Baldina
Prewar Baldina
Picture by Capt Kodak
The Baldina and Super Baldina were a series of cameras manufactured in Germany by Balda Werke from the mid 1930s to the mid 1950s. These cameras can be very confusing to the collector, as the basic original camera body was marketed under a least four different names by two different manufacturers (both of which used the name Balda for a period of time). To further complicate matters, the name Baldina (and Super Baldina) was used on two very different series of camera bodies.
Prewar by Balda Dresden
Baldina (folder)
The Baldina was a 35mm folding viewfinder camera made by Balda in Dresden, Germany, before World War II. The choice of lens/shutter on the Baldina included:
- Balda Baltar 5cm f/2.9 with Compur 300
- Schneider Xenar 5cm f/2.8 with Compur 300
- Schneider Xenon 5cm f/2 with Compur-Rapid 500
- Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 4.5cm f/2 with Compur-Rapid 500, a rare version sometimes called "Night Baldina"
- Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 5cm f/2.8 with Compur 300
- Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 5cm f/3.5 with Compur-Rapid 500
The Baldina featured a parallax compensating viewfinder, a knob film advance, a frame counter, and, on the better lenses, unit focusing. There was no double exposure prevention.
Jubilette (folder)
Beginning in 1938, a simplified version of the Baldina was introduced as the Jubilette, in honor of Balda's 30th anniversary. Most, if not all, were equipped with lower cost lenses:
- Schneider Radionar 5cm f/2.9
- Friedrich Corygon-Anastigmat 50mm f/2.9
- Meyer Görlitz Trioplan 50mm f/2.9
- Balda Baltar 5cm f/2.9
These were all front element focusing lenses. The Jubilette's viewfinder lacked the parallax adjustment of the Baldina.
 
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| Leaflet for the Jubilette, c.1938. (Image rights) |
Super Baldina (folder)
The Super Baldina is a version with a coupled rangefinder. The rangefinder was of the split-image type, and separated from the viewfinder. The viewfinder had an automatic parallax correction, coupled with the focusing lever, a quite advanced feature for the time.
The Super Baldina existed with a black finish (earlier version) or a chrome finish (later version). The choice of lenses on the Super Baldina included:
- Meyer Trioplan 5cm f/2.9
- Schneider Radionar 5cm f/2.9
- Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 5cm f/2.8 (rare)
- Schneider Xenar 5cm f/2.9
- Schneider Xenar 5cm f/2.8
- Schneider Xenon 4.5cm f/2
- Schneider Xenon 5cm f/2
- Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 5cm f/2.8
The camera was available with a Compur shutter to 1/300 or optionally with a Compur-Rapid shutter to 1/500.
 
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| Leaflet showing the Super Baldina, dated 1938. (Image rights) |
Postwar by Balda/Belca
Baldina/Beltica (folder)
The Baldina was again produced in the Balda plant in Dresden (then East Germany) until 1951, when the name of the factory was changed to Belca as a result of legal action by Max Baldeweg, and the camera was renamed the Belca Beltica (first model).
Beltica Model II (folder)
A subsequent major redesign, with a chrome metal top plate and a bottom hinging lens bed, was referred to as the Beltica Model II.
Postwar by Balda Bünde
Baldina (folder)
After the war, the Baldina was again manufactured at Max Baldeweg's new Balda Kamera-Werk in Bunde, West Germany with Balda Baldanar 5cm f/3.5 lenses in Prontor 300 shutters (and possibly others as well.) Thus, these later versions of the original Baldina had the distinction of being produced by two different companies in two different countries.
Baldinette/Super Baldinette (folder)
A subsequent model with a redesigned top plate was called the Baldinette, and, with a coupled ragefinder, the Super Baldinette.
Balda Rigona (folder)
The Rigona was a lower cost version of the Baldinette, ala the original Baldina and Jubilette. The lenses and shutters were lower cost items as compared to the Baldinette.
Baldina/Super Baldina (rigid)
Later, the names Baldina and Super Baldina were used again by the Western Balda company for a series of rigid body 35mm viewfinder and rangefinder cameras with the lens and shutter mounted on a telescopic tube.
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