good or bad re-leathering job-red snakeskin!

[chippy]

while browsing I came across this Welta Weltini re-covered in Red snakeskin, thought to myself oh no! someone had to do it sometime, lets have a look...would you be happy with this re-leathering job?🙄

at first glance it looked more rusty brown than red to me and though i think it should be restored and look better with black leather resembling the original, i know some people like substitutes, perhaps the brownish colour will be interesting and look ok..brown leather i dont mind the look of on some cameras...

then i saw the second close up pic of the side panel and thought, crikey, this looks a bit ruff, not done with a lot of care..then look at the next showing the back with an extra strip of leather stuck on..oh no! i started laughing, how slack can people be , the further I look the worse it gets!..two extra stuck on strips on the back..or am i too picky? 😀

then look at the front--what a disaster! its not easy to re-cover the front doors on these--so why bother haha...just get some silver paint and stick something resembling a circle in the middle 😛

its missing the top plate as well showing the depth of field scales, the screws are still there, sticking up at different heights 😀

apparently it is rated as 8.5 and beautiful so i guess my tastes and rating methods arnt the same as others...if you are interested its on special for only $253.30 😉 it looks like the lens is the nice f2 Xenon, looks reasonably clear surprisingly (its not 1940s either-its 36-37) http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220422372086&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:AU:1123

 

[Eryximachos]

I dont think the recovering adds any value . . .

 

[Beemermark]

I didn't know they made shelf paper in that color.

 

[chippy]

I dont think the recovering adds any value . . .

i would say not...a very good original one of these might go as high as $200 or so, usually they can be had $70ish to $130, though the Xenon f2 are less common, more often they have tessar, xenar and on rare occasions an Elmar--those will reach pretty high amounts

 

[chippy]

If you don't like it, don't buy it. Simple.🙄

i wasnt thinking of buying it Richard, i already have these, they are a fine camera generally if you get one in good condition..ahead of their time in 1936-7, easily arguably better than the Retina of the same years, it took the retina a few years longer before they had the same features

i was simply astounded and commenting on what passes for recovering work...😱

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Oh God, that's a horrible job!

 

[Phoenix Phil]

mabelsound...I agree with you. I was going to say that a child did it but that would be an insult to all children.

 

[Al Kaplan]

Posting the photos is copyright infringement. Posting a link to the images equates to "turn to page 185 of the book to find some photos of the camera".

 

[rbiemer]

The camera--NOT the re"leather"ing--looks pretty interesting; an RF for us left eyed folks.
Might have to start looking, elsewhere, for one of them.
If the recovering had been done well, I think it would look pretty good. The color isn't bad just the workmanship.
With some gold paint and this "leather" the seller could have called it a "Luxus Welta"?😀
Rob

 

[chippy]

Rob, funny you should say that, there is actually a Luxus Welta (brown leather but no gold though, i got one around here somewhere) but its an entirely different camera, older folding type camera that shoots 5x8...

these Weltini's are a very nice little shooter, quite solid and heavy for their size, single combined viewfinder for both rangefinder and composing, one nice feature is that when you close the front it automatically returns to infinity as you close the door, with many folding cameras they often wont close unless you stop to fiddle with the focus first. this model has that funky retro look which i like and has the frame counter on the bottom. the 1939 model has a sleeker streamlined look (remodeled top) but is still the same basic camera as that earlier camera. If you were to consider getting one, which ever model, its worth getting one in good nik. that one at the above link, has what appears to be a nice lens but is missing the top plate and rectangular front window trim, the other circular rangefinder window looks like its been mis-handled with tools and is on crooked as well , overall a little worse from wear, some corrision around the shutter linkage too but that might clean up....yeah, its the poor quality of the recoving that i was amazed at, i thought the same thing, that a 10 year old might of done it, but then i thought, hmm, maybe a 10 year would do better 😛

this is an old pic of my 1939 -41 model with Elmar, i fixed up the little loose edges to its leather showing in this pic (bottom left) and its just finger smudge marks on the chrome thats otherwise would look shiny on this model too. again, when this is closed the focus returns automatically back to infinity and the top shutter button also retracts flush with the top cover

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[Paddy C]

That this camera is in this condition and is rated as an 8.5 by the seller is no surprise given who the seller is.

