Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc, I have been around Super Ikonta B cameras since before you were born, but I never heard of one with a Schneider Xenar lens. I have seen a Super Ikonta A with a Xenar lens. Jerry Marc James Small wrote: > > I see what you are saying and you make some good points. I would > recommend either a Rolleiflex TLR or a Hasselblad 2000 series but for > someone deeply wedded to miniature format, a Super Ikonta B might be a > good transition. This is a folder rangefinder, takes 11 6cm square > negatives on a roll of 120 film, and comes with a fine four-element > lens, generally a Zeiss Tessar or a JSK Xenar. It is a most > user-friendly camera and a late Prewar model can be had relatively > cheaply as these are not deemed to be collectibles other than by the > likes of Simon Worsley, the Guru of the breed. > > I spent my first six years in photography doing medium format on a > 1931 Voigtl?nder Bessa before picking up a 35mm SLR, and then spent 20 > years doing miniature-format SLR work before buying my first > rangefinder. A year later, I got my first Rolleflex, and I was > equally hooked by Leica and Contax RF systems and by Franke & Heidecke > TLR's. I got into Hasselblad later. > > In today's market, a Super Ikonta or a Postwar Rolleiflex Automat 3 > with a coated lens can be had for under $200, perhaps far under (I > paid $30 for one of my Super Ikontas, and nothing for the other). A > Hasselblad 500 body with a couple of C lenses will set you back $350 > or so. And if you move over to the 2000/200 series, you can get some > f/2 lenses. > > I admire Mark Rabiner as a fine photographer and excellent scholar of > photography in general and of Leica and Rollei in particular but I > must disagree with him on the best way to use MF gear. I almost never > use a tripod for anything other than extreme telephotography or > extreme macro work. My Super Ikonta B's and my 2.8F 12/24 and 2.8GX > are VERY handy cameras. Those who shoot rifles know the trick for > using the strap to steady the aim. Well, a Rolleiflex strap does the > same: just hold the camera at waist level and push up on the strap > with your neck to form a steady sight picture, and Bob's your uncle. > Most of my MF work is done with relatively slow films and without a > tripod, and I take pictures generally deficient in content due to my > own lack of an artistic sense <he grins> but technically quite nice. > > I suspect that the major medium format systems have bottomed out. > Only a few companies are still making these today, but there are a > gazillion MF cameras out there. > > Marc >