The camera was usually equipped with simple self-branded lens and shutter, although later models were available with lenses and shutter of higher spec. It was a 6x9 format camera for use with 120 film and featured a simple frame finder as viewfinder as well as an old-school brilliant finder next to the shutter. The Juwella was an example of the latter. Like many German camera makers in the era between WWI and WWII, Balda started with relatively simple box and folding cameras. The company reshaped itself and Balda AG still exists as a company specialising in plastics. It kept producing cameras until the 1980s, although the last 20 years mostly simple instant cameras. Camera production in West-Germany continued with pre-war as well as new models, including non-folding cameras. The Dresden factory continued producing the Baldina cameras under the Balda brand, but was in 1951 renamed Belca. After WWII Max Baldaweg restarted its company in former West-Germany, as the Dresden factory was confiscated by the authorities. Initially it produced camera parts, but in 1925 it introduced its first box camera and in 1935 the Baldina, a folding 35mm camera.
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My camera cupboard is full as it is.Balda-Werk is a company with a long history that started with its founding in 1908 by Max Baldeweg in Dresden.
Then a Zeiss Super Ikonta 6圆 which both had light leaks and an automatic winding mechanism that no longer worked. Then a Zeiss Nettar 6x9 with massive light leaks. Light leak from the back door, but I have hope I can repair it myself. I tried to purchase a replacement on eBay, but it turns out there are different types of element that attach on the same fitting and the one I received threw the camera’s focus completely off. I began with a Mamiya 6 (a 6圆 medium format camera) which turned out to have fungus on its rear lens element. I’ve repeated the mistake of not testing a camera until after the return period has expired, leaving me with a beautifully designed brick. Especially in these days of online purchasing, it is very difficult to tell how a camera will perform until you’ve put a roll of film through it. With any old camera, age brings the risk of light-leaks from the back or bellows, fungus on the lens and stripped winding gears.
“Some time” being the best part of a century.
This type of camera has been out of fashion for some time now. And the majority of these cameras lack interchangeable lenses, but I generally travel with a single lens anyway.Īctually, there is a further down side.
#Folding camera retro arco manual#
Many have only basic functionality like red-window manual winding, distance-scale focusing and cocking levers before the shutter can be fired). The are some downsides to vintage folders. There are also 35mm folding cameras that are magnificently small for a ‘full frame’ camera. Up to 6x9 medium format cameras with lens that collapses into the body when not in use. I began to research folding cameras which promise to be a good compromise.
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