time for the trip.
 
That's partially true. At least for some shutters, such as Ensign's Epsilon, one should not change between 1/10 and 1/25 when cocked, by its design this will break the shutter if you force that.

Another recommendation I always follow: when putting away your camera for a while, store it uncocked as already mentioned and set speed to 1 second, as this is usually the most "relaxed" position for the springs.
 
Yes, I would not store a camera with the shutter cocked, but I would not worry about keeping it ready to shoot when using it.

The are some funny quirks on some cameras that one should watch out for. I was reading a manual for a camera the other day and it said to put the lens in X-sync before using the self-timer because using it in M-sync would damage the camera, I suspect because they use the same mechanism for the self-timer and the M-sync delay . That kind of thing is not something anyone would guess without reading the manual for that particular camera.
 
I have been rude for not thanking you for the kind comments you sent about my late Fathers images, very kind of you. I have had to take a break from looking at them because it get's rather hard sorting through them at times, a good stiff Gin and Tonic can only go so far.
Back in 2003 my parents committed suicide together, they were both very old and had just had enough of life and most of all living in England. Father put Mother too sleep and then he took care of himself, they were found arm in arm in bed, he was a retired Doctor and used Morphine on both of them, enough was used to kill about twenty people, he never did things by half measure. I was the only child who was left a note from them both, that was a consolation but I honestly do not know how I managed to keep on living but I have, time does heal but at the age of fifty three I still feel like an orphan at times.
Anyhow I will get back into the files again soon, cheers once again.
James.
 
Your father was an amazing photographer and it was wonderfully nice for you to share his images and stories with us! I'd just like to thank you for all the time and effort you put into this!
 
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