This box camera made by German camera and lens manufacturer Zeiss Ikon in 1938 is currently the oldest camera in my little collection. Manufactured from leather coated and lacquered metal, the camera was indeed a special one of its time. The lens is an uncoated Goerz Frontar D.R.P. f11, the aperture can be changed from 11 to 16 to 22. Plus, you can set the focus range from 1-2 m to 2-8 m to 8-infinity.

The shutter mechanism is a rather simple one, although you can lock it or use a cable release. The camera uses 120 or 220 roll film, the negatives have the format 6x9, as most 120 film box cameras. Of course you have two viewfinders as you can turn the camera to use the 6x9 format effectively.

For loading the camera you have to "rip off" the back of it after unlocking the opening mechanism. After shooting a photo you use the manual winding mechanism and a red viewing window on the back to jump to the next frame.

If you want to use this camera, of course you need appropriate weather conditions as the old box cameras were actually designed for very slow films (50 ASA and slower). Plus, you should have a stabile hand while taking photographs as the shutter speed is something below 1/90 s. But, you can make fine photographs with the Box Tengor, the lens produces surprisingly well focussed pictures.


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