Near Mint 1938 Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 6x6, Tessar lens. CLA'd, Freshly Serviced!

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!

This lovely Super Ikonta was produced by Zeiss-Ikon in Dresden Germany in 1938. At the time it was the world’s finest 6x6 rangefinder camera and it would retain that status until Dresden and the Zeiss-Ikon factory was destroyed by allied bombers in February of 1944.  (Production resumed some years after the war and the post-war version remained in production until 1956.)

If you’ve never handled a 6x6 Super Ikonta, I think you’ll be very impressed by its quality. It’s not the cheap lightweight sheet metal camera you may have had as a kid. This is one of the very finest classic rangefinder cameras ever produced. It was Zeiss-Ikon’s best and most expensive 120 roll film camera. It was constructed of solid die-cast metal, covered with fine Moroccan leather and trimmed in black lacquer and chrome. It had a built in coupled rangefinder that never left a photographer guessing about the distance or the focus. And it has a sophisticated film advance mechanism that automatically counted the exposures and locked the wind knob when enough film was wound. With a loaded camera this meant that all you had to do was take a photo, advance the film until it stopped and you were ready for another exposure.

This camera (serial number H2618) has been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. The top of the line, Compur-Rapid shutter works smoothly and all speeds (T, B & 1 sec - 1/400th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the fast speeds are clean and snappy. The coupled rangefinder array has also been serviced. It works smoothly and accurately. The bellows are in excellent condition and completely light tight.

The famous Carl Zeiss Tessar f2.8/80mm lens (serial no.2170906) looks virtually new. It’s exceptionally clean and clear and it’s capable of producing lovely photos with modern color or B&W films.

All in all, a very fine collectable classic camera. Load it with your favorite film and keep it handy for that perfect shot you’ve been looking for. You know the one... the one with the perfect Ansel Adams light breaking through the dark clouds that leaves you wishing that you had a classic camera with you to capture the view...

Search terms:  Tessar, Compur Rapid, medium format, rangefinder camera, 120 film, authentic WWII, WW2, 2WK, reenactor, re-enactor, signal corps, war correspondent, war photographer, USAAF