Any love for the Belca/Welta Belmira?

[moggi1964]

A recent purchase on ebay got me a Belmira for £17.29.

I sent it straight off for a CLA (£30) and it is on its way back now. The glass on a mirror has de-silvered so the RF won't be very clear if usable at all but it'll be great little compact street photography zone-focusing camera.

So for £50 I have what I think is a beautiful piece of engineering/art that I hope will take terrific images. It has the 2.8/50mm Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar.

I will of course post back here and let you know how it performs.

Does anyone know how to determine in which period a particular example was manufactured?

 

[p.giannakis]

A recent purchase on ebay got me a Belmira for £17.29.

I sent it straight off for a CLA (£30) and it is on its way back now. The glass on a mirror has de-silvered so the RF won't be very clear if usable at all but it'll be great little compact street photography zone-focusing camera.

So for £50 I have what I think is a beautiful piece of engineering/art that I hope will take terrific images. It has the 2.8/50mm Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar.

I will of course post back here and let you know how it performs.

Does anyone know how to determine in which period a particular example was manufactured?

Never seen any of these before - i had to google it. Tessars are good enough for the majority of the cases; so it should be good fun using it.

 

[santino]

It’s the design that is special. The Praktica style release button and cocking the shutter via a slider. It sits next to the Werra on my shelf.

 

[moggi1964]

Thank you both for contributing.

Pan, hoping that turns out to be the case with this one. I will of course post here when I get it back and run some film through it.

Santino, do you use yours or is it's place on the shelf a result of its uniqueness and pretty looks? I would like to see any images you have taken with it.

 

[charjohncarter]

It is clean too. Should be fun.

 

[oftheherd]

I think I remember another tread on a camera of this type, simply because I hadn't heard of it before. I have several copies of Welta Weltis, Weltinis, and 6x6. The first I used was a Welti I inherited from my father. The ones I have are great performers. I think you will grow to like yours. It looks kind of neat

EDIT: I meant to add a photo one of my Weltis and Weltinis. At least here is a couple of my Weltinis.

And a Welti with a couple of other folders I like to use.

 

[moggi1964]

I think I remember another tread on a camera of this type, simply because I hadn't heard of it before. I have several copies of Welta Weltis, Weltinis, and 6x6. The first I used was a Welti I inherited from my father. The ones I have are great performers. I think you will grow to like yours. It looks kind of neat

EDIT: I meant to add a photo one of my Weltis and Weltinis. At least here is a couple of my Weltinis.

And a Welti with a couple of other folders I like to use.

Beautiful selection and lovely that one has sentimental value. Thanks for sharing those.

 

[seany65]

I did consider getting one a while back to go with my Welta Rheinmetall Weltax and my Welta "something" - it's supposed to be a Perle but it has 'Welta' written on the front where it would normally have 'Perle' or 'Symbol' etc., but then I realised that I'd have nowhere to put it. I've since got rid of 5 cameras, 2 flashes and 3 lenses and I now have only just enough room for what I'be got left.

 

[571514m3]

It’s the design that is special. The Praktica style release button and cocking the shutter via a slider. It sits next to the Werra on my shelf.

"So for £50 I have what I think is a beautiful piece of engineering/art that I hope will take terrific images."


Looking forward to that. What a beautiful camera. Great lens. Lots of them on ebay.de as expected. Looking forward to seeing what you did with it.

 

[moggi1964]

I did consider getting one a while back to go with my Welta Rheinmetall Weltax and my Welta "something" - it's supposed to be a Perle but it has 'Welta' written on the front where it would normally have 'Perle' or 'Symbol' etc., but then I realised that I'd have nowhere to put it. I've since got rid of 5 cameras, 2 flashes and 3 lenses and I now have only just enough room for what I'be got left.

Ha! I'm starting to head in that same direction. Must resist 😀

 

[moggi1964]

"So for £50 I have what I think is a beautiful piece of engineering/art that I hope will take terrific images."


Looking forward to that. What a beautiful camera. Great lens. Lots of them on ebay.de as expected. Looking forward to seeing what you did with it.

Thanks. Should be with me in about three weeks as I asked the repair guy to hang on to it when it is done and to return it with my Yashica's that I will be sending him this week.

I'll definitely be posting images from it in November.

 

[Dralowid]

Always rather liked folding 35mm cameras, particularly Weltas and Weltinis.

They make a change from those Retinas...

 

[santino]

Thank you both for contributing.

Pan, hoping that turns out to be the case with this one. I will of course post here when I get it back and run some film through it.

Santino, do you use yours or is it's place on the shelf a result of its uniqueness and pretty looks? I would like to see any images you have taken with it.

The rf on mine is off so I used it just once to test it out so no serious shots to show. I love the design and it is imo really well build. So it actually is (my) shelf queen 😀

 

[Timmyjoe]

Does anyone know how to determine in which period a particular example was manufactured?

Going by the serial number on the lens, I'd say sometime between 1955 and 1958.

Best,
-Tim

 

[moggi1964]

Going by the serial number on the lens, I'd say sometime between 1955 and 1958.

Best,
-Tim

Thanks Tim. It's older than me and I think the mechanical parts also work better. Maybe it's time I got a CLA 😀

 

[moggi1964]

The rf on mine is off so I used it just once to test it out so no serious shots to show. I love the design and it is imo really well build. So it actually is (my) shelf queen 😀

😀 She deserves the spot.

 

[oftheherd]

Beautiful selection and lovely that one has sentimental value. Thanks for sharing those.

Not that it matters to this thread, but I lost my father's Welti in a house fire and replaced it with the one in in the photo. I do like Welta cameras. I think they don't get the acclaim they deserve.

 

[oftheherd]

Always rather liked folding 35mm cameras, particularly Weltas and Weltinis.

They make a change from those Retinas...

Never owned a Retina. I can remember them being a popular topic of discussion in the camera club my father was a member of.

I was always curious how it would be to have interchangeble lenses as on the Retina II, but never figure it would be such a big deal since I didn't think the selection was that good. I guess it was good for its day, but not these days in my opinion.

 

[Muggins]

I do like Welta cameras. I think they don't get the acclaim they deserve.

I have a pre-war Welta Perle 6 x 4.5 folder - apart from an appallingly placed shutter release (seems to be a common feature on cameras of this period - though my Voigtlander Bessa has a very, very well thought out one), it's really rather nice.

They also built the deliciously mad Superfekta: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Superfekta

 

[moggi1964]

Not that it matters to this thread, but I lost my father's Welti in a house fire and replaced it with the one in in the photo. I do like Welta cameras. I think they don't get the acclaim they deserve.

That is sad. We lost virtually all our belongings in a fire in 1972 and it has really come home to me in the last few years what wonderful and meaningful keepsakes went up in flames. What's done is done I guess.

Sounds like your Dad enjoyed his photography.