Balda Super Baldina

This is my second Balda Baldina. The first is a folding Baldina from the 1930s. The Super in the name indicates that it has a coupled rangefinder. This new Baldina is from the 1950s and is not a folder but nods in that direction with a collapsible lens. This is fairly effective - it reduces the thickness of the camera by two cm which means it easily fits in a jacket pocket. The camera leatherette is stamped "Made in Germany" and the focus scale is in feet, indicating that this is an official import into the UK.

Balda Super Baldina (C) John Margetts

The top plate is as you might expect from a mid-1950s German camera. In the middle is a large hump containing the viewfinder and rangefinder. This has both the viewfinder and rangefinder eyepieces in one - my Franka Solida of the same period has separate viewfinder and rangefinder eyepieces which makes using the camera awkward. On the top of the viewfinder/rangefinder hump is an accessory shoe - no electrical contacts at this date, so a cold shoe.

Balda Super Baldina top plate.

On the left of this hump is the rewind knob. This is surrounded by a film type reminder. There are four options for this - film speed in DIN, film speed in ASA, colour positive or colour negative.  To the right of the hump is the film advance. This is a lever with a large, coarsely milled thumb post.This moves through 180 degrees to advance one frame which is easily done in one throw of the thumb. At the base of this is the frame counter. This counts up from one to thirty six. In front of the film advance is the shutter release. This is a fair-sized button, threaded for a standard cable release. I have a slight niggle here as the shutter release button is slightly below the level of the film advance level which makes finding the release button by feel less obvious than it could be.

On either end of the top plate is a lug for attaching a strap - this is far more important than camera manufacturers seem to understand.

With lens collapsed.

With lens extended.

The front of the camera is dominated by the collapsible shutter/lens housing. This is quite well organised with the parts easy to get at. The shutter/lens housing is mounted on a square stainless steel bezel. On the top right of this bezel is a button to release the collapsible housing. When pressed, the shutter/lens housing pops out with a satisfying clunk.

Around the base of the housing is the focusing ring. This has a large knob on it below the lens which makes focusing at eye-level with the rangefinder very easy. Between the focusing ring and the lens release button is a depth of field scale - something regrettably missing from more modern cameras.

The next control on this housing is the aperture selector. This varies between f/3.5 and f/16. There are no click-stops so intermediate positions can be selected. Outside of this is the shutter speed selector - this is a conventional ring. The shutter is a Prontor SVS (a Compur Rapid was also available) so shutter speeds are from one second to 1/300 seconds.  The 'S' in the shutter name tells us it is synchronised for flash - two 'S's tells us it can be synchronised for M (bulbs) or X (electronic) flash guns. The V stands for Vorlaufwerk which indicates a self-timer is available.  There is a PC (Prontor Compur) socket set into this housing for attaching a flash gun.

Balda Super Baldina rear/internal view.

The shutter controls have Happy Snapper settings - f/8 is in red and there is a red dot at nine feet and a green dot at around thirty feet. The red dot is intended for portraits and will give you a focus range of six feet to twelve feet - suitable for a head-and-shoulders shot or a small group. The green dot is for landscaped and is the hyperfocal distance at an aperture of f/8 - it gives a focal range of 12/13 feet to infinity.

The focusing knob moves the whole shutter/lens assembly. this means that the whole lens moves to focus rather than just the front element. This means that the lens always performs at its optimum - whatever that optimum might be. The lens is a Baldinar which is made for Balda rather than by them. There were a host of lens-makers in Germany making lenses for camera manufacturers and this could have come from any of them or, indeed, several of them. The lens is a triplet (three pieces of glass) which is unlikely to perform well with a wide aperture. my experience of German triplets is that they perform very well once stopped down to f/8 or smaller. At the date this camera was made, the lens will be coated - and there is the tell-tale blue sheen to the lens to confirm this.

The inside of the lens front is threaded for filters. I make it to be 35mm diameter but that could be plus or minus a millimetre or so.

