Excellent 1930 Voigtlander Bergheil Camera with Heliar lens. With 120 roll-film back, plate holders and case. Freshly serviced CLA’d

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!

This is a Voigtlander Bergheil 6.5x9cm camera. It was built in prewar Germany as a top quality, double extension camera. It was carefully constructed of metal and covered with real Moroccan leather. The double extension feature of the leather bellows is a valuable feature since not only does it allow the camera to focus to very close distances with the standard lens, it’s also allows the use of lenses with a longer focal length as well. Focus is achieved by using the distance scale on the lens bed or by focusing on the removable ground glass. The camera comes complete with its original ground glass back which features a lovely folding leather shade.

 The serial number of the lens (559278) indicates that it was produced in circa 1930. It’s mounted in a quality dial set Compur shutter. This shutter has been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. All shutter speeds (T, B, 1 sec – 1/200th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the faster speeds are clean and snappy. Nice to know, is that the lens and shutter can be easily removed from this camera via a quick release lever. This makes it very simple to use this lens on a modern field camera or whatever else you may have in your collection.

The lens is the world famous Voigtlander Heliar 10.5cm (105mm) lens. (A superb design with five elements in three groups.) The nice thing about this particular camera is that it’s fitted with the best lens of its era, the faster f3.5/10,5cm Heliar which was an expensive option. (Most Bergheils have a slower f4.5/105mm lens.)

The Heliar lens is well known, well loved and is recognized as a masterpiece of design. It was an absolute top quality lens of its day. For decades it was a benchmark of sharpness, but its greatness is not simply defined by high resolution. What photographers and artists love about this lens is the beautiful rendition in the fore and back-ground. It’s something the Japanese refer to as bokeh. Simply said, this lens has a gorgeous bokeh. Open up the lens or narrow the depth of field by getting closer and the focus rolls on and off silky smooth as cream… Soft out of focus foreground moves lovingly into sharp focus on your subject matter and then off again into gently blurred background. There are few lenses that do it as nicely as this. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, well then you’re in for a treat…

The lens is in exceptionally fine condition. The glass looks virtually new. It’s clean and clear. There’s no scratches, no cleaning marks and it’s capable of producing very lovely photos with modern color & B&W film.

Included is an excellent 6x9 120 roll-film back by Rada, a vintage brown leather case and three plate holders.

All in all, an exceptionally beautiful classic camera with a fine Heliar lens and Compur shutter.