Rare! 1938 CERTO SS Dolly with f2.8/75mm Zeiss Tessar lens

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use

Medium Format Folder with Coupled Rangefinder.

This is a rare 1938 Super Sport Dolly produced by the Certo Camera Company in Dresden Germany. Prior to its destruction during WWII, Dresden the was called the Florence of the north. It was considered one of the world's most beautiful and elegant cities. This camera had the elegance to match Dresden. It was an expensive, high spec camera that made common folding cameras of its era pale in comparison. It’s highly sought after and clean working examples are few and far between. They were designed as dual format cameras. This one is currently set up for 6x6. (It can also shoot 6x4.5 if you have the correct reduction mask in your collection.) This camera uses 120 roll film and features a coupled rangefinder and a very solid die cast alloy body wrapped in real leather. Another nice feature is that the lens and shutter moves together as a unit when focusing. This provides better lens performance (especially up close) than the more common “front cell focus” in which only the front element is turned in or out.

This desirable camera has been carefully serviced. Everything else works as it should. The coupled rangefinder makes focusing quick and easy. The quality Compur-Rapid shutter was the very best shutter that money could buy in its era. It’s been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. The shutter works smoothly and all speeds (B, T & 1 sec - 1/400th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along nicely and the fast speeds are clean and snappy.

The lens is a top quality f2.8/75mm Carl Zeiss Tessar (a classic four element lens well respected for its sharpness and attractive bokeh). The lens is exceptionally clean. There are no separated elements, crystallization, haze, fungus or other problems. It's free of scratches or polishing marks and it’s capable of producing lovely results with modern color and black & white film.

All in all this is a nice camera! Very popular with users, it is one of the very best prewar/war time cameras ever produced for 120 film. These features make this camera very popular with photographers with a historical interest.