Camera Talk

Hello,

Again a zeiss ikon ikonta appeared and I couldn't resist, after a quick inspection lenses are fine, shutter is ok. At home checked bellows and are super, no lights under the torch.

Rangefinder is accurate (not tested with film yet) and I cleaned yesterday, easy to do.
About the focusing, only the front lens is moving, right? and even it just moves 1.5 mm from 1 m to inf.

It seems its pure cosmetically things, still need to check the speeds but they sound good.

Here are pics and I would like if you can advice me the best approach to the restoration for each part.

In this pic it has some green (oxidation?) and the yellow metal is starting to appear (is it brass?)
Removing this green things is just scratching gently, but how to do no show up again? How to redo the nickel-plate? Same situation with the rangefinder, black nickel is out, I read some pencil for re-black weapons could do the thing (birchwood super black, gloss or flat black??)
Or should I remove the whole black nickel-plate and re-do it myself? Viewfinder I think it has few corrosion, best way to remove it? And again re-do black nickel-plate. Glue for leather? Any everyone glue would do? Leather here pelt off, this is going to be hard to restore I think, any ideas? Metal frame from the open gate, same thing as the corrosion if the viewfinder? Remove corrosion, apply something-I-dont-know and re do the nickel-plate?
From the same picture, some leather is off from the open gate. I think nothing to do here... Paint it Black - Rolling Stones. The numbers from the aperture ring are off, how to paint them white the numbers and red the dot? Same as before with the speed line indicator at the ring, paint is off I think this is going to be my Xmas project... so I need to gather all the stuff, generic materials are welcome, I mean if you say a brand, its probably I won't find it here and need to go for the pure ingredients.... (well, the birchwood thing is here, big fans of hunting)

Thank you all in advance,
Alex

For sticking the cover back on, I've heard that good (reversible) possibilities include shellac and a rubber cement like Pliobond (widely available, but perhaps you can source an alternative).

I've tried the former; I think it would work if everything was very clean, which the camera I was working on wasn't. I intend to try Pliobond next, but it's fairly far down on my project list at the moment.

Robert

A worthy project. Zeiss bellows do not leak.

My experience in restoration is very limited. The leatherette may be just glued back (with water-based glue). The chromed parts are brassed; sometimes people want to leave them brassed and just clean them of rust with Brasso or equivalent fluids.

I have used model paint (such as for airplane modeling) to retouch cameras. It works as a patch, but it is hard to get a professional-looking coating. Again, some people would just left the unpainted areas, as a proof of profitable use of the camera.

Please share any lessons learned!

Yesterday I was with the most experience repair man of classic cameras here in Moscow, he told me to restore the chromed parts I should think that the camera is a car and do the things according to it.
For the chrome should remove all the existing black, then tape all the non chrome parts and use car spray black paint, glossy or flat. Or if the brichwood black pencil finish is good, do the same, remove all the black then paint, so all the chrome would be the same...
As I need now bellows for the pearl III, I saw a baldax very cheap with the bellows (germans I hope not leaking light) so I will test it first on that one before the ikonta 530.

Sounds like a very ambitious project, Alex. Stripping all the old paint first is a good idea. As for the leather, the thing with Zeiss was they stamped designs on all their pieces, so if you replace one part, it's not going to look like the rest. Then the grain pattern won't match, and maybe even the color will be wrong. If you had a lot of bodies around that you could strip of their leather, you could put together a decent set of pieces. Then maybe not, as some pieces tend to get more wear than others, so you might have ten bodies that all have the same leather damage. It comes down to how original do you want the camera to look. If you completely strip it, make sure to stamp the serial and model numbers in the pieces where they would normally be (on the back cover).

For the lettering/numbering on the aperture and speed rings, get a paint pencil in the colors you need (or want).

Also try to read some books on camera restoration. It can be a long, drawn out affair, and sourcing replacement parts, or replicating old processes can be difficult.

If that was my camera, I'd concern myself with any mechanical issues first (because who would want to restore a broken camera), clean up some of the cosmetic faults (such as the verdigris), then go take photos with it. An old camera with wear marks has a lot of character showing it has gotten a lot of use, and is sometimes more desirable than the shelf queens.

But that's just my two kopeks worth of opinion.

PF

I have a couple of Super Ikontas, and I have been thinking of doing some limited repainting of the black trim. My plan is to mask the camera and then lightly apply two coats.

I have some "Canyon Black" spray paint that I really like. Maybe I'll need to post the results.

I have a lot of projects ongoing.

Thx for your advices PF, more than two kopeks worth

The leather so far is going to remain, its good enough to stay.
For the repainting, yes, I will remove shutter and leave the bellows covered so only body parts will be exposed or covered by tape.

Un-mounting that shutter I will read some info before going ahead, and about the full restoration Im reading about 3-4 reparation web sites.
Even if the camera has impossible problems which cant be fixed, the project is to learn how to do it, even so I will start with a real no recovery camera as first thing before doing with the 530 which I plan to keep for use.

For the lettering/numbering I was thinking to paint white all the number, even the out the number "line", then with a q-tip an acetone, or something non aggressive for plastic, pass it gently over the numbers so only the up part will be removed but not the inline.
All the tests before doing them into the camera I will try them first into something I don't care.

Thanks again for your insight!!

So far I took care of the leather, black kiwi shoe polishing and cocoa butter extra virgin, now its soft and shiny, but not slippery.

Shutter has been disassembly already, Im amazed, everything was lubed, everything! All the moving parts, threads (lenses one too). Is this normal procedure?

That's a really old shutter you have on that camera (well, all the parts are old come to think of it), and it's not unlikely that someone oiled the shutter to "make it work better". What is likely is that the speeds will be all wrong if left in its current condition. But when you clean the oil off, you may find the shutter is worn out.

Another thing, and it's very common, is the lubricant from the lens helical could have migrated into the shutter/aperture area. So when it is cleaned, it might still be okay.

PF

With a camera from the 1930s, you will need to relube the lens. I use two types of grease in the helical, and this has worked well.

I use a medium grease from Micro-Tools and some lithium grease for automotive purposes.