On the rear of the top plate, to the left of the viewfinder eyepiece, is a large screw. I suspect this is to adjust the rangefinder but as the rangefinder is working fine I am not going to fiddle with it to find out for sure. The rangefinder works as they usually do. There is a central spot that needs to be aligned to the main image by moving the focusing knob on the front of the camera. This spot is clear, even in poor light, which makes the rangefinder useful in practice - not something I find you can safely assume. One quirk here is that the rangefinder spot is pale blue in colour rather than the more usual yellow but that does not affect its usefulness.

Glossary of film photography terms

Glossary

120 size film	Roll film that measures 60 mm across and is long enough for 8 off 6x9, 12 off 6x6 or 16 off 6x4.5 negatives. Still available.
127 film	Roll film that measures 46 mm across and is long enough for 8 off 4x6, 12 off 4x4 or 16 off 4x3 negatives. Now obsolete.
35 mm film	Small film format based on cine film provided in a light proof cassette to allow daylight loading of the camera. Has two rows of perforations used to both locate and to move the film. Image size is usually 24mm by 36mm. Still available.
aperture	The hole through which light passes to get into the camera. In many cameras, this is adjustable.
aperture priority	An automatic exposure system that allows the user to set the aperture and then calculates the required shutter speed.
automatic exposure	A system whereby the camera decides on what combination of aperture and shutter speed to use.
automatic focussing	A system where the camera focusses the lens on the subject behind one of several pre-set focus points.
baseboard	The hinged 'door' of a folding camera that holds the lens and shutter in place.
bayonet	a system of fitting a removable lens quickly. This only requires about 1/3 of a turn of the lens compared to several turns for a threaded lens.
bellows	a leather or fabric tunnel between the lens and the camera body that collapses when the camera is closed.
BII	The German name for 120 film.
Body release	a shutter release on the body of the camera rather than on the shutter housing. This became normal from the mid 1930s.
bokeh	A Japanese word used to describe the out-of-focus areas of an image. Currently very fashionable but unheard of a few years ago.
brilliant finder	A small viewfinder viewed from above and gives an image that is reversed left to right.
bulb release	similar to a cable release but is a hollow tube with a pneumatic bulb on the end. The shutter is tripped by squeezing the bulb.
cable release	a flexible cable to allow tripping the shutter without touching the camera – this avoids camera shake with slow exposures. The cable is usually wire in a wound metal sleeve.
cartridge	a disposable light-proof container for film. The most common are 126 and 110. Both are disposable.
cassette	A holder for film. Usually the Kodak designed cassette still in use but Leica, Zeiss Ikon and Agfa all produced their own designs at one time.
Chrome	a slang word for colour slide/reversal film
contact print	A print of a photograph on paper the same size as the negative.
depth of field	the spread of distances in the subject that are in focus on the negative
dial-set shutter	On older manual cameras, a separate dial, usually above the shutter that is used to set the shutter speed. Phased out around 1930. cf rim-set shutter.
diaphragm	A series of interlocking blades that can be moved to make differing sizes of holes to adjust the lens aperture. Often referred to as an iris diaphragm.
disc film	A short-lived type of film with small negatives arrayed around a card disc.
double exposure lock	Once the shutter has been tripped, the shutter is locked until the film has been wound one.
Double-extension bellows	These allow the lens to be moved much further away from the plate/film and so allow the camera to be focussed much closer to the object being photographed. They are an early macro device.
emulsion	the light sensitive coating on film
EV settings	a system common in the 1950s and 60s where the shutter speed and aperture were linked in the shutter housing. The user set a EV value on a ring on the shutter housing and could then adjust either speed or aperture and maintain the set exposure.
exposure compensation	A way of over-riding automatic exposure systems where the user can decide to over or under expose the picture by a set amount.
exposure lock	Allows the camera the set the exposure while pointing away from the subject – for instance to avoid under-exposure if there is a lot of sky in the picture.
exposure meter	a device to measure the amount of light so a good exposure can be calculated – most include a calculator. See light meter
fascia	A decorative covering over the front of the camera.
film advance	The means of winding the film on – usually a knob until the mid-1950s and then a lever until the late 1970s when it became an electric motor.
