A couple of months ago, one of my friends sent me an email that said, “Hey, I’ve got the perfect camera for you to try out and review. It’s a Zenobia R, and I think you’ll love it!”
Well, I’d never heard of a Zenobia before, so of course I’m game. So, he sent me this little gem, and I’m hopefully gonna give it a chance to shine.
Now, to understand the Zenobia R and where it fits in camera history, we need to go all the way back to the 1930s and the Zeiss Ikon Ikonta A. The Ikonta A is a folding, 4.5×6 format camera. And in 1940, the Japanese company Okada Kogaku released a copy of the Ikonta A named the Waltax. Okada actually survived World War 2 and continued to manufacture cameras. In 1951, the name of the company was changed to Daiichi Kogaku and soon saw the release of the Zenobia line of medium format folders. The new Zenobia-branded cameras inherited the design features of the Waltax with the Zenobia C and P models.
In 1952 the Zenobia R was announced. And the “R” in the name reflects the inclusion of a rangefinder – something the Waltax and the Ikonta A cameras didn’t have. So we can sort of consider the Zenobia R as an Ikonta A with a rangefinder.
Have I piqued your interest? Check out the video for the entire review and photo shoot!
Vintage Camera Digest 