The Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor - King of the Box Cameras? Or Crown Prince of Crap? @the120ist
The Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor - King of the Box Cameras? Or Crown Prince of Crap?  @the120ist
Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I don't want to ruin the surprise for you. But... it's crap.

That's unfair of course. But whatever. I'm allowed not to like a camera.

I actually don't dislike this camera. But everything I've read hailed the Box Tengor as some sort of god among box cameras, and my findings are that that's not true.

So, here are the caveats - 1. this is an old camera, and there is dust, or fungus, or muck, or whatever, on the inside lenses, that allow for close up focusing.

2. As with all box cameras, this has a slow shutter speed, by today's standards. Something like 1/30 or 1/50. Either of those shutter speed give ample opportunity for camera shake, and motion blur. And I wasn't using a tripod.

3. This was the first time using this camera for me, so who knows how I might have done things differently if I had the chance again.

4. Similar to 1), it's old, there could be other issues with the camera that I didn't spot on first pass.

Ok, that's all the caveats out the way. Now here are the findings - more than half of my images were poor. Blurry, focus or motion problems. Whatever it was, the images aren't really usable. Or maybe they are usable, but they weren't what I intended.

I've had box cameras out before where my expectations were low, and I was pleasantly surprised. But this time around I had higher expectations and I was disappointed. My fault for having high expectations? Or is this just not as special as I thought it was?

What do you think? Have you tried a Box Tengor? Let me know in the comments!
The Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor - King of the Box Cameras? Or Crown Prince of Crap?This is the future! Or the past. Or something. Its good anyway. Pure image making. This is the BoxxRolleiflex SLX  - amazing medium format SLR. Definitely worth a try! One of my fave 120 film camerasBronica S2A on tour! Part 1 - NamibiaColor filters in black and white photography - what they do and when to use them!VSGO Black Snipe 25L... is this the camera bag Ive been looking for??Dry plate tintypes TAKE TWO! Giving Zebra dry plates a second shot... can I get it right this time??Shooting self portraits on film - featuring the Reveni Labs remote release and Trioplan 100mm f2.8CANON AE-1 PROGRAM in depth REVIEW and SHOOT - amazing film camera, Ive had this for 27 years!Photoshoot with Thornbury Mens Shed ft. Kodak Brownie 2A, Bronica ETRS, Stenopeika 4x5, Rollei SLXPentacon Six TL - theyre everywhere, but are they any good??Gerlach Nixette or Nixon Nixette - 1950s vintage medium format film folding camera REVIEW snd SHOOT
the120ist |

The Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor - King of the Box Cameras? Or Crown Prince of Crap?

SHARE TO X SHARE TO REDDIT SHARE TO FACEBOOK WALLPAPER