Kolibri | Zeiss Ikon

Kolibri, in German is the name of a small bird. It has a plumage with “metallic” reflections and belongs to the same family as the Hummingbird. The curious thing is that these are species found in Central and South America, very far from Germany. But it was certainly the passion that Germans have always had for natural sciences, which led them to travel the world to inventory all species of plants and animals, that made the executives at Zeiss Ikon have this name in mind when they decided to launch their little Kolibri.

The 1920s and 1930s were very rich in the launch of cameras with very original design concepts. It was a time of experimentation. From the beginning of photography, bellows and tailboard cameras, such as the Excelsior, were practically synonymous with cameras. Then came the box cameras, such as the detective cameras, the Klito, for example, which still used glass plates, or the very famous Kodak Brownie nº2, which launched roll film in 120 format. Still using the bellows concept, the drop bed cameras appeared, for plates or films, or both. The Patent-Etui was an example in this category and represents a commendable effort to reduce size while still preserving an old concept.

Many other types and entire categories of cameras emerged, with their own formats and features to make them lighter and smaller. Some had single-lens reflex cameras, clap cameras, twin lenses, and it was also in the 1920s that the Leica was launched, using perforated 35mm film, originally designed for cinema. Another industry landmark was also launched in the 1930s, the Exakta and its little sister, the Kine Exakta. The crisis of the 1920s and 1930s also led to cost reductions, both in the manufacturing/acquisition of equipment and in its use with smaller films and/or plates that provided a lower unit cost per picture.

The Kolibri is an example of this creativity and market reorientation. It was designed to use 127 film, which is slightly smaller than 120, as shown in the photo below.

To shoot with the Kolibri and many other interesting cameras that use 127, an alternative that requires some work but offers a greater variety of emulsions and a much lower cost is to cut the 120 film and rewind it on the 127 reels. In this link you have a tutorial on how to do this.

Trying to understand the Kolibri, in this constellation of new proposals, it is somewhat related to box cameras, such as the Zeiss Ikon Baby Box Tengor which also uses the 127, because it has a metal body and no bellows. But because it has a more sophisticated lens than the Baby Box Tengor, the Tessar uses a collapsible system that greatly reduces its depth when closed.

It can be stored with the lens retracted and to take a picture one simply pull the tube and it will click, very securely, into the correct position. From there, there is a helicoid that allows you to adjust the focus.

In this reduced state, the camera can be stored in a very elegant leather case. However, neither the design nor the somewhat sophisticated features of this camera prevented it from being maliciously nicknamed “the poor man’s Leica” shortly after its launch in 1931, according to D.B. Tubbs. The connection was made probably due to its reduced size and the collapsible lens that became strongly associated with Oscar Barnack’s Leica.

Different from the Leica, and in a certain sense better, it presents a slightly larger negative, in the 3 x 4 cm format, against the usual 2.4 x 3.6 cm of the now known full frame. This standard began with Leica itself using 35mm film.

The shutter is a leaf shutter, mounted on the lens itself and not on the camera body. Kolibri uses a Compur rim set, which had just been released. The rim set refers to the chrome ring that adjusts the speeds from 1s to 1/300 s and also offers B and T.

In the photo below, with two Patent-Etui, you can see both types. The old one on the left, with the small speed adjustment disc on top of the shutter mechanism housing, and the more modern rim set on the right.

It also does not have a rangefinder and focusing is done by estimating the distance between the camera and the subject to be photographed. This may seem like a horror in times of autofocus but in reality, due to the size of the negative and the focal length of 50mm, with a little practice, it is not as difficult as it seems.

The lens is not interchangeable and two Tessars were offered, f/3.5 or f/4.5 or else the Novar f/4.5, a simpler lens with 3 elements in 3 groups instead of the Tessar’s 4 elements in 3 groups. All with a 50mm focal length which is exactly the diagonal of the 3 x 4 cm format.

There is no prevention to double exposure or any exposure at all. You have to advance the film following the numbering on the rear windows, cock the shutter and fire it by activating it with a cable (as the girl does on the catalog page that opens this post) or by acting directly on the small lever on the shutter. These operations are completely independent and require a certain amount of attention and discipline.

But even with all this “simplicity”, and perhaps because of it, the Kolibri is a camera that makes you want to use it. Of course, as with any camera, you need to adapt the type of photo to its capabilities. It is not a camera for portraits with very critical framing and very close proximity. It is better to leave a certain margin of caution so as not to cut off the subject. From a distance of 2 meters it is easy to get the focus and framing right. It is also better if you go after scenes with abundant light so you can work stopped down. In short, you need to use common sense and consider that this is a camera for everyday snapshots.

Below, as it is presented in a 1931 Zeiss Ikon catalog.

It is interesting how on page 21 the emphasis is placed on the savings provided by roll film and the standardization provided by the 127 format. This corroborates the idea that it was a launch for difficult times and market retraction. Also worth noting are the examples of photos taken with it, very much within the theme of vacations, which since the popularization of photography has always been a golden occasion for amateur photographers.

It is obviously not a “system” camera with a whole host of accessories. This makes us appreciate even more that the basics have not been forgotten. The camera I have came in a case with a special place to store a light yellow filter, a zoom lens, a small shutter release cable and a pin to hold the camera upright for longer shots where a flat, solid surface is within reach.

Below, some pictures made with this Kolibri.