Page 17 - RD_March_2013.pdf
P. 17
Pentacon AK8 – 8mm Cine Camera
When the Zeiss Ikon Company was
founded in 1926 by a merger of four
different German camera makers,
Ernemann's renowned cine camera
product line was continued. Astoundingly
the amateur cine camera branch was
continued after 1945 in the postwar
state-owned socialist East German VEB
Zeiss Ikon.
One fine example is the sturdy, nicely
designed, spring-motor-driven viewfinder
movie camera Pentacon AK8 for "double
8" (or "regular 8") cine film. The camera
took spools of double perforated 16mm
film 7.5 metres (25ft) in length.
A small window in the back showed the
used film length in metres. A tab in the
reverse Galilean viewfinder indicated film
end. The lens was a non-focusable 2.8/10 Zeiss Jena Triotar which could be stopped down
from f2.8 to f11. With aperture f2.8 depth of field was from 2.1 metres to infinity, with f11
from 77cm to infinity. The shutter had a fixed speed of 1/32 sec. at 16 frames per second, and
selectable exposure modes were continuous (D), shutter release controlled (L) and single shot
(E).The camera also incorporated a film back-wind handle for double exposure for fades or
dissolves.
17