fresh from the bay: Voigtländer Bessa I

[joeswe]

This nice little gem arrived with the mail today...


BESSA_I_01 von eames68 auf Flickr


BESSA_I_02 von eames68 auf Flickr

Voigtländer Bessa I, Color-Skopar lens in Prontor SVS shutter complete with original packaging, leather case, original receipt of purchase, quality control slip, packaging slip, boxed Kontur finder and boxed green filter. 4.5x6 mask is included. Besides there was lot of stuff like negatives, vintage prints some personal notes and smaller technical items included in the package. The camera is in a 99.9% mint condition, it almost looks like it's never been used, maybe it has seen half a dozen rolls of film, there is still an old metal spool loaded in the back. The lens is clear (some very minor spots on the front lens coating) and the shutter is running perfectly.

I purchased this from an Ebay dealer (not a photo specialist) who had advertised it together with the usual couple of dark, blurred picture and a very short description. He didn't go into the details of the package, just mentioned there was original packaging and a lot of accessories included. So I jumped for it but didn't expect too much, thinking the price was okay (90 Euros) and if the camera was bad I would just return it. Today, when parcel arrived, it almost struck me like lightning when I saw that camera in it's full splendor and beauty... I still cant believe it's 56 years old!

Still haven't gone through all the stuff included, but here are some of the interesting details:
The receipt of purchase from a photo dealer in Recklinghausen (Ruhr region of Germany) is dated August 6, 1955 and carries the name (and lot of other personal data) of the original purchaser. Interesting is the price of 217.50 Deutsche Mark (182 Mark for the camera, the rest is for accessories), I'm curious to find out how this translates into today's money.

The 6x9 Kontur finder is also interesting, because it has additional frame lines for the 4.5x6 format. I already own a 6x9 Kontur finder, that I use with my Agfa Record, but it only has the standard frame lines. This one seems to be a special version for the double format Bessa I.

I see only one big problem with the whole deal: I am a photographer and not a collector. This thing looks so pristine that I just might not dare to actually take it outside to use it... 😱
Later I will probably post some of the vintage photos (negatives/prints) that were included in the box.

John

 

[hans voralberg]

Wow full kit with the super rare 645 adapter, that is one lucky fine. THe lens is very good 🙂 You'll love it.

 

[Thomas-Paris]

Still haven't gone through all the stuff included, but here are some of the interesting details:
The receipt of purchase from a photo dealer in Recklinghausen (Ruhr region of Germany) is dated August 6, 1955 and carries the name (and lot of other personal data) of the original purchaser. Interesting is the price of 217.50 Deutsche Mark (182 Mark for the camera, the rest is for accessories), I'm curious to find out how this translates into today's money.

As a quick estimate, it's about 500 EUR in today's money, if I didn't screw up the math.

 

[Thomas-Paris]

Lucky, lucky you! That is a beautiful find!

 

[jvan01]

I have a Bessa I (105mm 4.5 Vaskar lens) that I bought for cheap, but not in as nice shape as yours!

Enjoy!

 

[nikon_sam]

That is beautiful...at first I thought it was a brand new camera but then I read your post...
That camera has been waiting patiently for 50 years to get used...go use it...

 

[joeswe]

That is beautiful...at first I thought it was a brand new camera but then I read your post...
That camera has been waiting patiently for 50 years to get used...go use it...

Yep,
you're right, I just took it for a walk and shot a first test roll!
Thanks to Thomas for the info on the "inflation corrected price". The original buyer worked as a carpenter and made a down payment of 136 Deutschmarks with the purchase. The rest was payed in three installments during the following months. The following scan shows the more interesting prints (contact prints) that came with the package. Well it's obvious this guy isn't a master photographer, but the shots are stil quite nice. It's a construction site somewhere in Recklinghausen in the 1950s. You can see the tower of the Recklinghausen city hall in the background of the upper left picture, which is a very nice picture by the way.
I looks like the guys on the picture on the lower right are carpenters, maybe they are celebrating the topping out ceremony (?). These could be colleagues of the owner of the camera and he could have been working at this construction site. The receipt of purchase states that his profession is "carpenter" and that he works for a construction company in Recklinghausen. The guy was 42 years and 6 months at the time of the purchase (accidentally I am 42 and 9 months right now, maybe this is the typical age of the Bessa folder buyer? 😉). There is a passport photo type portrait included in the package dated from 1962 that probably shows the owner. There are more photos and also negatives included, but it seems most is rather personal stuff (portraits), so I won't post them here. I might try to find out if there are relatives of the guy still living in Recklinghausen (his surname is not very common) and send them the stuff if they are interested.


