Zeiss Nettar Folder Camera
Photo thanks to Jack Brannan
jackb@foothill.net
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Zeiss Nettar folding camera for 120 film.515/16.Lens is nettar 3.5 7.5cm.Shutter speeds B,T,1sec. to 1/175sec.
rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
From: Dick Weld weldcomm@gr.cns.net
[2] Re: Zeiss Ikon - Nettar Folder
Date: Tue May 12 03:49:14 CDT 1998
The Nettar takes 120 film, which is readily available, and, at the
middle apertures, the Novar lens will give you adequate results. It's
not worth a lot...perhaps $30 - $50...but is certainly worth shooting.
Dick Weld
From: "Vic McLendon" mclendon@mail.computerland.net
Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
Subject: Re: Nettar - 620 film?
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998
Good evening Chris,
The Nettar uses 120 film, not 620. Your camera is probably takes a 6x9cm
on 120. The Nettars do not have rangefinders. The lens should be marked
and the camera came with Novar, Nettar and Tessar lenses. There should be
numbers stamped into the covering like 515/2 for 6x9cm 1949-57 with a black
top or 517/2 or 518/2 for the later models with a chrome top.
Regards,
Vic McLendon
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998
From: Steven T Koontz skoontz@mindspring.com
Reply to: Classic Camera Collectors and Users Mailing List
cccuml@snoopy.cmagic.com
To: Classic Camera Collectors and Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: [CCCU] Questions about Zeiss Nettar
At 09:59 PM 8/19/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I have acquired a Zeiss Nettar model 515/2, which takes >6x9 cm pictures on 120 film. The [uncoated] lens is marked >'Nettar-Anastigmat f=10.5cm 1:3.5.'
I have to believe it's a three element design like the novar. Also being
uncoated it will be more prone to flare.. That said I have gotten good
results with three element uncoated lenses by using yellow filter-slightly
overdeveloping film (B&W;) and not trying to make huge enlargements (8X10
max). The large negative makes up for the lens quality and while they need
to be stopped down to f16 to work good they still make good user camera's.
Try some T-max 400 (a fairly contrasty film) and bet it will work fine..
steve's photography & Z car stuff @ http://www.mindspring.com/~skoontz
skoontz@mindspring.com
Rwh56 rwh56@aol.com writes:
>I acquired a Zeiss Nettar 6 X 9 folding roll film. It has a coated novar len > It employs scale focusing. The front element rotates and the scale is mark >along the rim of the lens ring. I wanted to check the accuracy of the scale >In particular I wanted to check the infinity setting. So, I cut some tracin >paper and taped it on the film plane. I tape one end to a spare spool and >pulled the paper tight. I waited for the full moon to come out tried to foc >it on the moon. But the moon is so darn small on the tracing paper that a >large range of positions on the scale appeared equally in focus. Is there a >better homegrown way to set the infinity? I aint buying a high falootin >collimator. But I was wondering about turning my slr camera into a >collimator. Any thoughts are appreciated in advance.
The following knife edge method which is used for accurate focusing on
stars can be used to check and set the infinity position of the Nettar.
If you open the camera back and check the film path, you will probably see
two inner rails upon which the film rests, and two outer rails which
contact the pressure plate. Cut a small sheet of plexiglass so that it can
rest on the two outer rails in the position of the pressure plate. In the
center of the plexi along the lens axis, glue an exposed/developed film
chip (black; emulsion up; _very_ thin superglue layer) which has an edge
that has been cut at an angle so the emulsion "overhangs" the plexi to
form a knife edge. (For medium format, add paper backing for 120 film.)
The plexi is placed on the film rails with the film/emulsion facing the
lens. A high power loupe is focused on the cut edge of the emulsion which
is in the position of film held by the pressure plate. The observer moves
their eye from side to side, and when the stars are in focus the image is
sharply cut by the knife edge. When not in focus, the knife cuts through
the "cone" of rays at some point from the apex, and the transition isn't
sharp.
|____ Lens ____|
(The outer rails should be in contact
with the plexi. They are separated)
___ ___ in the accompanying diagram.)
|___| _____ |___| <- outer rails for pressure plate
\____| <- film chip (knife edge)
_____________|___|_______ <- paper from 120 film
|_________________________| <- plexiglass
^
focus loupe on the edge
at the plane of the emulsion
You may not need to use the knife edge for routine focus adjustment.
