My eBay sourced Zeiss Ikon Tenax Christmas present has arrived. Deutsche Priority Post was a little tardy, but the camera is everything the photographs promised. And it appears to be mechanically as good as its looks. The only signs that this is an old camera is the slight scuffing on the film track.
I was looking for a pre-War II model, but it is an East German version made in the first half of 1953 from what I can gather from information on the Web. It is fitted with the later Tempor shutter (top speed 1/300th) instead of a Compur, while the lens appears to be the uncoated f3.5 35mm Novonar (a renamed Novar) triplet.
The camera is tiny. It makes the svelte and pocketable Voigtlander Vito II look huge. It is a scale focus 35mm (50 24 x 24mm frames on a roll) with an unconventional side wind and shutter cocking mechanism that is incredibly natural to use. So far, so good. I am looking forward to putting my first roll of film through it.
Nice blog! I got myself a Taxona for Christmas, another nice little wonder from East Germany. What is your experience so far?
I have had so little time since Christmas that I haven’t finished the first roll yet. Love the feel of the camera and will write about it more when I get the results.