Braun info sought & a good website offered

[nikkortorokkor]

Hi all,

I'm still mulling over a system RF within my 'modest' budget, and Braun Paxette is one obvious contender.

Advantages are: 1 - common, 2 - cheap, 3 - German, 4 - ugly, 5 - a system, 6 - technically interesting , 7 - who can resist a camera called 'Brown'?

Disadvantages: for a camera which sold in huge numbers there seems to be very little buzz about Braun Paxette on the net. FSU clones of German cameras generate more excitement than does this genuine, made in Nuremberg, system camera. Is it a dog?

I was going to ask a bunch of ignorant questions about one that is up for grabs on a net auction, when I finally found a good overview of Paxettes & how the nomenclature works. If you don't know the site already, here is the classic camera page:

www.ukcamera.com/classic_cameras/class.html

Anyone who can tell me why I should or should not buy a Braun Super Paxette IIBL (apart from its looks) please fell free to tell me! Auction closes Sunday.

p.s. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of money on this.

[nikkortorokkor]

Well, I see that everyone here is about as excited by Braun Paxettes as everyone else on the net.

I bought one anyway. A Super Paxette II BL in fair but working condition. The uncoupled selenium meter even appears accurate. Now It's time to start looking for lenses

[Rachel]

I know what you mean. Sometimes you feel that no one wants to talk to you

I have a copy of The Paxette Book which covers models I and II but that's all that I know about them. Don't their lenses have a Leica thread but different register?

The only ones I have come across have been in very poor condition. It's great if you have found a good one.

[nikkortorokkor]

Yes, Rachel, you are spot on. LTM but a different register. Some even say it's wrong to call the lenses LTM because of the different register (caused by the body-mounted leaf shutter) but I think that's being a bit too pedantic. Grazing the web though, I see that a number of LTM body owners have been caught out by Braun-mount lenses!

The most comprehensive info I've found online is here:

www.ukcamera.com/classic_cameras/braun1.htm

It explains everything, including lenses and nomenclature (my 'Super Paxette II B L' translates to Super = coupled rangefinder, II = interchangeable, screw-mount lenses, B = light meter, L = lever wind).

Cameraquest reckon that the Paxette Super II is the 'cutest interchangeable lens rangefinder' there is, and I tend to agree. The addition of a lightmeter did nothing for the little Braun's looks, but the B L iteration is probably the more user friendly camera.

www.cameraquest.com/braun.htm

Unfortunately, the diminutive size comes at the cost of ergonomics, and this wee camera is just plain clunky to use. Not a lot of good stuff has been written about the lenses either, but I have still seen arresting images made on Paxettes. It's not the camera...

Mine comes with the plain and unloved Staeble-Werk Braun-Katagon 1:2.8/50. There is an Enna-Werk Munchen Tele-Ennalyt 1:3.5 f=13.5cm going for NZ$49, but I think I'll leave it at the moment in the interest of domestic peace (I've been suffering GAS lately).

I'll give this little baby a clean and a try-out and post a more informed report sometime soon.

[paulatukcamera]

Michael,

I can probably answer most of your questions about Paxettes, but unfortunately, with a wife in hospital at the moment I have been mainly absent here.

Got a collection of about six different types.

Basically the ergonomics are poor! The viewfinder is the problem - squinty!

However there is a solution - they introduced a new range in the early 60s about the same size, but squarer. Bigger viewfinder plus a sort of trigger wind. Downside - cheaper construction in some (not all) areas - i.e. plastic, non detachable back, standard three element lens. Only one model with rangefinder - the Super Paxette 35.

Largely missed by the whole world (and now collectors) because they were possibly mainly sold in Germany. (The Japanese were by then running riot) Bought both of mine in Germany because I had never seen one in this country.

I'l publish a photo as I think it answers your point for a small rangefinder without the disadvantages of the earlier ones.

Another you can consider:
Paxette Automatic 111

Brightline finder - bayonet mount.

Paul

[camerastoomany]

www.retrography.com/braun.htm

Hi Michael,

If you haven't already found it, check the above site. Not a huge amount of information but an opinion from a serious collector and user.

[Just Plain Curt]

Hi Michael,
Just my two cents worth here. I have 2 Braun Paxettes and a Paxette Automatic. The Paxettes both have Stable Kata lenses in 39mm thread mount (different pitch than Leica yes) but the lenses on my Lordomat and DeJur D-1's all fit nicely. Whether they work properly is another question. The lens on my Paxette Automatic is a bayonet mount Isco Color Ultralit 50 f2.8. One member on Rangefinder Forum named Bill Mattocks (I believe Bill is here too but he doesn't show up much) has plenty of Paxettes and even wrote an article there you might be able to dredge up. Nice little cameras, BUT don't take the shutter cocking lever off the original Paxette or be prepared to look for the spring and spend hours trying to re-install it. I found mine in the carpet, then spent many hours trying to reinstallit only to give up. It works nicely with the knob beneath the cocking lever so all isn't lost.

[nikkortorokkor]

Thank you all for your interesting and useful replies. Paul, I trust that your wife will be well and out of hospital soon.

Interestingly, there must have been a Braun agent Downunder, because Super Paxettes and Paxette 35s and various other Braun cameras are staple fare on TradeMe (our major online auction).

I notice, as a piece of unrelated trivia, that Braun's current SLR is a badge-engineered Phenix, made in Jiangxi, China, where I once lived. Fans of Cosina clones would like these: my own Phenix handles almost identically to the Olympus OM2000 Spot Metering that I once had. Phenix must have liked Braun's logo, because some (older) Phenix's feature the same font on their own logo.

I actually don't mind the squinty rangefinder on the Super Paxette II B L, for me it is much better than the huge and innacurate finder on the similarly styled Voigtlander Vito BL from the same era. The rear window does look tiny at first glance though!

More problematic to me is the lens barrel mounted shutter release between two of the 'buttresses'. My fingers just don't find it easily when I want to make a photo, but when I'm just holding the camera in my hand....click! It's quite a hair trigger Braun fitteted to their baby.

The winder IS interesting. On one hand (as everybody points out) it takes two strokes to wind on. On the other (which no-one mentions) this isn't as big a chore as one might imagine because the winder is a true ratchet. Thus I naturally adopt a method I used to use on my old F3, quietly and quickly easing the film through in a number of short, rapid strokes. O.K., it'll always be slower in fast shooting situations, but I don't see myself using the Braun to capture sports.

Oh, back to New Zealand and Brauns, I went to Ans Westra's amazing Handboek exhibition at the Christchurch Art gallery and there is an arresting image of some Maori women in front of a Meeting House, I think at a Tangi (funeral). The youngest of the three is holding up what I'm sure is a Braun Paxette and staring at it intensely. A powerful image indeed and a small testament to the Paxette's popularity a long way away from Germany.

You can see a small copy of the image here, scroll down to the Ans Westra news.

dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions.asp?p=3&y=2006