Near Mint! Balda Super Baldax, 6x6 Coupled Rangefinder Camera, CLA'd, Freshly Serviced!

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!

This is a classic Balda Super Baldax rangefinder camera that produces very lovely 6x6 images on 120 roll film. It was produced in Germany in circa 1955. This camera looks virtually like new and it’s almost enough to convince you that time travel is possible

The built-in coupled rangefinder never leaves you guessing about the distance or focus. Just point the camera at your subject and the rangefinder lets you set the focus quickly and easily. The rangefinder has also been serviced and works as it should. A nice technical feature is that the focus is achieved by moving the lens and shutter together as a unit. This helps improves close up performance. Another nice feature is that if desired, you can also pre-focus the camera by simply using the distance scale located around the shutter.

The Balda Baldax came with various lenses and the lens on this one is the big, impressive f2.9/80mm Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar. It’s a fast three element lens based on the classic Cooke design and it’s well known for its beautiful rendition and smooth attractive bokeh. This coated lens is very clean and just like the camera, it looks like new. There are no separated elements, crystallization, haze, or fungus. There are no scratches or cleaning marks and it’s capable of producing beautiful photos with modern color and black & white films.

The camera has been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. The shutter works smoothly and all speeds (B, 1 sec - 1/300th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the fast speeds are clean and snappy. The shutter is also flash synched. An electronic flash will fire correctly at all shutter speeds. (This is of course a useful feature for flash fill.)   The bellows are supple and completely light tight.

All in all a wonderful classic camera. Load it with your favorite film and keep it handy for that perfect shot you’ve been looking for. You know the one... the one with the perfect Ansel Adams light breaking through the dark storm clouds that leaves you wishing you had a medium format camera with you.