1938 Balda Baldaxette II, 6x6 Coupled Rangefinder camera.
This is a rather rare Balda Baldaxette. This was a 6x6 coupled rangefinder folding camera that was produced by the Balda Kamera-Werk in Dresden Germany in circa 1938. The Baldaxette II was a larger 6x6 version of the original Baldaxette which originally had been a 6x4.5 format camera. Both cameras used 120 roll film. Despite being unknown to most camera collectors, the Baldaxette had a host of high spec features that allowed it to compete successfully against its competition. The Baldaxette II was introduced in in 1938 and produced in a limited production run that ended abruptly two years later in 1940 when the Balda factory was converted to produce equipment and armaments for the Nazi war effort. The factory was destroyed towards the end of WWII during the fire-bombing of Dresden in February of 1945. Needless to say, the low production numbers and low survival rate of this model makes this near mint, fully useable camera a rare treat!
Here are some sample photos taken with this Baldaxette which we restored. It's equipped with a Compur-Rapid shutter and a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. The current owner hails from Germany and he was kind enough to share his photos with us. The B&W pictures were shot on Ilford HP5+ and the color pictures on Kodak Gold 200. No special development used by the lab. Copyright 2023 Giuseppe Damigella. All rights reserved.