Welta

Welta was a German camera maker based in Freital near Dresden. It was founded in 1914 as Weeka-Kamera-Werk and became Welta-Kamera-Werk in 1919. It made a number of medium-priced folders before World War II, and its camera production was quite comparable to Balda and Certo. It also introduced two folding TLRs, the 6×6 Perfekta and the 6×9 Superfekta, which did not sell too well.

After the war, Welta continued production as a state company (VEB Welta-Kamera-Werk), with a range evolved from the prewar models. It absorbed Kamera-Werk Tharandt (the former Richter) in 1950. It became a part of the large VEB Kamera- und Kinowerk Dresden in 1959, a state owned conglomerate of East-German cameramakers that was to become VEB Pentacon in 1964.

35mm film

Folding

• Welti
• Weltini, square and rounded top

Rigid

• Belmira

Half frame

• Penti

120 film

Folding

Viewfinder

• Garant (6×9)
• Weltax
• Perle 6×9

Rangefinder

• Solida 6×9/4.5×6
• Weltur 4.5×6 black
• Weltur 4.5×6 chrome
• Weltur 6×6/4.5×6
• Weltur 6×9/4.5×6

Folding TLR

• Perfekta (6×6)
• Superfekta (6×9)

Normal TLR

• Reflecta, actually made by Richter, later incorporated into Welta.
• Reflekta II
• Reflekta III
• Weltaflex

Links

• Welta at Frank Petermann's site
• There is a short history of Welta, in German, at dresdner-kameras.de (see under "Firmen").
• Welta page at Collection G. Even's site