I routinely see auctions from Hollywood camera (or whatever they are actually called) for cameras that look trashed but are listed as 8, or 9 or near-mint by them. And they're always charging near-mint prices for most of this stuff.

I assume they must make some sales but I can't imagine anyone buying at their prices.

 

[FallisPhoto]

while browsing I came across this Welta Weltini re-covered in Red snakeskin, thought to myself oh no! someone had to do it sometime, lets have a look...would you be happy with this re-leathering job?🙄

at first glance it looked more rusty brown than red to me and though i think it should be restored and look better with black leather resembling the original, i know some people like substitutes, perhaps the brownish colour will be interesting and look ok..brown leather i dont mind the look of on some cameras...

then i saw the second close up pic of the side panel and thought, crikey, this looks a bit ruff, not done with a lot of care..then look at the next showing the back with an extra strip of leather stuck on..oh no! i started laughing, how slack can people be , the further I look the worse it gets!..two extra stuck on strips on the back..or am i too picky? 😀

then look at the front--what a disaster! its not easy to re-cover the front doors on these--so why bother haha...just get some silver paint and stick something resembling a circle in the middle 😛

its missing the top plate as well showing the depth of field scales, the screws are still there, sticking up at different heights 😀

apparently it is rated as 8.5 and beautiful so i guess my tastes and rating methods arnt the same as others...if you are interested its on special for only $253.30 😉 it looks like the lens is the nice f2 Xenon, looks reasonably clear surprisingly (its not 1940s either-its 36-37) http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220422372086&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:AU:1123

Andrew, I was expecting to see a half decent job when I clicked that link, with the snakeskin worn to the point it was peeling (a common failing with paradise snake, which has all the durability of a rubber balloon). That was an abomination though. He's going to hell for that. All I can say is, measure twice, cut once. You'd think that when he saw that his snakeskin wasn't wide enough, he'd have stopped and used something else (preferably black kidskin or at very least lizard).

 

[rbiemer]

Chippy,
OK, I like the look of yours better. And that's an Elmar? This is not helping me minimizing the cameras I own...😀
That these cameras reset the focus as you close them is a more elegant way of doing things, I think. Though I don't notice any more doing it myself with the Retina, when I first started using it that was a bit of an annoyance.
Are the lenses on the Welta/Weltini uncoated?
Rob

 

[chippy]

Rob, yes thats the Elmar on that one, Leitz didnt seem to let their lenses be mounted on just any camera, so i guess they must of liked the quality of this Weltini (model name). I certainly have no qualms about using this in place of the Leica screw mount cameras.

the pictured one above is the second version of that model (with the curved top), at a glance it looks pretty much exactly the same as the first model Weltini, but there is a slight difference in the film wind gearing, although the first model works fine as does the square top Weltini, this later version has that prominant clicking sound (not loud but nice) when you wind on, sounds like the top quality shimano gears on bicycle or one of those $1000 fishing reels . the retina are good as well (no problem!), but if you have the comparable year retina (pre-war) it clicks a bit as well, but in comparison not nearly as nicely as this model (there are almost like comparing Canon to Nikon of the day)...their fun to use anyway!

Welta (the company name) must of had a good business relationship with Leitz as there are a couple of other older cameras that they used Leitz lenses as well, also they used to advertise the leitz rangefinders (black stick-i forget their code atm) in their brochures to be used with their non RF cameras. Welta designed their first Welti (pre the Weltini with built in RF) with using the Leitz RF's in the accessory shoe.

yeah, being pre-war the lenses are un-coated, still shoot nice in colour though, the advertisements of the day for these said the lenses were colour corrected