Yesterday I took my latest purchase, the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex IIa 855/16 with me whilst walking the dogs. We walked along the Via Verde (web page in Spanish only) between Martos and Las Casillas and I shot my first film with the Zeiss Ikoflex.
It was early morning and it was going to be a hot day with a high of 37C. I came across an old Cortijo, a traditional rural dwelling, similar to a British farmhouse. The Cortijo was clearly only used for the seasonal olive harvest, and there was an olive separating and sorting machine next to it. Most of the photos were taken here.
Below are all the photos from my first roll of film through the Ikoflex IIa. I used a Sekonik light meter to measure the light for the exposures.
Photo details
| Camera | Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex IIa 855/16 |
| Lens | Zeiss 75mm f3.5 |
| Film | 120 FP4 plus (medium format) |
First impressions
I’m very happy with the first film I shot with Zeiss Ikoflex IIa 855/16. Above all else, I enjoyed using the camera. Considering it was built around 1952, it worked very well and produced pretty good photos. To think I was using a camera with so much history was amazing.
I wasn’t too keen about the fairly short focus throw, more specifically the slight stiffness in use. I totally missed focus on the sixth shot (Chester under the window). Hopefully, I shall get used to it.
The other thing was the sliders for the aperture and exposure time. These are very different from what I am used to. They don’t click into place for precise settings; rather they are continuously variable with numbers to provide rough estimates. On the plus side, they must be fairly accurate as the exposures were all spot on.
The lens produces sharp images although the contrast is low compared to more modern lenses. This is probably due to the lack of coatings. The lens struggles when shooting into the sun as can be seen on the shot of the old Via Verde viaduct.