recklinghausen von eames68 auf Flickr

 

[joeswe]

Variations of the Kontur 6x9 finder

Variations of the Kontur 6x9 finder

This pic shows the "Bessa I" type Kontur finder that came with the camera in comparison to the standard type 6x9 Kontur finder.
The right one is the standard type with normal frame lines and parallax corrected dotted frame lines for close distance shots at 3 ft/1m.
The left one for the Bessa I differs in two ways: First, there are additional frame lines for 4.5x6 format and second, the parallax corrected frame lines for 6x9 show a bit of offset to the left (when seen from the front). This is because of the design of the top plate of the Bessa I, the accessory shoe is not in the same vertical axis as the lens but mounted quite a bit to the left.
For those of you who wonder, what the Kontur finder is and how it works, this is discussed here:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27646

have a nice day,
John


kontur 6x9 variations von eames68 auf Flickr

 

[Ernst Dinkla]

As a quick estimate, it's about 500 EUR in today's money, if I didn't screw up the math.

Depends on your math. If you computed the inflation since, you could be right but I guess it would be even higher, 650 Euro. If you went for the German Mark<>Euro exchange rate when the Euro was introduced then a 100 Euro is more correct.

For the purchaser of the Bessa I, I guess there is a collector in Asia willing to pay several times the price you paid and that could be used for a nice, user quality, coupled RF MF folder.

Ernst Dinkla

 

[hausen]

Funnily enough I had a Bessa I turn up yesterday as well. Mine is the same version as yours, it also has the 645 mask, original Voigt case, but mine has the Rondo finder. Not quite as good condition as yours but still near mint. Am waiting also for UPS to turn up with my new Fuji GF670 any minute so have 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9 covered. Cost me NZ$100 or $US80.

 

[joeswe]

Cost me NZ$100 or $US80.

The Fuji or the Bessa? 😀

I really like the Kontur finders. I also use one in 6x6 with my Isolette folder. It takes some time to get used to them, but I think shooting is much more fun with them than with the tiny built-in finders of the old folders. I haven't used them in 35mm yet, as I happen to have a nice Leitz SBOOI finder. In the beginning I used it for 6x9 also, but the framelines are slightly different, so for me the Kontur is the better option in 6x9.
By the way, what is the Rondo finder?

 

[oftheherd]

Wow. Just wow. That is a nice find.

 

[joeswe]

I decided to post some more photographs from the stuff that came with the camera.
the first two were probably made with the Bessa and show some mountain scenery, probably in Switzerland or Austria. These are two of a total set of eight negatives that are in bad shape (folded, dirty and scratched). The pictures were probably taken some time in the fifties, maybe the same year the camera was purchased?


Ohne Titel-3 von eames68 auf Flickr


Ohne Titel-10 von eames68 auf Flickr

 

[joeswe]

There is also a set of 6x9 negatives that appear to be much older and probably were not shot with the Bessa. There is a portrait of a young man who resembles the face on a passport shot from 1963, that is included in the set and probably shows the (then fifty years old) owner of the Bessa. So my guess is that this is a "portrait of the artist as a young man", maybe some time in the 1930s? The second pic could be a family, mother, daugthers and grand-children? Just speculating now, but again there seems to be some resemblance between the guy on the photo and the other persons faces, especially the older woman. Maybe they are his mother and sisters? There is a photo that shows the front of the house depicted in the background of the group photo. He kept a print of that picture together with his passport photo, so I think it had some meaning for him, maybe his place of birth.
Okay, that is enough for today...

Ohne Titel-16 von eames68 auf Flickr


Ohne Titel-13 von eames68 auf Flickr