film advance lever	A lever used to advance the film one frame.
film gate	the rectangular opening inside the camera against which the film sits. It provides the sharp edges to the image.
film speed	A measure of the sensitivity of film to light. Measured in DIN, ASA or ISO
film winder	An automatic device to wind the film on once a exposure has been made,
focal plane shutter	a shutter consisting of either two cloth blinds or metal slats that sit just in front of the film and move to allow light to reach the film.
focussing screen	This is usually ground glass. In a plate camera, the glass is placed where the sensitive plate will later be and is used to display they image – upside down and reversed left to right. In a SLR camera, the focussing screen is immediately below the pentaprism and is viewed through the pentaprism with the image the correct way round. Focussing screens frequently include focus aids such as micro-prisms and split-image discs.
frame counter	Either counts how many pictures have been taken or counts how many are left on the roll.
Fresnel screen	this is a type of lens designed by the Frenchman Augustin-Jean Fresnel (pronounced Fray-nl). It is basically a normal lens cut into small sections to allow it to be made much thinner. It is used in focussing screens as a Fresnel screen will be as bright at the edges as it is in the centre.
Front-cell focussing	Ideally, a lens should be focussed by moving the whole lens towards or away from the negative. When there is a shutter in-between the glass elements of the lens, this is mechanically difficult and expensive to make. Cheaper cameras just move the front element of the lens which has much the same focussing effect but reduces the quality of the image formed for close-up shots.
helical focussing	A focusing system where the lens is fitted in a screw thread and is focused by turning the lens.
hyperfocal distance	this is the maximum range of focus the lens is capable of. It is found by setting the infinity mark on the focusing scale against the set aperture on the depth of field scale.
image circle	The circular image produced by a lens. It is always bigger than the negative or sensor.
Iris diaphragm	A series of interlocking blades that can be moved to make differing sizes of holes to adjust the lens aperture.
Karat cassette	Agfa's answer to Kodak's 135 film in the (now ubiquitous) cassette. Introduced in 1936, it was almost identical to the Agfa Rapid cassette.
leaf shutter	A shutter either between the glass elements of the lens, or just behind them that consists of a number of thin metal plates that move to allow light into the camera
lens coating	a very thin coating applied to the surface of lenses to increase contrast and reduce flare. On early lenses (from 1930) this was just on the front surface of the front element a but later was applied to all glass surfaces. This became normal from around 1950.
lens hood	a shade for the front of a lens to prevent oblique light from entering the lens. This is more important with older, uncoated lenses as they will produce flare if used pointing towards a light source.
lens node	the effective centre of a lens. For a 50 mm lens this will be 50 mm in front of the film. Sometimes the node is actually outside the physical lens
lens standard	The board or frame that holds the lens in place.
light meter	a device to measure the amount of light so a good exposure can be calculated – most include a calculator. See exposure meter
M39	The standard thread for fitting a lens to a camera introduced by Leitz for their Leica cameras in they 1920s. Also used by many other manufacturers.
M42	A standard thread for fitting a lens to a camera introduced by East German Zeiss Ikon in the late 1940s. Used for most 35mm SLR cameras until the 1980s and became known as the Pentax thread.
macro	Strictly used to indicate that the image on the negative is life size but is used by lens manufacturers to indicate the lens can be used for close-ups.
manual focussing	Where the photographer must adjust the focus of the lens instead of relying on the camera to do so.
Match-needle	a system used in light (exposure) meters where the user turns a dial until the meter needle and the dial needle are in the same place. At this point, the required exposure can be read off a scale.
mercury cells	A form of battery now banned throughout the world. Usually a modern battery can be used it it place, but there will be a voltage difference to take into account.
Micro-prisms	a focussing aid that keeps the image out of focus until it is correctly focussed. Usually found in Japanese SLRs of the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
Monochrome	a picture in one colour – usually black and white but necessarily so.
motor-drive	A powered device to wind on the film and take the next picture.
negative	The picture formed in the camera on the piece of film. It is called a negative because the dark parts of the scene will be light and the light parts of the scene will be dark.
