Zeiss Ikonta C 532/16 Where to start film?

[skibeerr]

My 532/16 has the same message on the back but is deffinatly a 6x6.
The 6x9 have number/2.
The germans are renowned for their Baukastensystem. Be it BMW motorcycles, leicas or klepper folding..........kayaks, make the design so that parts can be used on all models. I remember a BMW GS motor sold as the latest thing and actualy this bike was an assembly of leftover parts of older versions. This was in the days of the old boxers. AAAAAHH Another kind of GAS me thinks ;-).
And indeed turn the knob until the number shows. If you look at the extended paper cover of a 120 film you will see three lines of numbers each one a little further , top 6x4.5 middle 6x6 bottom 6x9 and wonder o wonder you will find the red window on the camera back on a corresponding hight. Also close the window because if you don't the number wil be exposed into the negative if left open long enough. On the 532/16 you can close it after the first frame, the winder stops automatic.

Hope to have helped, take care,

Wim

 

[skibeerr]

Sorry Chris n. Just seen you said the same.

 

[ChrisN]

That's OK! Now you've reminded me of my BMW, a R80GS bought new in 1983, and sold in the mid '90s.

Just to confuse the issue, didn't some of these cameras have removable masks, so you could shoot 6x9 or a smaller format?

 

[Limpovitj]

Okay, after a little googling, here is what my current thought is on the markings in the film chamber:

It seems that when 120 mm film was in its infancy, Zeiss marketed it as
B2 or 6 x 9 film. So the markings in the film chamber are just an advertisement, not a re-used part from another line of cameras.

Correct, and now I understand the initial confusion. 120 film was from the start 6x9-film, and only had markings (frame numbering on the paper, that is) for 6x9. If you look at the paper backing from a developed or discarded roll, you'll see that your 6x6 Ikonta actually uses the 6x9 frame #1 number to line up the first frame of the film, and then you set the counter. The cameras that made 6x6 on 120 big in the beginning, the Rolleiflexes, also had frame counters.
Also, many early 6x4,5 (which is half of 6x9, of course) cameras without counters had two red windows, again using the 6x9 numbering on the backing. First you lined up #1 in the first window, and the you wound till you saw #1 in the second window, then #2 in the first window, and so on.

I have no idea when 120 film got 6x6 and 6x4,5 markings, though.

 

[DaveW]

Ah, so that is why this camera can only expose 11 frames instead of 12! I was wondering about that and why the red window did not line up with the right set of numbers (lines up with the 6x9 numbers on the paper backing, not the 6x6 numbers).

Well, there were a lot of " red herrrings" that lead me to think this was a 6x9.

As my red window lines up with the second set of 6x9 numbers, I am going to try to estimate where I should start for a 6x6 (a little more than 1 turn past the arrow on the paper) and where I should begin the 12th frame. Hey, I'm cheap!

Thanks for the info.

Dave

 

[Limpovitj]

My camera actually came with a little black dot where the 12th frame would have been on the counter, put there by the former owner, to help squeeze an extra frame out of the roll. I haven't tried it myself, because the release on the body will be locked past frame 11, and you have to release the shutter with the little lever on the shutter itself. Depending on what brand film you use there'll be some indication that you're approaching frame number 1 (like, say, a series of growing dots). If you start the counter here I bet you can get that extra frame without risking running out of film.

I really am only guessing here as I only put one roll trough my camera before tearing it down for a shutter and lens cleaning, as well as reassembly of the aperture (tedious work, that!), and I can't remeber how wide it spaces the frames.

Good luck!

 

[Robert Kildare]

There's a snag here. Modern film is thinner than film used in the 1930s, so you have to wrap one layer of masking tape around the ends of your takeup spool's core. Then when you advance to the first frame, using the red window, take the number a bit past the red window. Then set the counter at 1 and shoot as usual. Some people say the shutter should be cocked before you begin loading film, but I've never seen any mention of that in Zeiss manuals.

These precautions will protect you from the overlapping and skipping of frames that this camera will deliver when things aren't just right.

 

[hkrieger]

I find the starting number very difficult to read due to the low contrast print on the Ilford backing paper. I have to resort to counting the number of turns on the winding knob from a fixed starting point after loading the film in the camera.

 

[Solinar]

I find the starting number very difficult to read due to the low contrast print on the Ilford backing paper.

I know this that is an old thread - but I also have the same issue with modern films. My advice is to go really slow when winding to the first frame - which I'll describe as a slow crawl.

The first warning that the first frame is about to appear on an Ilford film are the three sets of arrow moving past the red window. Keep going with very slow turns of the film advance. Then comes succession three sets of very dim circles. Almost immediately past this point be prepared to stop - because those dim vertical double lines which will next appear in the red window indicate that you are at frame #1.