Biometar Rollei Superpan 200 - a photo on Flickriver

My first film with the Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 120mm lens mounted on my Praktina IIa SLR in Lyon, France, March 27, 2024.

The Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 1:2.8 f=120mm was equipped with an anti-UV 67mm screw-on filter and no shade hood.

The camera was loaded with a 36-exposure Rollei film Superpan 200 (former Agfa Aviphot 200 used in aerial photography) sensitized in the red to 760nm in the near-IR band. Rollei Superpan is coated on a maskless PET support with anti-halation layers that should be removed by two presoaking bathes before the developer.

Expositions were determined for 200 ISO using an Autometer III Minolta light meter fitted with a 10° finder for selective measurements privileging the shadow areas. Shutter time of 1/250s or 1/500s were used with aperture from the full aperture f/2.8 to f/16.

Jardin Botanique de Lyon, March 27, 2024
Parc de la Tête d'Or
69006 Lyon
France

After exposure, the film was revealed using Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developper at dilution 1+25 and 20°C for 8 min. The film was then digitized using a Sony A7 body fitted to a Minolta Slide Duplicator installed on a Minolta Auto Bellows III with a lens Minolta Bellow Macro Rokkor 50mm f/3.5. The RAW files obtained were processed without intermediate files in LR and edited to the final jpeg pictures. All views of the film are presented in the dedicated album either in the printed framed versions and unframed full-size jpeg accompanied by some documentary smartphone Vivio Y76 color pictures.

About the lens :

This Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 1:2.8 f=120mm lens has automatic diaphragm preselection system (ASB Auto Spring Blende) that is operated by the IIa version of Praktina camera's.

The Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 120mm was initially designed to cover the 6x6 format of the KW Praktisix (then the PentaconSix) (zeissikonveb.de). It was also proposed for the Praktina 35mm SLR.

About the KW Praktina IIa :

The Praktina IIa followed in 1958 the Praktina FX designed by the prestigious KW (Kamera Werk Niedersedlitz) German company in Dresden.

This specimen is the version 2 (code 110) produced at about 25.000 exemplars from June 1958 to Mai 1960. Praktina camera's were very high grade precision and quality machines much more sophisticated than the Praktica and the Praktiflex also produced by KW. Praktina was a "system" SLR 35 mm camera with a an impressive range of possible accessories and lenses including large capacity 17m film back and several motors.

My camera came with the mechanical 12-view motor and two Carl Zeiss normal lenses : a Tessar 1:2.8 f=50mm and a Flexon 1:2 f=50mm. This later Flexon lens was designed for the Praktina by Carl Zeiss Jena to modernize the old Biotar 1:2 f=58mm and to fulfill a more closer definition of a "normal lens" to the focal of 50mm. The lens is also much more compact. It was soon renamed "Pancolar" by Zeiss later on.

The Praktina has its own bayonet mount that ressemble a bit to the Canon FD mount with a locking ring on the camera body. The mount has a very large diameter. The IIa model has a new fully automatic diaphragm stop down system. With the Zeiss Flexon, the iris preset is indeed like with a modern camera.

Praktina is a completely different camera compared to the Praktica IV. The body is very well equilibrated and more compact not very far for the Olympus OM-1. The design looks particularly modern and the camera is particularly pleasant to manipulate.

The productiotn suddenlty stopped in May 1960 after the governmental decision to drop down the imposed prices of all camera's DDR by 30%! Praktina was then likely too expensive to be produced normally. As consequence, the less expensive and less performant Praktica's continued when KW became part of the VEB Pentacon.

Taken on: March 27, 2024

Tags:

Lyon

France

Zeiss

Jena

Biometar

lens

1:2.8

f=120mm

Kamera

Werke

Niedersedlitz

Dresden

Germany

Single

Reflex

SLR

Praktina

IIa

ROLLEI

SUPERPAN

200

Adox

Adonal

1+25

Sony

Minolta

Auto

Bellows

Slide

Duplicator

Macro

Rokkor

50mm « less

Sets appears in: • Biometar Rollei Superpan 200

Camera: vivo V2124, f/2.0, 1/125 sec, 3.8mm, ISO 110 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	vivo V2124
Aperture:	f/2.0
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	3.8mm
ISO:	110
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Light Source:	D65
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.3 (Macintosh)
Show full info

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