“Do you mind? You’re in my shot!” – The seventh Doctor’s vintage stills camera: Remembrance of the Daleks

Screenshots from Remembrance of the Daleks (DVD video), showing the Doctor using his Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 (version D) stills camera

…So said the seventh Doctor to Professor Rachel Jensen, in episode four of “Remembrance of the Daleks”.

The Doctor was preparing to make contact with the Dalek Mothership (which was in geostationary orbit above planet Earth), using fibre optic cabling, a Dalek matter transmitter, a Dalek Shuttlecraft, and a vintage folding camera.

In the transmitted version, the camera can be seen briefly in a few shots.  But on the DVD video, there is a deleted scene in which the camera can also be seen.  Upon studying these scenes, as well as making screenshots, I was able to formally identify the make and model of the camera.

One of several Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 (version D) stills photographic cameras that I own

The same make and model camera as it appeared on screen (note that in the above shot, the viewfinder on the side is opened up).  I suspect the shutter/lens on this camera was a Compur, whereas the shutter/lens on the ones I own are Telma and Kilo.  

It is a Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 (version D) stills photographic camera, circa 1937.

Zeiss Ikon was an amalgamation of several German photographic companies, who merged during the period of hyper-inflation in Germany in the early 1920s, to avoid bankruptcy.  (United they stand, divided they fall, so to speak.)  It had offices in the USA, the UK and other countries.

(Zeiss still exists today and specialises in making high quality lenses for various usages.)

After the First World War, Germany was forced into paying reparation payments to France, as well as heavy de-militarisation, loss of Germanic land, and so forth.  This caused hyper-inflation and national humiliation.  It was during the early 1920s that the Nazi Party first flourished, festering on the national humiliation of the time and the desire to part blame on the Jewish minority and a left-wing Government.

In the 1920s, the German Government borrowed large sums of money from the USA, which they used to end the hyper-inflation and kick-start the German economy.

After Adolf Hitler was released from prison (where he had been jailed after leading an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Weimar Government), he found a Germany that was flourishing economically and where support for a far-right political party was practically non-existent.  Upon his release from prison until 1933, Hitler worked on improving the image of not only himself, but of the Nazi Party; turning it from a bunch of far-right, violent, anti-semite, revolutionaries, to a democratic party.  It was all a public relations sham designed to detoxify the Nazi Party and make it look respectable and electable (or as electable as an anti-Semitic, racist, violent, homophobic, cold-hearted political party can ever be!).

(It is interesting to note that the Nazi Party only ever had significant support when Germany was in recession.  In the 21st century, one can see parallels in Europe where the far right in some countries are seeing a growth in support.  It seems that extremists fester in hard times.)

Unfortunately, the Wall Street stock exchange collapse caused a great depression that went beyond the USA and badly affected Germany, causing mass unemployment and the collapse of pension funds and savings.  Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party exploited this economic and human tragedy, as well as centuries-old anti-Semitism and German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles, in order to get into Government.  Hitler would become Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and start to dismantle German democracy, intern his political opponents in concentration camps, the persecution of the Jewish minority, and censorship.  And a seemingly civilised nation willingly supported it all!

But why am I telling you all this?  My reason is to give some context as to the trading relationship between Germany during the pre-WW2 Nazi era and other countries.  All the while the Nazis were rounding up political opponents, dismantling German democracy, persecuting the Jewish minority, rearming its military, censoring free press, and so forth, trade and diplomatic relations between Germany and other countries did not cease.  Knowing what we know now of Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, the Second World War, and the 1940s horror of the holocaust, it is hard for many of us to imagine that trade and diplomatic relations continued amid the rise of fascism and racism in Germany!

The 1936 Summer Olympic Games took place in Germany, during which the African-American Jesse Owens won four gold medals.  Due to his non-Aryan appearance, it was assumed by many that Adolf Hitler spurned Jesse Owens.  But in reality, Adolf Hitler did raise his hand from afar and acknowledge Jesse Owens; albeit brief and from a distance, it was an acknowledgement from Hitler to Owens.  Jesse would return to the USA a four times gold medallist but be treated like a second class citizen in the USA were racial segregation still existed!

Meanwhile in England, the German stills and movie camera manufacturer, Zeiss Ikon, had an office which sold cameras and accessories to British photographic enthusiasts.

(After 1939, at least some production at the Zeiss Ikon plants in Germany switched from civilian to military usage.  Slave labour was used during this time.  After the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the company was divided between East and West Germany and remained so until Germany reunification in the early 1990s.)

I have purchased second-hand several Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 Version D stills cameras, at least one of which was originally purchased in 1938 (based on the paperwork that came with it).   It horrifies and fascinates me that people were buying German-made goods, at a time when fascism and racism was on the rise in Germany.  And make no mistake about it; Zeiss Ikon was a very popular manufacturer of stills and movie camera.  Indeed, in the former half of the twentieth century, Zeiss Ikon was a pioneer of 8mm cine cameras, in addition to its range of stills photographic cameras.

(It seems a little ironic that a German-made camera, circa 1938, appeared in a Doctor Who story whose central theme was racism and featured the daleks who were looeely based on the Nazis, making Davros their own little Hitler.)

The Nettar 515/2 Version D and its predecessors were an economic range of Zeiss Ikon stills photographic cameras and very popular.  From an era before the microchip revolution, they are a beautiful example of craftsmanship.  In addition to the standard shutter, they came fitted with a self-timer.  The self-timer was a spring and clockwork mechanism; opening up the lens reveals a mechanism underneath not unlike the type one would expect to find in a clock or watch.   There were a number of different shutters, such as Compur, Telma and Kilo, which had different shutter speed settings.  One could set the aperture, focus, and shutter speed, using the various dials of the lens; all the more remarkable for a camera that was marketed as an economic range!

Sadly, we all break down with age, and cameras are no different.  The self-timer, for all its mechanical beauty, was fragile and seems to be one of the first parts of the camera to malfunction.  (Out of the four I own, two still have a working timer, whereas the other two do not.)  Similarly, the lubricant used to oil the mechanism can turn waxy with age.  It might be possible to repair, clean and lubricate the mechanisms, but it is a fragile and fiddly task.