Tenax II

1938

Zeiss-Ikon A. G.

Dresden

Germany

Lens:

f2.8, 4 cm Zeiss Tessar, iris diaphragm to f22. Removable bayonet mount lens. Serial no. 2384013 (1938).

Shutter:

Compur Rapid, speeds 1 - 1/400, B. Delayed action.

Construction:

Leather covered metal body.

Format:

50, 24 x 24 mm exposures on 35 mm cine film held in standard cassettes.

Focusing:

To 1 metre.

Attributes:

Coupled rotating wedge rangefinder.
Film-advance and shutter tensioned by single lever action, shutter release linked to film-advance.
Depth-of-field scale.

Serial Number:

H75793 (c.1937) .

With:

Ever-ready case. Lens cap. Pale yellow filter, 37 mm push-on mount, in case. Bernotar polarizing filter, 37 mm push-on mount. Lens hood.
Ikophot exposure meter, early model. In case.

The Tenax 11 was Zeiss-Ikon's entry into the field of rapid exposure cameras. It was preceded by the Robot of 1934, with a clock work motor for advancing the film. Leitz had introduced a rapid wind base to attach to existing Leica cameras in 1935 and added a motor drive attachment in 1938. Advertisements emphasised its use in action and sequence photography and claimed that rates of 1 exposure per second could be achieved. The standard lenses were an f2.8 4 cm Tessar and f2 4 cm Sonnar. An f4 7.5 cm Sonnar long-focus and f4.5 27 mm Orthometer were produced but sold in very few numbers.

Code Names:

351/2 - Yellow filter . 7116 - Bernotar.

References & Notes:

BJA 1939, p. 558. ZI Cat. "If only I had my Camera", p. 22.

Early Photography