BEIR BEIRAX II

I'm seeking information about this camera circa 1957/58 BEIR BEIRAX II, 105 mm 4.5 E. LUDWIG MERITAR TEMPOR shutter. What is the lens quality and is the shutter a COMPUR or PRONTOR equivalent? I believe that the EAST GERMANS copied shutters. E. LUDWIG was an EAST GERMAN company.

The company's name was Beier, not Beir.

Meritar is one of Ernst Ludwig's lens designs, not the shutter. It is a simple triplet or Tessar type 4 element design.

Tempor is the shutter, made by ???. It will show the Zeiss Ikon Tower logo, but since after WWII, it will be the Volkseigener Betrieb version f Zeiss Ikon who made the shutter.

I know the lens is LUDWIG,I cited TEMPOR as an additional request for information wanted. It does have the tower logo. How do I determine the number of elements? What is your opinion of the overall quality of the camera? I'm aware that it is not the same quality of my 1937 VOIGTLANDER BESSA or AGFA BILLY COMPURS.

The 3 element Meritar is low quality compared to the 4 element Tessar. Here's a link that compares the Meritar against two other lenses, an Industar and a Nikon, but in 35mm. Link .... Cooke Triplet, Tessar and Planar: E. Ludwig Meritar 50mm f/2.9, Industar-61 L/Z 50mm f/2.8 and Nikon Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 non-Ai (PK-3). :: Lens-Club.ru[iframes][919]/0/

 

Yes the Tempor is a typical Prontor equivalent but the Tempor on my Weltax has a strange self timer and feels like it wants to break, internally, when I'm setting it.

 

The BEIER BEIRAX II with Meritar is really only good for snap-shots. A Tessar lens should be your minimum for anything better.

Edited November 26, 2020 by kmac

Thank you for the information The self timer issue may be normal with the TEMPOR, mine also feels strange compared to PRONTORS and COMPURS of mine it has to be pushed hard to set..