I just got my second Welta Weltini II. Well, okay, it's the first fully working one (the previous has a bent cocking lever that jams, and the RF coupler is uncoupled -- I can fix it, when I have time).
The Weltini isn't a model everyone's heard of, like a Retina II, Leica 3, or Contax II -- but it's a pre-War 35mm folding camera with coupled RF. Like most cameras of the day, they were sold with different option levels; my first one has a Steinheil Cassar 50mm f/2.9; this second one has a Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f/2 -- enough larger lens that the front cover is visibly larger to accommodate it. The shutter is a Welta branded Synchro-Compur, 1 to 500 speeds, PC sync. Aperture setting is a little fiddly, down between the lens and the bed, but they had to do that to keep the cocking lever accessible and let the body release fire the shutter.
Focusing is unit type -- the entire front standard moves on a helicoid with a small lever, and its movement operates the moving mirror in the RF. Despite a tiny-seeming eyepiece, even with my glasses on I can use the viewfinder pretty well, and the RF patch, while not the brightest I've seen (that honor goes to a Polaroid 350), is plenty bright to use in good enough light to hand hold without flash.
It's got a couple little quirks compared to my other folding 35mm camera, a Balda Jubilette -- first, it has a very effective double exposure lock that can't be bypassed by releasing the rewind and holding the rewind knob while advancing -- it depends on the rotation of the sprocket by the film to unlock. On the other hand, it has an easily reset frame counter that's also not likely to get accidentally reset the way the ones on my Kiev 4 bodies do. This one has an accessory shoe, my first Weltini does not. The tripod socket is 3/8" thread (the old standard for German cameras), rather than the modern 1/4" size. My first Weltini has a bushing in the thread; this second one may get a bushing in the everready case screw, but can't in the body because the case needs the larger thread.
An important caveat with the Weltini: you must not attempt to close the camera with the shutter cocked! This is most likely how the cocking lever on my first one got bent (before I ever saw it).
After testing everything I can without shooting and processing film, I've loaded the camera with a fresh roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100 (thanks, @Bormental ), and hope to get enough daylight opportunities to process the test roll this coming weekend.
The Weltini isn't a model everyone's heard of, like a Retina II, Leica 3, or Contax II -- but it's a pre-War 35mm folding camera with coupled RF. Like most cameras of the day, they were sold with different option levels; my first one has a Steinheil Cassar 50mm f/2.9; this second one has a Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f/2 -- enough larger lens that the front cover is visibly larger to accommodate it. The shutter is a Welta branded Synchro-Compur, 1 to 500 speeds, PC sync. Aperture setting is a little fiddly, down between the lens and the bed, but they had to do that to keep the cocking lever accessible and let the body release fire the shutter.
Focusing is unit type -- the entire front standard moves on a helicoid with a small lever, and its movement operates the moving mirror in the RF. Despite a tiny-seeming eyepiece, even with my glasses on I can use the viewfinder pretty well, and the RF patch, while not the brightest I've seen (that honor goes to a Polaroid 350), is plenty bright to use in good enough light to hand hold without flash.
It's got a couple little quirks compared to my other folding 35mm camera, a Balda Jubilette -- first, it has a very effective double exposure lock that can't be bypassed by releasing the rewind and holding the rewind knob while advancing -- it depends on the rotation of the sprocket by the film to unlock. On the other hand, it has an easily reset frame counter that's also not likely to get accidentally reset the way the ones on my Kiev 4 bodies do. This one has an accessory shoe, my first Weltini does not. The tripod socket is 3/8" thread (the old standard for German cameras), rather than the modern 1/4" size. My first Weltini has a bushing in the thread; this second one may get a bushing in the everready case screw, but can't in the body because the case needs the larger thread.
An important caveat with the Weltini: you must not attempt to close the camera with the shutter cocked! This is most likely how the cocking lever on my first one got bent (before I ever saw it).
After testing everything I can without shooting and processing film, I've loaded the camera with a fresh roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100 (thanks, @Bormental ), and hope to get enough daylight opportunities to process the test roll this coming weekend.
