1953 Voigtlander 6x9 Bessa II with Color-Skopar lens, complete with hard to find reduction mask! Freshly serviced, CLA'd

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!

This is the very desirable Bessa II 6x9 Rangefinder produced in Germany after WWII. Sought after by collectors and photographers alike because of their fine design, lovely handling and great performance. The Bessa II was the final and best iteration of the classic 6x9 rangefinder camera by Voigtlander. It was a high-end camera finely finished in satin chrome, real leather and black lacquer trim. Based on its serial number, this example was produced in circa 1953. It has a built-in coupled rangefinder that never leaves you guessing about the distance or the focus. It’s a lovely camera that easily slips into an unused corner of your camera bag or a backpack and yet folds out to take beautiful 6x9cm exposures on a 120 roll film. Photos alive with all the lovely colors, rich tonal rendering and details that medium format can provide. When it comes to film, bigger is better and this camera will produce a negative that is about 6 times larger than the average 35mm snap-shot.

Additionally this camera comes complete with a reduction mask which makes it possible to produce 6x4.5 format exposures. This allows you to set up the camera to take eight 6x9 exposures, or sixteen 6x4.5 exposures on a single roll of 120 film.         

If you’ve been collecting cameras for any length of time you’ll probably have read that the Bessa II this is one of the best classic 6x9 medium format cameras. The other one is the Super Ikonta. I’ve used both and I can confirm that both of them are a joy to work with.

 This camera is in in excellent condition with light signs of careful use and it’s been carefully Cleaned, Lubricated and Adjusted by us. The top of the line Synchro-Compur works well and all speeds (B, 1 sec- 1/500^th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz smoothly and the fast speeds are clean and snappy. It has an X flash sync. that’s been tested and works with a normal electronic flash. Your flash will fire correctly at any desired shutter speed. (This is of course a convenient feature for flash fill.) The built-in rangefinder is clean, works smoothly, accurately and it’s easy to use.

The coated 3.5/105mm Skopar lens (a four element lens very similar in design and performance to the Zeiss Tessar) is exceptionally clean and looks virtually new. There are no scratches, just a couple of light cleaning wisps (but you’ll need a magnifier see it) and it’s capable of producing beautiful photos with modern color & B&W film.

All in all, a very fine camera. I’m sure you’ll be happy with it. 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 Ansel Adams light breaking through the dark storm clouds that leaves you wishing that you had a medium format camera with you.