Instead, a piece of plexiglass can be placed on the inner rails or frame
which contact the emulsion, and a loupe can be focused on the plexi
surface nearest the lens. Alternatively, ground glass may be used, or
glass or plexi with a coat of clear _matte_ wood sealer. The paper you've
tried does not have rigid tolerances.
Also, check focus on nearby objects at the distances and f/stops you'd
normally use to take photos (focus may shift as the lens is stopped down).
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999
From: Kai-ming Mei kai-ming@newclear.com
To: Michael Gudzinowicz bg174@FreeNet.Carleton.CA
Cc: rmonagha@post.cis.smu.edu
Subject: Re: Adjusting focus on a folder folding camera using "knife
edge"
I appreciate the effort you made in documenting this technicque. I just
thought that you'd like to know that the 4 folding rollfilm cameras that I
have all rest the pressure plate on the paper, squeezing the edges of the
film and paper against the rails.
I can confirm this is true on a
Voigtlander:
Bessa I
Perkeo I
Perkeo II
and
Daiichi Zenobia
For accurate focus you don't want the pressure plates on the metal guides,
they are definitely contacting *only* the paper backing. At least on these
cameras.
The following knife edge method which is used for accurate focusing on
stars can be used to
check and set the infinity position of the Nettar.
If you open the camera back and check the film path, you will probably see
two inner rails upon which the film rests, and two outer rails which
contact the pressure plate. Cut a small sheet of plexiglass so that it can
rest on the two outer rails in the position of the pressure plate. In the
center of the plexi along the lens axis, glue an exposed/developed film
chip (black; emulsion up; _very_ thin superglue layer) which has an edge
that has been cut at an angle so the emulsion "overhangs" the plexi to
form a knife edge. (For medium format, add paper backing for 120 film.)
The plexi is placed on the film rails with the film/emulsion facing the
lens. A high power loupe is focused on the cut edge of the emulsion which
is in the position of film held by the pressure plate. The observer moves
their eye from side to side, and when the stars are in focus the image is
sharply cut by the knife edge. When not in focus, the knife cuts through
the "cone" of rays at some point from the apex, and the transition isn't
sharp.
From: "Nicholas O. Lindan" nolindan@ix.netcom.com
Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
Subject: Re: Adjusting focus on a Nettar folder.
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999
Rwh56 wrote:
> I acquired a Zeiss Nettar 6 X 9 folding roll film. It employs scale > focusing. [How do I check it]
Uhhh, load some film and take pictures?
In the olden days a good way to check scale focusing was to tape the
classified page to the wall, make a vertical line with a fineline marker
(or your son's Laddy pencil, in the days before markers), set the camera
at 45 degrees to the wall, aimed at the line, measure the distance from
the film plane (-o-) to the line with a tape measure, set the focus and
take a picture - lens wide open, of course. Examine a big enlargement
(or just the projection on the enlarger baseboard) and deterimine that
the line is in focus and that the zone of sharp focus is centered on the
line.
My experience with Nettar's is that the focus is nuts-on unless someone
has butchered the camera.
Nick Lindan
From: Christian Kolinski usenet1@blafh.de Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format Subject: Re: Zeiss Nettar 6x9 Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 bk bkondrak@yahoo.com wrote: > Takes 120 film and yields 8 images. Has a 105mm Nettar lens with f6 > to f45 and B, 1/20, 1/75 and 1/200 shutter speeds. > The field of view is very wide, but I must scale focus and the > viewfinder doesn't due justice to the image on the film. That's quite normal for cameras like that. > Was the purpose of this design for group portraits or landscapes? For everything. Folding cameras like the Nettar have been very popular during the first half of the 20th century. Before the Rolleiflexes, Leicas, Contaxes and Hasselblads the folding cameras ruled the photogafic world (so to speak). First with glass- plates, later with film. For portraits you could buy aditional lenses (as the 1,5m or 2m closest distance limits the use for portraits). The Nettar was a 3-lens desing and has to be stopped down to produce acceptable results. In their days the 6x9cm negatives weren't enlarged. Most of them was just contact-printed. And so the quality of a Nettar was a big step up from a box-camera. Chris