The Camera Site

Folder Cameras

Adox Golf 6x6 AdoxMost basic Adox Golf with Adoxar 1:6,3 / 75mm lens and a Vario shutter 1/25-1/200. Manufactured in 1952-1958.

Contessa Nettel Cocarette NettelCocarette made by Contessa Nettel,

Moskva 1Moskva 1Camera is manufactured by KMZ, Krasnogorski Mekhanicheskii Zavod KMZ, - Mechanical Engineering Factory of Krasnogorsk.

Agfa Rekord II Agfa RekordOne of the youngest generation of the folding cameras.

Contessa Nettel Piccolette PiccolettePiccolette was introduced five years before Cocarette and was apparently inspired by Kodak Vest Pocket cameras.

Moskva 4 Moskva 4

Agfa Billy Billy The Agfa Billy folder camera series production started in 1928 and continued until 1960. The most recent models were the latest traditional folding cameras made.

Erneman Bob II Bob IThe Ernemann factory got part of Zeiss Ikon group in 1926. I think, that this Bob II is old enough, that it has no connections to Zeiss.

Moskva 5 Moskva 5

Agfa Billy Clack ClackDefinitely an ArtDéco styled simple folding camera.

 Franka Rolfix Franka Franka Rolfix, a simple dual format folding camera. Reporter (Foinix Orito)Reporter
Agfa Billy Rekord 4,5 Agfa Billy Record 4,5An older but not significantly minor exaple of Agfa 6x9 folders GlunzGlunz9 x 12cm plate camera. Lens: Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:4,5, F13,5 cm and the shutter is Compur 1 - 1/200.

Voigtländer Bessa I BessaThe original Voigtländer Bessa is a classic folding medium format camera
Agfa Isolette Isolette A basic landscape style Agfa 6x6cmm. A competitor or a "role model" to Adox Golf and Zeiss Nettar 517/16 IhageeUltrixUltrixNumerous variety of Utrix cameras were made. In the "Ihagee" catalog 1931-32 there were 732 different lens/shutter/etc. combinations of Utrix available. VoigtländerVoigtländer
Agfa Solinette Solinette The "standard" Solinette, with a good-quality 50mm f/3.5 Apotar lens and Prontor SV shutter. Nr-1 Pocket Kodak, Series IIPocket Kodak Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/16Nettar 515/16 Lens is Novar-Anastigmat 1:4,5 F= 75mm and the shutter Prontor -S , B, 1- 1/300
Balda BaldinetteBaldinetteA Folding 35mm camera manufactured by Balda Bunde Kamera-Werk in West-Germany around 1951 Kodak FCKodak Nr-2 Folding Cartridge Hawkeye 2, Model B Zeiss Nettar 515Nettar 515

Balda BaldiniBaldiniA Folding 35mm camera manufactured by Balda Bunde Kamera-Werk in West-Germany around 1951

Kodak Junior JuniorA basic 6x9 folding roll film camera, which uses 620 film format. The 620 film was introduced by Kodak in 1931 as an alternative to the 120. Zeiss CocaretteZeiss CocaretteNumerous variants of of Cocarette was made the most luxurious of them has a Tessar lens.
Beier Beirax Junior Beier The Beirax 6x9 rolfilm camera was introduced in 1938 by Freitaler Kameraindustrie Beier & Co. Woldemar Beier, Freital, Germany Kodak Retina IaRetina IIRetina Ia was introduced in January 1951 as a new version of the Retina I Zeiss ErconaErconaThe somewhat rare Ercona , which dates about the mid 1950.
BelfocaBelfocaBelfoca 6x9 roll film camera. The lens is E. Ludwig Meritar 1:4,5/ 105mm lens. The shutter is Prontor S Megor Type2MegorStrut- folding rollfilm camera for 3x4cm exposures made by Merkel in Tharand, Germany. ZecaZeca

A folding camera is a camera that can be folded to a compact and rugged package when not in use. The camera objective is attached to a pantograph -like mechanism, in which the lid usually is a component. The objective extends to give correct focus when unfolded. A cloth or leather bellows keeps the light out. When folded, the camera has an excellent physical size to film size ratio. This feature was very appealing when the only film formats available were large or medium format films.

Folding cameras were dominant from the beginning of the 20th century to WWII . The typical amateur camera of the 1930s was a folding 6 x 9 camera using either the 120 or 620 film size.

The use of folding cameras began to decline after WWII with the developement of the 35mm film format, which allowed the construction of small-sized cameras without use of a bellows.

The text (above) is from Wikipedia . All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
©2007 Reijo Lauro