Zeh

Zeh was a German camera maker during the 1920s and 1930s, based in Dresden. Their full name was either Zeh-Camera-Fabrik or Paul Zeh Kamerawerk depending on the source. The company closed its doors in 1948. In the 1920s Zeh made folding plate cameras. McKeown lists several plate models, and describes them as run of the mill single- and double-extension cameras typical of the time with no remarkable features. The Astro and Luxus cameras are very well-equipped, however. Some of the plate camera names were used again for roll-film cameras. The plate cameras are hard to identify because the model name is not on the camera; they only have the 'ZeCa' logo on the bed. As with most folding plate cameras, a wide range of lenses and shutters was available.

In the 30s, Zeh added cameras for roll film. Among others, they made the very original Zeca-Flex 6×6 cm folding TLR, and the Goldi 3×4 cm and 4x6.5 cm folding cameras for 127 film. Some cameras made by Zeh have been sold by other companies, including Rodenstock, Henning and Neithold, under their own names.

Cameras

3×4 folding

Goldi image by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights)

• Goldi 3x4

The Goldi was also sold under other names, by Zeh and other companies:

• Bafo
• Coloprint
• Imperial
• Ralikona (sold by Ralik)
• Renox (sold by Herlango)

4x6.5 folding

• Goldi 4x6.5 (again, sold under several other names)

6×6 folding TLR

Zeca-Flex folding TLR Photo by ebayer 6469davidh, (Image rights)

• Zeca-Flex

6×9 folding

Zeca-Sport image by Jürgen Michael Radlbeck (Image rights)

ZEH Primus Doppelformat image by zaphad1 (Image rights)

• Bettax
• Bobby (same as the original Bettax)
• Elos
• Fox-Radial
• Primus
• Renox (a name-variant of the Primus, sold by Herlango)
• Sport

Folding plate cameras

Zeh 6.5×9 cm plate camera image by seeker312 (Image rights)

• Astro: 9×12 cm. High-specification. Real leather-covered metal body. Double extension.
• Duplo: 6.5×9, 9×12, 12×15 cm. Wooden body.
• Junior: 6.5×9, 9×12 cm. Simple single-extension cameras with wooden body.
• Luxus Zeca: 9×12 (model 5), 12×15 cm (model 7), 13×18 cm (model 8). High-specification wooden body with real leather covering. Double extension.
• Primus: 6.5×9, 9×12 cm. Metal-bodied with radial focusing lever at the front of the bed. Single extension.
• Radial: 6.5×9, 9×12, 12×15 cm. Wood- and later metal bodied, with radial focusing lever at the side of the bed. Single extension.
• Sport: 6.5×9, 9×12 cm. Metal body. Single extension.

Links

In English:

• Zeh plate camera at Photoethnography by Karen Nakamura
• Zeca at Reijo Lauro's camera site
• Zeca-Flex at tigin's Classic Cameras (archived)

In German:

• Company history at dresdner-kameras.de
• Zeh Bettax at Kameramuseum Kurt Tauber

In French:

• Goldi 3x4 and Coloprint (the same camera) at Sylvain Halgand's Collection d'Appareils Photo