Newtonian finder	A crude viewfinder either with no lens of with a simple magnifying lens
orthochromatic	sensitive to blue and green light. The name means 'correct colour'. Orthochromatic film can be handled with a normal darkroom safe-light.
panchromatic	sensitive all colours – the usual film that is currently available. Must be handled in complete darkness.
PC socket	Prontor-Compur. Named after the two most prominent shutter manufacturers from the mid-20th century. It is the standard connector for flash guns found on most cameras until the Hot Shoe became normal.
pentamirror	a cheap alternative for a pentaprism. It does the same job for a much lower price but does not produce as bright an image. Found on more modern and cheaper SLR cameras.
pentaprism	a glass prism inside a reflex viewfinder that turns the image the right way around for viewing. It is found in most SLR cameras.
plate camera	a camera designed to use glass plates rather than film.
rapid cassette	An attempt by Agfa to compete with Kodak's 126 film cartridge. Film was held loosely in the cassette and needed to be wound into an empty Rapid cassette. Used between 1964 and the early 1990s.
Reverse Galilean viewfinder.	This is effectively a small telescope as designed by Galileo used backwards – it makes the view appear smaller so that a large scene can be fitted into a small viewfinder.
rewind knob	On 35 mm cameras, the means of winding the film back into the cassette.
rim-set shutter	On older manual cameras, the ring around the lens that is used to alter the shutter speed. Dates from around 1930. cf Dial set shutter.
rise and fall mechanism	A way of raising the lens so that a different part of the image circle is over the negative. It is used when photographing high objects to avoid tilting the camera.
Self-capping shutter	This is a type of focal plane shutter – the type used in all SLR cameras. In early focal plane shutters, the shutter would stay open when rewound meaning the film plate had to be removed first and it could not be used for film. A self-capping shutter will remain closed while being rewound so can be used with a plate in place and can be used for film.
self-erecting	A camera that unfolds with the lens in the correct position for picture taking at the touch of a button.
self-timer	A device in the shutter that delays the shutter opening for ten seconds or so
shutter	The means of letting light into the camera in a controlled way. Either inside the lens (leaf shutter) or in front of the film (focal plane shutter).
shutter cocking lever	On older shutters (pre-1955-ish) a lever used to set the shutter ready for use.
shutter release	The button or lever used to fire the shutter.
Signal	some camera provide a visual signal that the film has been would on and the camera is ready to take the next picture. Usually takes the form of a dot by the film advance that turns red when the camera is ready.
SLR	Single Lens Reflex – a type of camera where the user views the scene through the taking lens to give very accurate composition.
Split image disc	This is frequently found in the centre of a SLR focussing screen. It will split a vertical line (occasionally horizontal or diagonal line) while it is out of focus, the line joining itself at the point of focus.
spool	A wooden, metal or plastic holder for rolls of film.
spool carriers	The part of the camera that holds the spool of film either ready for use or once used.
sprocket hole	the row of hole along the edge of film to allow the camera to move it. In 35mm film there is a row on either edge. In 126 cartridges there is only one row of sprocket holes.
TLR	Twin lens Reflex – a type of camera that has two identical lenses, one above the other. Both are focused by the same mechanism at the same time allowing for accurate focusing but at the cost of some parallax error in near shots.
tripod boss	A threaded hole to allow the camera to be fitted to a tripod. On older cameras it will be either 3/8 inch or ¼ inch Whitworth thread and on more modern cameras 3/8 or ¼ UNC thread.
TTL	Through The Lens – a light metering system that measures the light that is coming in the lens. This gives more accurate exposures than using a hand-held light meter will.
V	Vorlaufwerk which is German for self-timer.
vignetting	A darkening at the edges of the picture caused by the image circle being too close in size to the negative – Common with cheaper lenses.
Waterhouse stops	a sequence of holes of varying sizes either in a line or around a disc that can be moved in front of the lens to control the amount of light entering the camera.
winder	a device to automatically wind on the film
Zeiss bumps	Bumps on the outside of Zeiss Ikon cameras caused by the rivets used to hold components together chemically reacting with the body of the camera. This causes visible bumps under the leatherette covering.
zoom	a lens that has an adjustable focal length

