Often touted as representing the pinnacle of folding medium
format (6x6 on 120 film) cameras, this late version Zeiss Super Ikonta 533/16 was made
around 1953 and features a coupled rangefinder and uncoupled
selenium light meter (which is still working and accurate).
The coated lens
is a Zeiss-Opton Tessar T f2.8/80mm - one of the best, but also
subject to a bit of mythology...
Despite
common claims to the contrary, the name "Zeiss-Opton T"
does not designate a special variant of "regular" Carl
Zeiss Tessar lenses. It is merely a reflection of current events
at the time this camera was produced. After the war, the two Germanies
fought legal battles over who could use the Zeiss (and "Tessar")
name, and during this period the western Zeiss labeled lenses
that had previously been "Carl Zeiss Jena" (the town
of Jena having fallen behind the iron curtain) with "Zeiss-Opton"
instead.
Though this camera is very compact, it's also
pretty heavy: 1.4 kg to be exact. There's a lot of metal and glass
in this little package!!
Here are some samples images taken with this camera.
