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waterman
29-Jul-2013, 03:05
hello,

I found this camera on a garage sale. can anyone tell me how old it is and if how to use it? I found film plates too.

I found writings on it: ica, compur, dresden, maximar 207. maybe they can help...?

IanG
29-Jul-2013, 03:21
It's pre 1927 when Ica merged other companies including Zeiss to form Zeiss Ikon and it's a fairly typical German 9x12 plate camera, it has a 13.5cm f6.8 lens. It's difficult to tell who made the lens.

You most likely have glass plate holders rather than film althopugh they may have film inserts to allow the use of film. It's possible to find roll film backs. Here's some details. (http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Maximar) Part of the raeson Zeiss formed Zeiss Ikon was to gain a greater market for their lenses, so the camera shown on the link has a Tessar and is post 1927 where as yours is the older Ica version of the same camera

It's possible to buy 9x12 film so it's quite a usable camera, film inserts to convert 9x12 plate holders are vstandard and can be found on ebay occasionally, beware though the plate sizes are standard but not the holders so you need to make sure you get similar ones if you want more.

Ian

Steven Tribe
29-Jul-2013, 03:38
Although Ian's comments are spot on, there is just the fact that Zeiss Ikon inherited an enormous quantity of already produced cameras from the companies that went into the amalgamation. And Zeiss Ikon did not want to antagonise the consumers who had been loyal to a specific brand for a generation. So in the early years of Zeiss Ikon the "brands" were continued - with an enormous range of similarly cameras from the component cameras. Eventually, late 20's (?) the range was rationalised and the Zeiss-Ikon branding became more obvious.

waterman
29-Jul-2013, 03:49
tnx for the info. Is my camera is a german one with a US lens? why did they change lens? is this one better och just made for an other purpose?

I have some kind of holder with some platse and for each plate there is a paper flap with text: kodak verichrome. film 6 pack. next flap har the same text but istead of 6 there is a 7, next has 8 and so on utill the last one has 12 pack written on it. the fitt in a holder at the back of the camera. the holder is with a kind of rails that fits into the rails of the plate holder.

how many were made of these cameras? is it a camera that people still use or is it more lika a colletors camea?

IanG
29-Jul-2013, 04:02
Steven, Zeiss Ikon adverts show the Ica cameras as all having Zeiss lenses or Novars in the 1927 BJPA (printed late 1926), by the 1929 BJPA the cameras were all branded Zeiss Ikon, unfortunately I haven't found a 1928 BJPA yet.

Best way to ascertain the age would be the Compur shutter serial number (on its side) , but with an Ica branded Double Anastigmat it's almost certainly pre the Zeiss Ikon merger of 1926.

Ian

IanG
29-Jul-2013, 04:12
tnx for the info. Is my camera is a german one with a US lens? why did they change lens? is this one better och just made for an other purpose?

I have some kind of holder with some platse and for each plate there is a paper flap with text: kodak verichrome. film 6 pack. next flap har the same text but istead of 6 there is a 7, next has 8 and so on utill the last one has 12 pack written on it. the fitt in a holder at the back of the camera. the holder is with a kind of rails that fits into the rails of the plate holder.

how many were made of these cameras? is it a camera that people still use or is it more lika a colletors camea?


There hundreds of thousands of these style German (& European) style plate camera, they were made by a large number of compaines for many years Sorry for the confusion at first I thought the lens was a Goerz but in fact it's Ica's own lens (I re-edited my earlier post).

It sounds like you have film pack holders, these were quite common but unfortunately there's no film packs been made for many years.

These cameras are usable but really only by a dedicated few, if it's in good condition it's collectible but only really valuableif absolutely mint condition. I can get something similar with a better lens for £40/$62 from a reputable dealer.

Ian