Enfield folding camera

This camera is a British Ensign camera - it was generously given to me by Harry Davies.  It is a folding camera of a very standard design. Visually, it is very similar to both a Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2  and an Agfa Billy Record. Dating it is problematic, not least because I am not sure of the model. The camera has a Gauthier Singlo shutter which was introduced in 1937 so the camera was made in either 1937, 38 or 39 - WWII got in the way of German imports so that rules out the 1940s.

Ensign, folded

It measures 160 mm by 75 mm by 32 mm. Actually, as this is an English camera, I ought to put the measurements into the old Imperial units: 6 1/4 inches by 3 inches by 1 1/2 inches. That is the metal body - the viewfinder, winder knob and catch protrude from that.

As far as I can see, the body is made from pressed steel [painted black. The flat surfaces are covered in black leatherette. the name "Ensign" in handscript is embossed on the front near the catch for the back and "Ensign. made in England" is embossed on the back. There is no model name embossed anywhere. There is the name "Singlo" on the shutter fascia and there are references on the Interweb to an "Ensign Singlo". The shutter, made by Gauthier, is a Singlo shutter and the "Singlo" refers to the shutter (the same stamping in the metal appears on other camera makes) rather than to the camera model. of course, that does not preclude Ensign from using the same name for the camera.

The top of the camera is plain black with just a folding viewfinder. This is a very basic double frame with no glass. the bottom of the camera has a chrome-plated film advance knob and a small button to release the catch on the lens door.

Ensign, open, side view

The back of the camera is also plain with a single red window for the film frame numbers. The front of the camera has the lens door. This has the usual folding leg so that the open camera can be stood on a flat surface. There is also a small (3/8 inch) screw. Undoing this leaves a 1/4 Whitworth threaded hole for a standard tripod screw.

When the door release is pressed the door opens about half-way on its springs. This camera has been stored somewhere damp and the door/lens struts have some areas of corrosion. When new, I suspect this door would have opened entirely on its own. When open, the lens/shutter housing is held very securely.

The shutter, as already mentioned a couple of times, is a Gauthier Singlo - this offers two speeds: 1/25 and 1/75 plus B and T. This shutter is an everset type - there is no cocking lever - but there is a cable release socket.

Ensign, open, front view

The lens is an Ensar - Ensign's own make - which is 105 mm focal length. It focusses down to about four feet - the last marking on the scale is six feet but the lens moves significantly past this. The aperture ranges from f/7.7 to f/32. On the left side of the shutter housing is a Brilliant viewfinder. I always find these next to useless and always use the folding frame finders.

Inside is as you would expect. The film advance knob pulls out to allow the inserting and removing of the film spool. At the other end, to ease the inserting of the film the lower locating pin falls away - quite literally. I initially thought it was broken. This pin folds in automatically and is held in place securely when the back is closed.

In use.

This camera is quite easy to use.The only difficulty I had was with the positioning of the shutter release - in landscape mode, it is slightly beneath the camera and rather awkward to reach. In portrait mode it is fine. The folding viewfinder is large enough for me to use it while wearing my glasses - something that can not be said for much more expensive cameras of the period.

Test film

In its day, the pictures taken with this camera would have been printed as contact prints. that means they would be 9 cm by 6 cm which is about 1/3 of the size I have them here.  That means the defects would also have been 1/3 as big. In terms of sharpness and distortion, the lens is producing fine results. There is, however, a lot of vignetting - darkening in the corners of the picture - clearly visible in every shot.

The pictures were significantly underexposed. partly, this is down to my setting on my (old) light meter. The film I used was Kodak Portra 160 which, surprisingly, has an ISO rating of 160. Problem is my light meter does not have a setting for 160 so there will have been a bit of error in my guessed setting. I think the shutter might have contributed as well. Usually with old shutters, they run rather slow causing over exposure but this Singlo shutter is a simple two-bladed device and if the first blade is a bit slow, the second blade will catch-up giving a too-short exposures. Without paying for an expensive electronic test of the shutter, I cannot know for sure.

These pictures are a bit 'flat' which I entirely put down to the awfully dull weather we have had in Lincoln recently.

