First roll with Zeiss Ikon (ZM)

By Hamish Gill

Some time earlier on this year I borrowed a Zeiss Ikon – the modern M-mount camera often referred to as the “Ikon ZM”. I’ve been fascinated by these cameras for a long time so when the offer of a loan came up, I jumped on it.

Thankfully, for both me and Pete (the guy who loaned it to me), he has quite a large camera collection so hasn’t missed it whilst I’ve been borrowing it for what has become quite an extended period of time. The loan has lasted for this long for a few reasons, one of which has been the also-extended time Leica had my M7 for some minor repairs. I wanted to compare the two cameras more directly for the sake of the Ikon ZM review I’m writing so have been waiting for the M7 to come back.

Additionally to this, I caused myself a bit of a delay in shooting this first roll by making it a roll of Cinestill t800 right at the beginning of the summer. Now I actually quite like Cinestill t800 shot in daylight, but since I don’t buy a lot of it, I much prefer saving it for lower light shooting situations. As it turns out, I didn’t have that many low light shooting opportunities come up over the summer – so the roll ended up lasting quite a long time.

The first outing the camera went on was a wedding between the sister of an old mate of mine named Emma and the bother of old mate-of-a-mate named Will. I shot the wedding digitally and presented them with the photos some months ago now – it’s fair to say they had a bit of a different look to these. The lens used was my now sold Voigtlander 50mm 1.1

Emma and Will

Emma and Will

Emma and Will

Emma and Will

The second outing was on a night out with some mates. This first couple of shots are of Tom – he’s the trouble maker that threw the results of my recent poll. The rest of the photos were all taken with the Voigtlander 35mm 1.4 Nokton.

Night out

Night out

Night out

Night out

A work night out

Night out

Night out

Obligatory shot of the daughter, this time with her cousin…

Connie & Keira

The final shots of the roll were shot on another night out with the trouble maker and a couple of other mates. Night out

Night out

Night out

Gianni is as good at pool as he looks in this photo… Night out So there you have it. I shall be putting a few more rolls though it fairly soon, not to mention eventually publishing my review on it.   Cheers Hamish

You can find my eventual review of the Zeiss Ikon ZM here

Share this post:

Find more similar content on 35mmc

Use the tags below to search for more posts on related topics:

Contribute to 35mmc for an ad-free experience.

There are two ways to contribute to 35mmc and experience it without the adverts:

Paid Subscription – £2.99 per month and you’ll never see an advert again! (Free 3-day trial).

Subscribe here.

Content contributor – become a part of the world’s biggest film and alternative photography community blog. All our Contributors have an ad-free experience for life.

Sign up here.

About The Author

By Hamish Gill
I started taking photos at the age of 9. Since then I've taken photos for a hobby, sold cameras for a living, and for a little more than decade I've been a professional photographer and, of course, weekly contributor to 35mmc.
View Profile

Comments

jeremy north on First roll with Zeiss Ikon (ZM)

Comment posted: 16/09/2015

Great set of pictures Hamish. I much prefer the look of those you shot on the 35/1.4 . However the context and content is different and also I have a penchant for that focal length.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 16/09/2015

It's a great lens that 35mm, I realised the other day I've had mine for nearly a decade - thats a long time for a bit of kit me me!

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

amro on First roll with Zeiss Ikon (ZM)

Comment posted: 16/09/2015

Wonderful photos, as ever. I have this camera - but sadly not the skill or brilliant lenses you have - so my efforts are rather poor in comparison. It's nice to know what someone with skill can do. Very well done.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 16/09/2015

Thank you very much :) Care to share a link to your own work?

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

jonasx70 on First roll with Zeiss Ikon (ZM)

Comment posted: 16/09/2015

oh, I'll be looking forward to the review! the Zimmy seems like an interesting camera :)
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 16/09/2015

It certainly is. Not perfect. But it has many merits!

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Alex on First roll with Zeiss Ikon (ZM)

Comment posted: 17/09/2015

nice set of pictures, really love the tones of Cinestill 800T.
what was the ISO rating for shooting and then developpment?
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 17/09/2015

They were developed normally. In terms of shot exposure index - most of them were shot manually without really taking much notice of the meter. In low light I just tend to shoot at a wide aperture at 1/60th and cross my fingers.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Gert-Jan Vons on First roll with Zeiss Ikon (ZM)

Comment posted: 17/09/2015

Not Ziess but Zeiss I presume? (in the title)
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 17/09/2015

Well spotted!

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *