Ikoflex - Carl Zeiss VXM Camera - any info? | ||
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Posted 9 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
i've never even heard of Ikoflex before, so any info appreciated. a picker brought this to me the other day. i thought it looked pretty cool and the price was right, so i bought it. are these good cameras? collectible? usable? take good pics? any value?
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Tsk tsk. You know better than asking for value. :P
Nice camera, though. The optical place I go to has old cameras and glasses all over on little shelves. Binoculars, too.
thanks SpiritBear. i thought it was okay to talk about value, but not sales? i could be wrong...
When you're in Post New Item, below the pics but above the type-info box it says in bold to not request appraisals. An appraisal is asking for value.
To research value, go to e-Bay. In the upper right next to Search it says, "Advanced." Click that. Enter your keywords. You can exclude words below that. Check-mark (click) beneath the "Search" in there where it says, "Completed Listings." Hit Search.
Green prices will have beneath them the number of bids that occurred. Those are sold listings. Black prices are unsold.
You then know what an item in ___ condition sells for, and what it doesn't (add half cost of shipping to it, too). Just be careful with outliers-- those that are well below or above others in value-- and things shipped from another country.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch
Or sign up and pay for an account at Worthpoint, which goes back several years. e-Bay typically maintains only more recently-completed auctions. e-Bay will then be more reliable for current values, as market values change.
i meant 'value' as in 'not junk'.
A lot of people would consider a $10,000 art-glass piece to be junk.
A lot of people would consider my entire bottle collection to be junk.
But what does the market say?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Ikoflex+Carl+Zeiss+Camera&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=49441&_sargn=-1%26saslc%3D1&_salic=1&_sop=13&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1
I am traveling and don't have access to my camera reference materials to share details. In general, these Ikoflex cameras with the Zeiss Tessar lens are decent. The challenge with Twin Lens Reflex Cameras (TLRs) is getting the wide roll film to lay flat. I personally used TLRs long ago, like the larger format images, and especially enjoyed shooting waist level finders. It's still 'shooter' and more than likely uses 120 film.
i wish i understood what twin lens reflex cameras are for or something. i'll have to research them when i return from my vacation. thanks rniederman and also SpiritBear!
Hi ho2cultcha ... you ask a very good question about the value of TLRs as a usable camera. TLRs represent a design to shoot larger format images using a moderately sized portable camera. The larger the negative, the sharper the image when enlarged. TLRs in general shoot 6 cm x 6 cm (2-1/4" sq.) negatives as opposed to a much smaller 35mm format (24×36 mm which is roughly 1.0 x 1.5 inches). That's just shy of 4x the total resolution of 35mm. Additionally, the image format is square instead of rectangular.
Another TLR, a Rolleiflex model with f2.8 Zeiss Tessar lenses was (and still is) legendary for its incredible image sharpness and was very popular with professional photographers for street scenes and studio work (portraits in particular).
There is one other interesting aspect of TLRs. They have a unique point-of-view when shooting from a low angle instead of at the eye level. You look down into the camera (held just above waist level) instead of holding it up to your eye. The famous photographer Richard Avedon used a Rolleiflex TLR for some of his portraiture and fashion work. - Rob
thank you Rob! TLRs just became very interesting and exciting for me! so they are a wide format camera which is something that has intrigued me for a while now. thanks again, rob!
Lovely old camera. Rare to find these days.
thank you Vintagefran!
Very cool camera Ho2! My dad had a similar one back in the 60's... Also, I don't think asking if it had any value breaks any rules. It's just a yes or no answer. If you had asked how much... that would be different.
Carl Zeiss from what I recall is a well known name in optical lenses. I think anything with his name on it is valuable.