Bessa

Optical Finder Model

1937

Voigtländer & Sohn

Braunschweig

Germany

Lens:

f6.3, 10.5 cm Voigtar Anastigmat, iris diaphragm to f22.

Shutter:

Prontor three-blade shutter, speeds 1/25 - 1/125, B, T.

Construction:

Leatherette covered metal body, leather bellows.

Format:

8, 6 x 9 cm or 16, 6 x 4.5 cm exposures on 120 roll-film.

Focusing:

Front-cell to 7 feet scale also marked 'Landscape', 'Group', 'Portrait'.

Attributes:

Brilliant view-finder, direct-vision (lens/lens) finder with 16-on mask.
Film advance indicated by red window, not coupled to shutter.
Self-erecting front standard and view-finder. Trigger release on bottom of baseboard.

The Bessa was a conventional and popular folding roll-film camera, many lens/shutter combinations were used. Around 1935 Voigtländer introduced a trigger shutter release on this and other cameras. This model has an optical finder fitted, previously a frame finder was used. The trigger release was patented in Britain in 1934.

References & Notes:

BP 441980/1934. BJA 1936, pp. 306, 603. BJA 1938, p. 291. BJA 1939, p. 648. Voigtländer Cat. 1939, p. 8.

Early Photography