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Welta Welti
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:22 am    Post subject: Welta Welti Reply with quote



Welta welti was one of the first pocket 35mm cameras, it is small even compared to today standards being just 4¾ inches long, released in 1936. It is equipped with a Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 50/3.5 lens mounted on a Compur shutter with times ranging from 1 to 1/300 second. There's no rangefinder, just a visual aim, settable at short or long distance.

I tested it with a film labelled by an Italian retail store chain, Esselunga. In reality it's produced by Ferrania and I bought a couple of 400 ISO rolls remembering that it was a pretty "old looking" type of emulsion.

The grain was pretty terrible and the resolution poor but the colors... well I love those now forgotten pastel colors. (more on my blog: http://en.foodografia.com/2010/03/welta-welti.html)





PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 6:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very delicate colours, as you say. The second one seems to have quite a lot of flare. These old uncoated lenses are very prone to it.

The shutter speeds of that era also hint at much slower films being the norm back then (though your compur is particularly fast) and, of course, they were really intended for black and white (I understand that Fomapan B&W film is made using a very old formula but the film itself is very thin.

If the grain is bad is the film density OK? Maybe the shutter timing is a bit off after all these years.

I've got a slightly younger Voigtlander Vito, which is quite similar. They really are delightful in shape, size and ease of use.

Does the Welti have a lock to stop you winding on when you reach the next frame?


PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great little one! Congrats!


PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PaulC wrote:
Very delicate colours, as you say. The second one seems to have quite a lot of flare. These old uncoated lenses are very prone to it.

The shutter speeds of that era also hint at much slower films being the norm back then (though your compur is particularly fast) and, of course, they were really intended for black and white (I understand that Fomapan B&W film is made using a very old formula but the film itself is very thin.

If the grain is bad is the film density OK? Maybe the shutter timing is a bit off after all these years.

I've got a slightly younger Voigtlander Vito, which is quite similar. They really are delightful in shape, size and ease of use.

Does the Welti have a lock to stop you winding on when you reach the next frame?


Yes, it has an exposure lock that needs to be pressed after every time you shoot before being able to wind on the film.

In the second shot is not flare even if the sun was in that direction. I guess there's a light leak in the lock mechanism of the back.

I also used some lenses for early exaktas made in the same years with digital and I assure you that the colors weren't so old looking, so I guess the film being the cause for them.