In May 2024, my father and I traveled to Manchester for a weekend to attend a concert. While my father brought along his Leica M6 and a couple of rolls of black-and-white Kodak Tri-X film, I decided to take a different approach. After my grandfather passed away last year, we discovered an old and dusty Zeiss Ikoflex IIa from the 1950s in his basement. This seventy-year-old camera likely hadn’t been used for about 50 years. Surprisingly, after developing a quick and rough test roll, we found that the camera was still fully functional—nothing was stuck, broken, or gummed up.
So, I decided to take the camera along with a few rolls of Kodak Ektar 100 (a fantastic film stock known for its warm and vibrant colors) and my Gossen Lunasix light meter to Manchester. Here are a few of the shots from that trip, developed by Khrome in Hamburg, scanned on an Epson V850 and processed in Lightroom:
So, what is my assessment of this 70-year-old camera? First and foremost, it is nothing short of remarkable that it remains fully functional after spending fifty years in a basement without any maintenance. Overall, the camera is enjoyable to use, but it does have some quirks. For instance, the aperture lever is extremely sensitive and lacks sufficient friction, making it easy to change the aperture accidentally. Fortunately, the shutter speed lever is much stiffer. Advancing the film and winding the shutter are two separate mechanisms, so it’s easy to forget one if you’re not used to that. Focusing is a bit tricky but manageable. Similarly, composing a shot is more challenging than on an SLR due to the mirrored viewfinder image, although those familiar with medium format cameras may already be accustomed to this.
Despite these quirks, the Ikoflex is a great camera with remarkable sharpness, especially in the center of the frame (as seen in the images “Entrance to Chinatown” and “David Hoyle – No Fly Poster!”). Sharpness does drop off significantly toward the corners. It’s important to note that this camera is the opposite of a point-and-shoot, so it’s not ideally suited for street photography (as seen in the image “Chen’s Happy House”). However, if your subject is relatively static and you have the time to compose your shot, working with this camera can be a lot of fun!