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Zeh Goldi |
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Manufactured or assembled in Germany from (Circa) 1934 to (After) 1934.
Index of rarity in France: Rare (among non-specialized garage sales)
Inventory number: 10067
See the complete technical specifications
Chronology of cameras Zeh
Difficult to determine the exact date of the beginning of manufacture of this beautiful miniature folding camera because the lens serial number (486379) indicates a manufacture date between 1931 and 1932, and that of the shutter between 1933 and 1934.
One can find this camera under different names: Bafo, Coloprint, Imperial, Ralikona, Renox, Rhacofix, Speed, Weston Speed Candid and Ysella ... The sales managers of the time did not lack of imagination!
We are dealing here with a quality camera, very well manufactured. Moreover it is fitted with a Compur shutter, which was generally reserved for the best cameras. The shutter speeds ranges from one second to 1/300 second, plus the usual "B" and "T" long time exposures. The lens, a 5 cm Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar, opens at 2.9, which again ranks this camera at the upper end of the market.
The camera features only one tripod socket: vertical format compulsory! And there are two red windows on the back, although it is not a bi-format ... this is explained by the fact that the 127 roll films were numbered for 4 x 6.5 cm views. Thus, the "1" printed frame number had first to be advanced in front of the first window, and then in front of the second window for the next view ; this procedure had to be repeated again with printed frame number "2", and so on ...
Can one see in this small format camera (for the time), an attempt to offer a less expensive alternative to the Leica and its copies which were starting to be produced? The camera size is close, but of course the performance is not the same. But it could be taken anywhere and its fast lens allowed shots in dim light.
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