Ohlsdorf Cemetery with 1951 Ikoflex II (a)

Outing with the 1951 Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex II on the cemetery Ohlsdorf in Hamburg. This cemetery is in the style of an English park and around 150 years old. It is one of the biggest cemeteries in Europe with around 1.8 million graves.

SoundCloud:   / padchops  
Instagram: @fkasentimental

Shot in april 2020, using Fuji Provia Slide film.

Music by me, Senti Mental. Best listened to with good headphones or decent equipment.

The Ikoflex II is a follow up of the prewar II of Zeiss Ikon's line of TLR cameras, that started around 1934 with the first rather simple model and the last being built around 1959.
This particular model was built only during the span of one year (August-October 1951 / Ikoflex II 852/16), equipped either with Zeiss Opton or Carl Zeiss Tessar 3,5/75mm, Compur Rapid or Synchro Compur. Very early versions can be even found with Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar. It was marketed from April 1950 to October 1951, when it was already sold out. With ca. 10.000 copies, this is a rather rare version. In the US, it was sold as IIa, in Germany as II.
Most Ikoflexes from ca. 1937 on sport an odd double exposure prevention system, that is dreaded by many users and makes spooling in the film a bit more complicated than necessary. Most importantly, the counter dial at the right side of the camera has to be showing no number prior to film loading - so that the film advance knob is running free. This dial can only be rotated counter-clockwise. If you don't use the camera regularly, you tend to forget this dammed detail. In my case, I did, and I had to spool the film through the camera not to loose some frames. Then, had to put it under my jacket and respool it back. Obviously, as you can see in the first three frames, light came in.
This is definitely a slow camera, not that convenient as a contemporary Rolleiflex, which outsold the Ikoflexes. Good point is the very bright fresnel viewing screen and of course the Tessar lens, same as Rolleiflex Automat. Available for this TLR was a reflex housing, polfilter and close-up devices (Ikoprox, photo of grave and white rose), you can go as close as ca. 45cm.

There are 12 chapels on the cemetery, built between ca. 1894 to 1980, which you will all see here. No. 5 is missing as it burned down and was never rebuild.

Shot on Fuji XE-2

(Information on Ikoflex taken from Photo Deal 28 and Bernd K. Otto "Carl Zeiss Kamera Register")