Wega

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The Wega cameras are Leica II copies with a 39mm screw mount, made by AFIOM in Pordenone, Italy, in the early 1950s.

The Wega is a viewfinder camera.[1] It has a flash-synchronised shutter (with a PC socket on the font of the body), with speeds 1/20 to 1/1000 second, plus 'B'.

The first rangefinder camera was the Wega IIa (cameras produced later differ in their engravings: McKeown notes examples engraved Wega IIa <AFIOM>,[2] Wega IIa <CD> and Wega 2a <CD>;[3] CD refers to Domenico Chinaglia, who took over the AFIOM company, and continued making the cameras. The IIa has the same shutter as the viewfinder Wega. The rangefinder and viewfinder have separate eyepieces.

McKeown also lists another coupled-rangefinder camera, the Wega IIIa.[3][4][5] The camera is very similar to the previous model, but has a restyled shutter speed control, and an extra control beside this (apparently variable synchronisation delay, for bulb and electronic flash).

The cameras are almost always seen with a collapsible Trixar 50 mm f/3.5 lens, but there is also a Wega 50 mm f/3.5. In the examples at auction cited here, the Trixars with the Wega and Wega IIa are scaled in metres, and those with the IIIa are in feet.


Notes

  1. Wega serial no. 202, with Trixar 50 mm f/3.5, sold at the 24th Westlicht Photographica Auction, on 23 November 2013. The auctioneer notes the rounded end-shape of the camera body, stating that later examples have a more angular shape, as pictured above.
  2. Wega IIa serial no. 31255, engraved Wega IIa <AFIOM>, also sold at the 24th Westlicht auction. The camera has the angled body-ends referred to above.
  3. 3.0 3.1 McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p13.
  4. Wega IIIa serial no. 31710, sold at the sale Pictures including Works by 'Snaffles', Furniture & Works of Art, on 11 May 2010.
  5. Wega IIIa in the highlights of the Photographica and Film auction by Auction Team Breker, on 26 April 2003.


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