Revived early Bessa (c.1935) photo

PaulC · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 2318

It took less than a day to get a filthy old Bessa with lens dirt and fungus up to this condition.

It was made in 1935 or 1936 using a Voigtar 7.7 lens, an aperture/design combination that seems only to have been used briefly only once before, right at the start of the Bessa line in 1929. Maybe they had some surplus stock to use up, or perhaps the earlier run of their cheapest cameras had sold out and they needed some more.

Even in the 30s, a shutter speed range of T, B, 1/25 and 1/75 must surely have been considered very restrictive (I've got a 1920s plate camera with a Compur shutter that goes up to 1/250). Presumably this was a beginner's camera. Even so, after almost 80 years and lots of neglect, all the moving parts seem to work perfectly, the focus ring rotates beautifully, with the only apparent operational problem being the now-removed filth in the lens. The body took a lot of polishing to make it look decent but everything inside the case was excellent - right down to the Brilliant finder which still looks brilliant.

GrahamNR17 · Expire: 2012-09-06

Fantastic, really happy you were able to resurrect this camera from near death Very Happy

Now, where's the photos from it Laughing

PaulC · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 2318

Laurence · Expire: 2016-06-19

Way to go! Wonderful!

Don't be surprised that the "lowly" Voigtar lens shows some FINE results! With the big negative and the modern films, you'll see that the lens shines as well as any others.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Excellent job bringing that back into service - it's lookiing good.

Mine has the same user wear and tarnish and the case is falling apart with rotten stitching, but they really knew how to choose decent leather then - the case will come up great after it's repaired.