The southern galaxy IC 4214 is a bright, nearby example of a multiple ring
early-type spiral galaxy with a weak bar. The galaxy shows three strong pse
udoring features, including a nuclear ring, an inner ring, and a prominent
R-1' outer ring, each with distinctive characteristics. The galaxy is impor
tant because it is a classic resonance ring galaxy where the ring features
can be linked to specific orbital resonances with the bar. We present in th
is paper a detailed UBVIH study of its photometric structure and a Fabry-Pe
rot study of its kinematics to set the stage for a dynamical model in a sep
arate paper. Despite the early Hubble type, ionized gas is well. distribute
d in the inner disk regions, providing a well-sampled velocity field. Rapid
rotation is found in the vicinity of the nuclear ring, where the rotation
curve reaches a maximum, and the rotation velocities drop off somewhat with
increasing radius in the outer regions. Noncircular motions are clearly se
en in the observed velocity held. Analysis of both the velocity held and th
e shapes of isophotes give discrepant values for the inclination of the sys
tem, ranging from 47 degrees to 50 degrees from photometry to 55 degrees to
58 degrees from kinematics. A likely value of the inclination could be 52
degrees if the inner and outer rings are intrinsically elongated and aligne
d perpendicular to each other.