die Volksschullehrer-Leica

[nikkortorokkor]

I Just came across the above, contemporary, description of the humble wee Braun Paxette here:
www.3106.net/photo/cam1056.htm
Translation:
"Elementary school teacher Leica".
So much more evocative than the overused "poor man's Leica". And probably more correct too. Here in New Zealand, to where Paxettes appear to have been exported in significant numbers, I've always thought of them as the "Camera Club Rangefinder".

Hope this small piece of social history tickles you as much as it does me.

Michael.

[PeterW]

I've always had a soft spot for Paxettes ever since trying one in a shop when they first came out. But in the same shop for the same price, after a spot of bargaining, I got a pre-war Leica II, a bit rubbed but working perfectly. No contest really.

Later I got several Paxettes and they performed well. But, like a number of German manufacturers in the late 1950s Braun suffered for a short time from buying an inferior zinc-aluminium-magnesium alloy from a large firm of metal recyclers who chucked old alloy in a pot and boiled it up. They also probably added old bits of magnesium from aircraft, aluminium cooking pots and so on.

They said they got the proportions of aluminium, zinc and magnesium correct, but they didn't always succeed. Some of the stuff cast and machined beautifully but after a few years it started to grow crystals, then large "crazy paving" cracks, and finally became so brittle it fell to pieces after a few knocks.

You found the same problem with diecast toys, household goods, car parts and so on.

The alloy behaved just the same as similar alloys from the 1920s and 1930s before we knew all that much about light alloy metallurgy. The problem is well-known to collectors of old Dinky Toys, Tootsie Toys and other pre-war diecast toy cars.

Of course, two of my Paxettes suffered from it and were eventually fit only for the rubbish bin.

It wasn't only Braun who suffered. So if you'e hunting at camera fairs, flea markets or wherever check any German camera from the 1950s carefully, inside as well as outside. I haven't heard of Leitz, Zeiss Ikon or Voigtländer suffering. Maybe they bought new, not recycled, alloy. But on any other makes if you find any crystals forming a whitish corrosion, or any sign of "crazy paving" cracks, put it down and forget it no matter how tempting the price. Its life is limited.

PeterW

[SidW]

I suspect that if the thread had dealt with DDR cameras, most readers might have had a ready-made explanation for that aluminium alloy brew.

Or maybe the brew actually came from the DDR?

[nikkortorokkor]

Peter, very good advice.

None of my Paxettes (I've got/had about a half dozen bodies of various ages and models) have suffered too badly from crumbling alloy. Some have shown the first signs on a familiar problem spot - the tripod mount/backplate release. The cause of this is obvious. You have three different metal alloys in contact with one another and in close proximity to that nice damp leather sponge - the dreaded ER case. Prime conditions for electrolysis to occur.

I also have a soft spot for Paxettes. I tried defecting to Leidolf (the Lordomat Standard is, to my eyes, a very handsome (i.e. Leitz-esque) beast but found that despite the regular slagging-off that various Paxette lenses receive by "experts" on the net, the Staeble color ultralit 2.8/50 Paxette mount outperforms the Lordonar 2.8/50 on the Lordomat by leaps and bounds