I got this Voigtländer Bessa I (along with a Swedish-made box camera) when my parents were cleaning house and was going to throw them out. It's a 6x9 format folding camera. Unlike later models, the Bessa I has no rangefinder so you'll need to either use an external rangefinder, use hyperfocal distance, or just guesstimate the distance. It works well without a distance meter in practice. The camera itself is remarkably compact for a medium-format body—much slimmer in your bag than a DSLR—and solidly built. I wrote a review of sorts on this camera here.
The image is of a small pond outside an apartment complex in Borlänge, Sweden. Nothing special about it, except that I liked the mixed light. The scanner software sharpened the image (this was before I noticed that was on by default) and I brightened the image a bit afterwards. Other than that it's the original image, with film scratches and everything.
Jan Morén
Japan
I detect a pattern here...
Lots of old folders sitting around in attics, basements and drawers.
Posted by: Bill Bresler | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 07:43 AM
Bill, perhaps it's more that old folding cameras were robust and simple enough to have survived until today without a need for extensive (and expensive) repairs before they can be used again.
Posted by: Janne | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 10:23 AM
Nice. I have a Bessa I of the same type. I took it for a spin at a car show last month and just developed the film yesterday. I was also happily surprised to find that it has double exposure prevention, handy if you forget to wind-on like I sometimes do.
Posted by: Bryan C | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 01:32 PM
Indeed, they are, Janne. I have a Balda Super Baldax that always sits in my camera bag right next to all of the digital equipment used for my newspaper photography.
Posted by: Bill Bresler | Tuesday, 09 September 2008 at 01:09 PM