zeiss ikon icarex 35bm review

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Picture courtesy of Markus Maisel.

Average Ratings

Photograph Quality	9/10
Features	8/10
Ease of Use	6/10
Value for Money	9.7/10
Reviewer Rating	9/10
Overall Rating	7/10

100% Recommended3 out of 3 Reviews

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By Andy Radcliffe. on 25th Nov 2002

Andy Radcliffe.'s Ratings

Features	8/10
Value for money	10/10
Overall value	9/10
Andy Radcliffe.'s recommendation

Good Points

Great build quality, the breech lock lens mount, interchangable finders and, of course, those Carl Zeiss lenses. Slightly unusual and idiosyncratic!

Bad Points

Lack of a shutter speed slower than half a second, no Carl Zeiss lens available wider than 35mm in the breech-lock mount, and a viewfinder which only shows about 85% of the field.Slightly unusual etc.........!

General Comments

In my opinion, the Zeiss Ikon Icarex 35 BM is a very under-rated system. The Carl Zeiss lenses are first class, even if compared to much newer designs, and can be found at pretty reasonable prices if one is prepared to hunt around a bit.The exceptions to this are the 90/f3.4 Dynarex (which is probably one of the best of the lot) and the 36-82mm Zoomar- both of these, especially the latter are pretty rare. The interchangeable finders are one of the better features although the CS prism is big and bulky and, being uncoupled to the shutter speed dial, is very slow to use. The waist level finder is useful for close up work etc.(Bellows and extension tubes were both available)
Altogether capable of really first-class results, especially if you are prepared to work a little more slowly than with a more modern system.The less than ideal finder coverage is the one thing that really lets the side down here - more of a problem for slide work than for negs of course.

Total Respect: +1