Filling in the Gaps: The Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16, a medium format folding camera

Filling in the Gaps: The Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16, a medium format folding camera

Sometimes I pick up a camera that I've been really keen to get a hold of and then, when it arrives I'm already sidetracked with something else and the camera ends up 'filed away' for later use. The Bencini Koroll 2 half-frame medium format is one such example, and the Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16 is another. I have a fair number of cameras now, film and digital, from 110 to large format, but one type of camera that I've never really used much is a folder. Not one of thoe giant 1920s folders made by Kodak and others, I have some of them, but a medium format folding camera from the 1950s. 

But I was still looking for a medium format folder, and while I was browsing the Kamerastore website I came across the perfect candidate, the Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16. As usual, it was classified under the 'Not Passed' category, which meant that it had, 'flaws that will affect typical use.' In this case, the 'viewfinder has haze and fungus inside'. Otherwise, it was described as being in working condition.

The Nettar 518/16 is a 6x6cm medium format folding camera manufactured by Zeiss Ikon from 1949. The actual year of manufacture for Zeiss Ikon cameras is quite easy to determine from the serial number (http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Zeiss_Ikon_serial_numbers). My camera is stamped R93455 which dates it as being around 1961—62, much more recent than I had imagined, and a little confusing since from what I have read about this camera production was curtailed in the late 1950s. 

From what I gather there were two versions of this camera, a cheaper version with the with Novar Anastigmat 75mm f6.3 lens and a more expensive version with an f4.5 lens. Just for a change mine is the f4.5 version. The central leaf shutter has speeds of 1/25s to 1/200s and certainly seems to be functioning properly. The shutter is cocked with a little lever on the lens, and activated with a button on the top of the camera. Once the shutter has been fired, the cocking lever pops into view in the viewfinder, indicating to the user that it needs cocking again. The aperture can be set between f4.5 and f22. 

The biggest issue with this camera is the dirty/fungus-y viewfinder, and it is pretty hazy. So the first thing I want to do is clean it out. This seems to be a common problem with these old folders, but the remedy is a quick fix. Once I've run at least one roll through it, I'll see if I'm up to trying to clean this out. This seems to be the only fault with what looks to be an absolutely top quality camera, and the next task is to try it out with some film.

There have been a few locations around Vagueira that I've been really keen to visit, but we always end up speeding past these on our way home after a good lunch. This week, however, everyone is in agreement: we're going to stop at these places so I can take some images. Excellent. For the film stock, I used Lomochrome Turquoise. With a usable range of ISO 100—400 I metered the exposures, with the Camera Meter app, at ISO 100.

I've posted the whole roll in an album (https://www.flickr.com/gp/147583812@N06/0FET5Hy9mc) on my Flickr if you want to see the rest of the images. In conclusion, I was really happy with the Zeiss Ikon Nettar, it's a quality camera, even 60-odd years after its release, and I'm just disappointed that it's taken me so long to get around to using it. All in all, this test roll was a resounding success, and next time I'm definitely going to try some Harman Phoenix. 

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#ZeissIkon, #Nettar, #MediumFormat, #Folder, #Lomochrome, #Turquoise, #ExpiredFilm, #Vagueira, #Portugal,