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Welta Weltax 6x6 Folder, “T” Coated Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, CLAd, Freshly Serviced!

Welta

Welta Weltax 6x6 Folder, “T” Coated Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, CLAd, Freshly Serviced!

$ 275.00 USD

Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use!

This camera is a freshly serviced Welta Weltax. Prior to WWII Welta was a renowned German camera producer and the quality of its products easily placed it on equal footing with Zeiss-Ikon and Voigtlander. The Welta Weltax is a particularly fine model because of its dependable high performance. In contrast to other folding cameras of the era which used folded sheet metal, the Weltax was constructed of die-cast alloy that’s been carefully machined to provide a dimensionally stable camera body with a nice heft to it that helps stabilize camera shake when shooting at slow speed. Another nice feature it that the viewfinder also adjusts for parallax correction during close quarter shooting so that you don’t crop off anyone’s head accidently.  It also has a body mounted shutter release that keeps you from fumbling around and getting finger prints all over the lens.  

If you’ve been looking a quality medium format camera that folds into a small manageable size, then you’ve just found it. It’s a great traveling companion. It slips easily into a pocket and yet folds out to take 12 large 6x6 exposures on normal 120 roll film. Additionally, because it’s a dual format camera, it can also produce 16 6x4.5 exposures, if you have a Welta reduction mask in your collection. (Mask not included.)  

When it comes to picture quality, bigger is better... and this camera can produce a negative that’s more than four times larger than the average 35mm snap shot. The real appeal is that all of this is produced by a camera that folds up into an unusually small package and slides easily into an unused corner of your camera bag, your backpack or the inside pocket of your jacket. So whether you're interesting in fine grain, rich tonal values, lovely colors or big enlargements, this camera can do it all and its compact size will never give you a reason to leave it at home.    

In addition to this camera being in unusually fine condition it’s also an unusual collectable. I can’t give you an exact production date on it. However it appears to be a prewar/wartime camera that someone has gone through the trouble and expense of upgrading with a postwar coated Tessar lens. (Or possibly it’s an early postwar camera which was produced using the surviving inventory of prewar Welta parts.)    

In any case this lovely Weltax has all the characteristics of a prewar Welta camera, which among other things is thick textured leather on the body, fine quality leather bellows, chromed brass film advance knob and stronger lens door & folding struts. The shutter is also a Compur with the Welta faceplate (instead of the later plain black plate). The serial number of the shutter (0005854) is quite unusual and because of that it doesn’t show up in the charts that I normally use to help date cameras with.

This camera has been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted by us. The shutter works smoothly and all speeds (T,B, 1 sec - 1/250th) are appropriate.    

The lens is a top of the line postwar T Coated Carl Zeiss 3.5/75mm Tessar. The Tessar is a superb design with four elements in three groups. (It’s nearly identical to the one used for decades on the Rolleiflex TLR cameras.) The lens is exceptionally clean and looks virtually like new. There are no separated elements, crystallization or other problems. There are no scratches or polishing marks and it’s capable of producing outstanding results with modern color and black & white.    

All in all a very lovely collectable classic camera. Load it with your favorite film and keep it with you 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 that you had a medium format camera with you.    


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