B&H, Cameta, and Berger Bros. couldn't tell me much about this camera
If anyone can tell me anything about the pedigree of this camera I got from my father in law's basement I'd appreciate it. All I know is he bought it used in NYC in 1945. They all confirmed it's a Zeiss, and probably not valuable. I'm more interested in knowing something about its history than determining its value.
Circa 1920's - lens is not original to camera IMO - as Zeiss would never put a Plaubel lens on their camera !
Does that take 4x5 sheet film or roll film? Ought to be fun to try some B&W film to see how it works.
Thanks, I've also found several links to cameras with many of the features, but none were an exact match. All I know about this one is that the aperture and shutter release work.
Not the same camera, but IS the same lens ......
imagemeister wrote:
Not the same camera, but IS the same lens ......
Yes, I did some internet reading on the company that made the lens - I wonder how/why it got on the Zeiss.
Because of the mismatch, the value is diminished considerably ....
Interesting. Can it still be used to take pics, and how?
jerrypoller wrote:
I took glass plates.
Bobspez wrote:
Interesting. Can it still be used to take pics, and how?
Sorry, my typo - it took glass plates, not I took glass plates. I don't even know where I would get one now and who could even process them.
jerrypoller wrote:
If anyone can tell me anything about the pedigree of this camera I got from my father in law's basement I'd appreciate it. All I know is he bought it used in NYC in 1945. They all confirmed it's a Zeiss, and probably not valuable. I'm more interested in knowing something about its history than determining its value.
The highly regarded (at its time) Plaubel Anticomar lens family was introduced in 1920 by Hugo Schrader, the sole proprietor of the firm, who learned his craft at Voigtlander in the late 1800s and founded Plaubel in 1902. He and his son, Goetz, improved the Anticomars, mounting them in Compur shutters, periodically through the 1920s and 1930s, using them in the firm's line of Plaubel Makina and PECO cameras. The Plaubel lenses and Makina cameras were discontinued in 1960 when Goetz concentrated on professional monorail view cameras.
Zeiss Ikon was founded in 1926 as a corporate merger capitalized by Carl Zeiss's optical branch and combining four camera manufacturers, including Ernemann, Goerz, Ica, and Contessa-Nettel. At that time, German camera makers preferred to build cameras for plates, not film, but that soon changed when 35-mm cameras like Leica and Contax appeared. Plaubel stayed with medium-format (6x9 cm and 9x12 cm. or approx. 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 inches and 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inches) bellows folding cameras, but decreased the size and weight of the camera body so the Makina could be quickly collapsed and slipped into a coat pocket.
I don't know if your camera has been retrofitted with a U.S.-style plate back for 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inch plates. But if it was, perhaps the embossed focusing hood (which seems to be the only thing carrying the Zeiss-Ikon trademark) could have replaced a Plaubel hood. Certainly the E-bay Plaubel camera you found has a VERY strong resemblance to yours, except that your model's viewfinder/rangefinder(?) appears to be missing some parts. This is just conjecture on my part. Please correct me if I'm wrong in any of this.
YOU are a resource more valuable (obviously) than a computer!!! Thank you for this fascinating history lesson
.
RichardQ wrote:
The highly regarded (at its time) Plaubel Anticomar lens family was introduced in 1920 by Hugo Schrader, the sole proprietor of the firm, who learned his craft at Voigtlander in the late 1800s and founded Plaubel in 1902. He and his son, Goetz, improved the Anticomars, mounting them in Compur shutters, periodically through the 1920s and 1930s, using them in the firm's line of Plaubel Makina and PECO cameras. The Plaubel lenses and Makina cameras were discontinued in 1960 when Goetz concentrated on professional monorail view cameras.
Zeiss Ikon was founded in 1926 as a corporate merger capitalized by Carl Zeiss's optical branch and combining four camera manufacturers, including Ernemann, Goerz, Ica, and Contessa-Nettel. At that time, German camera makers preferred to build cameras for plates, not film, but that soon changed when 35-mm cameras like Leica and Contax appeared. Plaubel stayed with medium-format (6x9 cm and 9x12 cm. or approx. 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 inches and 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inches) bellows folding cameras, but decreased the size and weight of the camera body so the Makina could be quickly collapsed and slipped into a coat pocket.
I don't know if your camera has been retrofitted with a U.S.-style plate back for 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inch plates. But if it was, perhaps the embossed focusing hood (which seems to be the only thing carrying the Zeiss-Ikon trademark) could have replaced a Plaubel hood. Certainly the E-bay Plaubel camera you found has a VERY strong resemblance to yours, except that your model's viewfinder/rangefinder(?) appears to be missing some parts. This is just conjecture on my part. Please correct me if I'm wrong in any of this.
The highly regarded (at its time) Plaubel Anticoma... (
show quote)
:-P :-P
Don-RC wrote:
YOU are a resource more valuable (obviously) than a computer!!! Thank you for this fascinating history lesson
.
:-P :-P
What Don-RC wrote - he just beat me to the punch. Thanks fort all the history.
jerrypoller wrote:
If anyone can tell me anything about the pedigree of this camera I got from my father in law's basement I'd appreciate it. All I know is he bought it used in NYC in 1945. They all confirmed it's a Zeiss, and probably not valuable. I'm more interested in knowing something about its history than determining its value.
A google search found this.
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Compur
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