6.27.2011

Vintage Camera: Voigtländer Bessa

I'm shooting a lot and am on the road this week, so no new High Line or other original images for a few days. Instead, enjoy "vintage camera week"! To start things off, check out my latest tag sale find, an early (circa 1929, I believe) Voigtländer Bessa! This Bessa is in great shape for its age--works just fine aside from a slightly sticky shutter, and is a nice example of an early medium format folding camera. It may have been well-used, but the former owner took good care it. I picked it up in a twofer deal with an Polaroid SX-70 for a total $25.

Voigtländer is one of the oldest names in camera history. It was founded in 1756 to produce optical instruments. In 1840 Voigtländer started to make cameras and lenses. During the 20th century, the company was bought, sold, folded, and was revived by the likes of Zeiss Ikon, Rollei, and Cosina. Today, the name is largely associated with rangefinders.

Voigtländer is also famous for calling many of its models "Bessa", which can get confusing.

This early Bessa came with four lens options (in increasing quality): Voigtar, Vaskar, Skopar, and the Color Skopar. There were also three leaf shutter options (also in increasing quality): Prontor, Compur, Compur Rapid. My Bessa has a lowly Voigtar lens. The lowest f-stop is 7.7!!!! I'll leave it at home when shooting low-light and action--you can bet on that. I'm still trying to figure out which shutter it has...probably the Prontor. There is a handy cable release in addition to the traditional lever, just to up the vintage factor and make for steadier shots. Photographs are framed via the visual finder (landscape) or the waist level finder (portrait). There is no sophisticated winding mechanism on this camera. You simply wind the film until the next backing paper mark appears through the red window on the back. No double-exposure prevention, of course, but that may make for some interesting, creative images.

6 comments:

  1. I just picked up almost the identical camera. It has a 6.6 f-stop, and where yours has the German words Landschaft and Gruppe, I have English Landscape and Groups. You can see it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/57699644@N03/ I probably have the low-end shutter,a lso, but if you figure out how to tell the difference I'd be glad to hear from you.

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  2. i just recived one from my fathers estate...how much are they worth?its in good condition....

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    1. They could be worth up to about $200 depending on lens and condition. I'd check Ebay and Collectiblend for your exact camera.

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  3. I have one the same as in the photo above, just bought it for 100$, Can you tell me the manufacture date? the only serial number I found is on the inside of the film door and it is A488804 Thank you for such great information

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    1. Try the Collectiblend and Camerapedia sites, they will have more information.

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