Voigtlander
NEAR MINT! 1947 Voigtlander Bessa 66, Medium Format Folder with Color-Skopar lens. CLA'd, Freshly Serviced!
Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!
This is a very lovely Voigtlander 66 medium format folder. This version is very popular with owners and collectors, few are willing to give them up and it’s easy to see why. It is certainly one of the prettiest and smallest 6x6 cameras ever built.
Folded up it slides easily into a pocket. Unfolded it takes 12 beautiful 6x6 exposures on a 120 rollfilm. Bright exposures alive with all the vivid details and rich colors that only medium format can provide. When it comes to photography, bigger is better and this camera will produce a negative that’s more than four times larger than the average 35mm snapshot. It’s a negative that will provide smooth fine grain, high detail, lovely tonal values, and excellent enlargements. But the amazing thing is that these big results come from a medium format camera that’s considerably smaller than a 35mm SLR. It’s an intelligent design, well executed and to top it all off, it’s wrapped in superb Moroccan leather.
This Bessa 66 is in exceptionally fine condition and was produced in circa 1947. It’s been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. It works well and will continue to do so for many years to come. The leather bellows are completely light tight. The synchronized Compur Rapid shutter works well and all speeds (B, 1 Sec – 1/500th) speeds are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the fast speeds are clean and snappy. This shutter 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 lens is a superb f3.5/75mm Color-Skopar coated lens (a four element lens virtually identical to the Zeiss Tessar in design and performance). The glass looks like new. There are no scratches or polishing marks and it’s capable of producing very beautiful images with modern color and black & white films.
All in all, it’s a wonderful little camera. Load it with your favorite film and go out and find that perfect photo 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 had a medium format camera with you.