JDMvW Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>Before World War II, the Welta Kamera Werk (founded in 1914) in Freital ( southeast of Dresden) made a series of folding cameras and some TLRs. <br /> After the war, production resumed in 1945-6. The pre-war Weltix was put back into production by 1946 (the camera on the right in the photograph below). In 1948, the company became a People's Owned Enterprise (VEB) and continued to make both TLRs in 6cm image size and folding cameras in both roll film and 35mm. In this period, the Welti, a variant of the Weltix, was produced, which became the Welti 1 in 1945-50. The variant produced later in 1956, marked Welti 1 (variant c), to the left in the photograph below, was made in two versions with a Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.9 lens or a Meyer Trioplan both with Vebur shutter, as shown in the illustration from the DDR internal catalog Reiche Auswahl of 1956. A previous thread (<a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00BE3n">link</a> ) has presented a similar camera and pictures.<br /> <br /> After 1959, VEB Welta became part of the large combine VEB Pentacon, as did much of the East German camera industry.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>These are the results of a roll (Tri-X Pro) shot in the Welti I. The film was fairly recent, but not fresh. I processed it in D-76 and Photographer's Formulary Archival Fixer. It turned out, when I was shooting, that the maximum settings of the camera at 1/250 sec and f/16 were not up to handling the ISO 400 film, so for other than the shadowed pictures, the overexposed negatives have been darkened by moving the Levels 'black' to the end of the curve on the left.</p> <p>The first shot is of the new, somewhat more-or-less Post Modernization of our formerly International style library. It had been built and named after our glorious leader who was still serving then as President of the university. <br /> One thing he did right was to make sure the campus had lots of open space, woods, and really competent landscaping. The bottom picture is of the walks in front and to the right of the Library entrance.<br /></p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>These pictures show first, the fountains in front of the new entrance to the library. Then a typical International style natural sciences building. The bottom "tropical/Boston University"-style building is for the College of Liberal Arts and is about a kilometer in total length. My office was at the right side of this building in the picture before I retired (Yea!).</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>That's All, Folks. It's a competent but not outstanding 35mm folder in the Retina tradition. I'm sure it would do better with fresh film with a lower ISO.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Meluso Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>A delightful presentation! Very informative. Nice series of pics. Looks like a good place to work and learn. Thanks.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>Thanks, it was an old regional state teachers college that the Leader transformed into the second research university of the state. It was and, even with the currrent budget crises facing all universities these days, still is a good place to study and work.</p> <p>There's no secret about where it is, this is Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the Leader was Delyte Morris. As a result, Morris Library was often called the "House of Delyte". He was, in fact, a great educator.</p> <p>And of course Freital is south <strong>west</strong> of Dresden. I have terrible problems with telling right from left, etc. Probably either brain damage or ambidexterity, or both.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffmanley Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>JDM, Great post! Nice presentation , and nice pair of cameras. Great job on the photos too, very well done. I love the tiny little 35mm folders. They are so small there is no reason to ever leave home without a camera.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subbarayan_prasanna Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 <p>Nice pictures; I had a class mate in the Master's program at UW Seattle from your Design School. I think Buckminster Fuller [Dymaxion fame!] was there at that time. I have driven past Edwardsville several times on my trips between Memphis and Chicago; somehow missed visiting Carbondale. Looking at these and similar cameras I wonder if technology has really improved over time! Or, has it only followed the market trends and enterprise instincts, despite the addition of some new scientific items? Regards, sp.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted September 14, 2009 Author Share Posted September 14, 2009 <p>Yes, "Bucky" Fuller (said to be the Beatle's "man on the hill") was one of a number of big-name faculty brought on to give the university some luster in its expansion period. I met him a few times in my earlier years here, and some of his disciples are still here. He lived, of course, in a geodesic dome, and there are still a few other geodesics around the area.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Seaman Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 <p>Nice work with the Welti. I've got three of these little 35mm folders waiting their turn, a Solinette, an Ikonta and a Retinette 1. There's something about them which makes them more attractive than the fixed body cameras, even though they don't have rangefinders. I think the Solinette, which has a unit focussing Apotar lens, will be the best.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_ Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 <p>Like the early Retina's, these cameras are very 'jewel like' - and they automatically draw you to them...</p> <p>Campus walks are always relaxing; like the 2nd shot...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralf_j. Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 <p>Love the cameras, and the Library fountain JDM, very nicely composed. Keep the posts coming about these mysterious GDR cameras.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Martyr Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 <p>i've always been interested in a welti. there is just something very appealing about their look and size to me. the leather covering resembles well-worn bomber jackets, they have the sophistocated turn of the century look of mf folders with the cute modern handiness of a 35. </p> <p>did you have to doctor the bellows at all? what do you think accounts for the foggy look of your images?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 <p>The bellows were in good shape.<br> Some of the fogginess is probably some residual "coating" on the lens. When I got it the glass surfaces were coated with some kind of greasy residue (didn't smell of tobacco, but like what happens with smoke). It came off fairly well, but...<br> More fogginess? The lens is subject to flare and there's some of that.<br> Still more: the film was too fast (ISO 400) so these were almost all greatly overexposed and had to be "adjusted" in Photoshop. f/16 at 1/250 was way more exposure than was needed, but were the limits on the camera lens and shutter.<br> Finally, the film was at least 5 years out of date.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now