Filters and lens hoods/shades

Camera and lens manufacturers and experienced photographers usually recommend to use a lens hood to shade the front lens whenever possible. They state that there is hardly any photo that does not benefit from using a lens hood and showing increased brilliance and contrast. This is particularly reasonable when using fast lenses with large front lens elements, which are insufficiently shaded by deep lens bezels. Particularly, uncoated pre-war lenses or single-coated post-war lenses are prone to loosing contrast and provoking lens flare, if the sun is shining more or less directly on the front lens.

Unfortunately, original lens hoods of vintage cameras tend to be rare and are rather expensive, if available. I took me some time and effort to find suitable filters and lens hoods/shades for my folding cameras. Sometimes I was lucky to find one or the other filter or a fitting lens hood in the packing of a vintage folder, enclosed by a generous seller. Particularly, I was looking for a yellow filter to improve contrast in b&w photography and a lens hood to minimize flare, both for my Super Ikontas III, which I preferably use during hiking.

The Zeiss Ikon company applied a complicated numbering not only to their cameras but also to the accessories. Some brochures and catalogs published by Zeiss Ikon in the fifties and found in the web contained a listing of the accessories including the catalog numbers. I found out that for example the appropriate filters for the f/3.5 Novar or Tessar of the Super Ikonta III (531/16) were numbered 353 and the 32 mm push-on/slip-on metal lens hood had the catalog number 1111, which made it much easier to search for.

The 353 filters are screw-in filters, but the lens did not appear to have a thread to receive the filter. A photo posted in flickr and showing the Super Ikonta III with a filter attached helped much to solve the problem. After some inspection I found out that the milled front element of the lens has not only the function to allow easy grip for focusing (there is a separate milled ring for focusing behind the aperture scale), but also accepts inside/internal filter threads for attaching filters. Interestingly, also a push-on filter version was available, fitting into the small ring slit at the front element of the lens, which also receives the lens hood.

Note: The Super Ikonta III can be folded up with a filter attached to the lens. The lens hood can be pushed on the lens without using filters and also in combination with a filter attached to the lens. The hood fits into the front rim of the filters.