5 (square) frames with a Zeiss Ikon Tenax I and Ilford XP2 Super

For a while I’d been looking for a nice 35mm camera that would shoot square 24x24mm frames. It’s a format that appeals to me, because you never have to turn the camera on its side, and the images look good on mobile (read: Instagram) because they’re always the same height on the screen.

Cheaper options include the Diana Mini, Agfa Iso-Rapid, and Certo. They didn’t appeal. Those with a bigger budget can try the Robot, Elop, and Zeiss Ikon Tenax II. There’s not a lot of options in the middle. The Minolta 24 Rapid looks okay, but it’s not hugely inspiring.

Eventually my research led me to the Zeiss Ikon Tenax I. It has a Compur shutter, a unit-focusing Zeiss Novar 35mm f3.5 lens, and a folding viewfinder. The standout feature is the ‘rapid wind’ lever on the front. Pristine examples are getting towards Robot prices, but it’s possible to get one in need of TLC for a more reasonable cost. After monitoring eBay, I picked this one up in ‘Not working’ condition for less than thirty quid. The serial number indicated it was made in the factory in Dresden in 1938.

The wind lever wouldn’t move, and it has an interlock that prevented the shutter from firing. Opening the top cover revealed the reason. At some point in the past, the ratchet-toothed gear for the frame counter had seized into its central bush. A gorilla-like effort on the wind lever by a previous owner had then caused the entire frame counter mount casting to break up. The pieces had fallen into the counter drive gears, jamming the whole mechanism.

I wouldn’t call it an easy fix, but I was able to fabricate a new mount bracket and bush, and reassemble the frame counter in working condition. The shutter needed a service, and a check of the speeds afterwards showed they were accurate to within half a stop. All hail the 960fps slow-mo video capability of my Samsung phone, as an excellent tool for shutter calibration checks. The 3-element Novar lens responded nicely to being disassembled for a good clean. I’d recently got some tasteful dark blue thin leather, and used that to re-cover the camera.

Initial tests with a fogged-out ‘test’ film showed that it would wind OK for about half a dozen frames, and then winding would gradually become extremely stiff. It took me a while to work out that it was caused by the film cassette slipping downwards, so the film would get trapped between the lower guide and the pressure plate. I can only assume that a standard 135 cassette is shorter than the reloadable 35mm cassettes manufactured by Zeiss Ikon for their cameras. I solved the problem with a 3D-printed cylindrical spacer on the base plate, to make the cassette sit higher.

For the first ‘live’ film through the camera for many years, I chose Ilford XP2 Super. I’d been wanting to try it since seeing the excellent talk given at Analogue Spotlight 2023 by Michelle Parr from Ilford’s marketing team. The box speed is ISO 400, but I decided to pull it back a stop to 200 in the hope of getting more shadow detail. As it uses C41 processing, it would make no difference to the developing time. I took it out for a nice long walk around the North Norfolk coast including West Runton and Cromer.

I found the camera to be a delight to use, and it’s small enough to be easily pocketable. The frame counter goes round to 50 before starting again at zero, but I got another 5 frames after that. I developed the film as the ninth and final use of my Bellini C41 four-bottle kit. Although the mixed solutions are kept in the fridge in collapsible bottles with all the air bled out, it’s been in there for seven months. This last one seemed OK and the exposed leader came out nice and black, but I think that’s the longest time I can stretch it out.

Anyway, the photos. Plenty of detail in the highlights as expected, although perhaps less detail and more grain in the shadows that I would have preferred. Having said that, some look a bit grainier because they’re cropped.

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