Silver Street, Lincoln

Witham, Lincoln

Broadgate, Lincoln, with cathedral

pedestrian bridge over Broadgate, Lincoln

Stamp End, Lincoln

Marshall's Yard, gainsborough

Agilux Agifold

AGI, who made this camera, are an aeronautical instrument maker - still in business - rather than a camera maker and it shows. During WWII, AGI made military instruments and that pedigree is followed in this camera. It is large and heavy and has no small controls so easy to use with cold hands, with gloves on, when frightened . . . 

lens: Agilux anastigmat

focal length:  9 cm

apertures: f/4.5 to f/32

focus range: 3 feet to infinity

lens fitting: fixed

shutter: Agifold

speeds: 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/125, B, T

flash: two pin connector

film size: 120 or 620

Outwardly it is much like any other folding camera - Kodak, Zeiss Ikon, Voigtlander, Agfa all made similar. The main physical difference is the large double viewfinder. This consists of one large housing containing both an eye-level finder and a waist-level finder. The waist-level finder is pretty much a pre-war brilliant finder. This viewfinder housing also double as the catch for the lens board - it moves to one side to open the front. This housing is central on the top of the camera. Beside it is a shutter release button. This button links, via a series of links, to the shutter release on the shutter housing - again, standard fare for a mid-twentieth century folding camera. On the other side of the shutter housing is the film advance knob. this is nice and large and easy to use. Being a 120 format camera, there is no film rewind.

The shutter is made by AGI themselves but outwardly it looks much like a Compur or Prontor shutter. The adjustments are in the same place the main difference being the shutter cocking lever which is on the underside of the housing - rather inconveniently. The shutter release is also on the underside where it nicely links to the body release. The actual shutter itself is not in the same league as Compur or Prontor - it has only two leaves and is rather reminiscent of a box camera shutter. The speed selection is non-standard as well. 1/25, 1/50 and 1/100 are much as I would expect from 1948 but the next speed is 1/125 - the increase in speed is so small as to be pointless. It is usual for the shutter speeds to double in speed from one setting to the other which is one stop reduction in exposure but this is a 25% reduction and it is hard to see a use for it.

The lens is also made by AGI themselves (at least as far as I can gather from information on the Interweb) and is a 9 cm focal length (or 90 mm in modern parlance). The negative size is 6x6 cm so a normal lens would have a focal length of 85 mm. That makes this lens slightly longer than normal for the negative format, but not seriously so. The lens is coated (not a given in 1948) but I suspect only on the front surface. This has the distinct blue cast of a coated lens but the rear element is clearly not coated - no blue cast.

Being a 120 format camera, there is a window on the back to allow the user to see the frame numbers when winding the film on. Traditionally, these are red - red because early film was orthochromatic and not sensitive to red light - but on this camera you get a choice of red or green. There is a slider to uncover one or the other of these two coloured windows. What there is not is a cover for both windows which would have gone further in preventing fogging of the film.

I have been referring to this as a 120 camera but in fact it is a dual format camera - it will take either 120 or 620 film. The only difference between the two is the spool (the actual film being the same size with the same frame number spacing) and the spool holders here will take both sizes. The camera came to me with a 620 spool in place and I have now fitted a 120 spool to check the fit.

There is no accessory shoe so no way to fit either a rangefinder or a flash gun.  However, there are flash contacts - not the industry standard PC socket but two metal posts on the side of the shutter housing. These can be seen in the photograph of the lens above on the top right of the shutter housing.

When I took delivery of this camera, it was in quite a sad state. It had obviously been in a smokers house - it was covered in a sticky brown deposit - and also stored somewhere damp. Diligent use of WD40 and cotton buds has brought the camera up nicely - not quite in showroom condition but just about presentable. The shutter is not quite as I would like. An hour or so of dry-firing the shutter has it firing reliably and it sounds to be in the right general area speed-wise. One fault it has is that when set to 1/100 seconds and fired a few times the shutter resets itself to 1/50 seconds.

I am still in two minds as to whether I am going to try a film in this camera but if I do I will post the results here in due course.