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AR15.COM
1/20/2014 5:53:58 AM EDT
Got this on Saturday.












It's a Voigtlander Bessa with a 105mm Compur-Rapid shutter. It can take 6x9cm photos or 6x4.5 photos with a mask. There's no rangefinder, so focusing is done by estimating the distance to your subject. Don't even ask about a light meter.




I've already put a roll of Tri-X through it, and while most of my pictures were focused incorrectly, this one came out all right:










Based on the lens' serial number and what I could find online, I estimate the date of manufacture as sometime between 1937-1942. It's also possible that it was made in the late 40s/early 50s, but the serial number (>3,000,000) suggests otherwise. The depth of focus chart on the back is in English, so my guess is that it was imported before the war - 75+ years ago.




 
 
1/20/2014 6:25:50 AM EDT
[#1]
Nice find. Was this one a quest for you or a spur-of-the-moment thing?
1/20/2014 6:34:34 AM EDT
[#2]

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Quoted:


Nice find. Was this one a quest for you or a spur-of-the-moment thing?
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I was looking to spend something like $5-$10 to get a Brownie Hawkeye just to play around with and to have something neat to put on display. The place I went wanted $45 for a Brownie and $45 for the Bessa. Not a hard decision, particularly since the Bessa still had the 6x4.5 mask and the bellows, lens and shutter are all in good shape.