Baldamatic

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Baldamatic is a range of 35 mm cameras made by the german company Balda from about 1958 to about 1962. They were all equipped with a coupled selenium lightmeter.

Baldamatic Picture by David Broglin. (Image rights)

Baldamatic

The simplest of the Baldamatics lacks a rangefinder and is fitted with a Prontormat shutter. The aperture is set by a ring with a range of light conditions, the speed is automatically calculated from 1/30 s to 1/300 s (aperture priority mode). The lens is a 3-element Color-Baldanar 2.8/45.

Baldamatic I

Baldamatic I Picture by David Broglin. (Image rights)

The Baldamatic I is a semi-automatic rangefinder camera with a match-needle exposure system. Several variants of lenses and shutters were available.

Shutters

• Prontor LK
• Synchro-Compur

Lenses

• Balda Color-Baldanar 2.8/45
• Isco Color-Westanar 2.8/45
• Enna Color-Ennit 2.8/45
• Schneider Xenar 2./45

Baldamatic II

Baldamatic II Picture by David Broglin. (Image rights)

The Baldamatic II is an improved version of the Baldamatic I, including a larger viewfinder. Several variants of lenses and shutters were available. An export version was called Helioca.

Shutters

• Prontormat (with aperture priority automatic exposure control)
• Prontor LK
• Prontor SLK
• Prontor SVS

Lenses

• Balda Color-Baldanar 2.8/45
• Isco Color-Isconar 2.8/45
• Schneider Xenar 2./45

Baldamatic III

Balda Baldamatic III with Balda-Xenon 1:1,9/50 mm image by Hubertus Bendi (Image rights)

The top model in the Baldamatic range was similar to the Baldamatic II, but offered an interchangeable lens mount, for which focal lengths of 35mm and 135mm were available.

With Balda-Tele-Xenar 1:4,0/135 mm image by Hubertus Bendi (Image rights)