truls
Lifetime Member
Posts: 568
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Post by truls on May 16, 2013 8:24:23 GMT -5
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Post by SuperDeluxe on May 16, 2013 9:46:08 GMT -5
At the viewfinder there is a rotating ring, not sure what it is for. I have no clue but... perhaps it could be the diopter adjustment? That's one fine looking camera, by the way... and it seems to be in excellent shape. Congrats on the score. |
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Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on May 16, 2013 9:49:07 GMT -5
The Welta Welti 1c cameras are difficult to date, no serial numbers anywhere, but about 1959/60 would be about correct, they stopped manufacture in 1964 then Welta were absorbed by Pentacon.
The Welta company came from near Dresden, and ended up in East Germany as a nationalised VEB State owned company.
Already pre-war they were a little old fashioned and remained the same basic model with improvements in the Communist era. There are legions of variants to the basic details.
The knurled disc around the viewfinder is a main feature of the Welti, it is for parallax correction, to give the right view at closer distances. Some models coupled this to the focus scale.
They were well built, as good as the Retina or Vito folding 35mm cameras, and had better lenses in most cases. The Tessar should be good, it is an excellent standard lens design.
Nice German camera.
Stephen.
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hansz
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Hans
Posts: 697
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Post by hansz on May 17, 2013 10:18:53 GMT -5
Nice camera Truls!
From the Tessar number I suggest an early to mid fifties vintage (of the lens anyway - the camera must be newer:-).
Hans
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Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on May 17, 2013 15:13:56 GMT -5
Expertise on the lenses, Hans, maybe the only way of dating a Welta Welti, as the East Germans left them in a limbo as far as hardly modernising them through the 1950's.
The advantage to using the Welti today is they are relatively modern as far as the lenses are concerned, and a Tessar in good order from Carl Zeiss Jena should be a very good lens. The same lens is fitted to the contemporary Werra Camera, and they are excellent lenses.
I don't think many Welti were exported to the West, they are quite uncommon in the UK. They mainly appealed to the Retina market, and those who liked the folding Vito.
Stephen
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hansz
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Hans
Posts: 697
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Post by hansz on May 17, 2013 16:00:40 GMT -5
Truls/Stephen,
The Tessar does not have the red-T designation, so coated lenses were not a special selling point anymore. From my database (and other Zeiss cognocenti) this happened around 4150xxx till 4300xxx (in my DB the latest lens is in the 4350xxx range). This happened around 1954.
So, an educated guess for the production year of the lens is 1955 (-ish:-).
Hans
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Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on May 17, 2013 16:51:33 GMT -5
Hope we can see some shots from the Welta Welti, it should be interesting. I have never found one myself, but I have got the Altix IV of the same vintage, but these have a Meyer lens, which is not so good as the Tessar.
Stephen.
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