Zeiss Ikon Kolibri with unusual shutter.

Gerryatrick · Jun 13, 2024

Hi, just joined Photrio and hope someone can help me. I have just got a Zeiss Ikon Kolibri with a Tessar 5cm f3.5 lens. It is fitted with a Balda Compur Rapid shutter with a top SS of 1/500. I can't find any info of a Kolibri with this shutter anywhere. I can only trace Compur shutters with 1/300 top speed. I wonder if the camera left the factory with this shutter or it was fitted later. Thanks in advance for any help.

Dustin McAmera · Jun 13, 2024

Somebody has swapped that shutter at some time. Balda was another camera maker: I have their Jubilette with a Compur shutter like that, but my camera's shutter also goes to 1/300. The Super-Baldina with a rangefinder was available with a Compur-Rapid, it says here..

Balda - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Baldina - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Nicholas Lindan · Jun 13, 2024

The shutter says 'Balda' - which was a separate camera maker located in Dresden. Someone has grafted a Balda shutter on to your Kolibri. That's not necessarily a bad thing, Compur shutters are well regarded though also held to be rather hard to repair.

Gerryatrick · Jun 14, 2024

Dustin McAmera said:
Somebody has swapped that shutter at some time. Balda was another camera maker: I have their Jubilette with a Compur shutter like that, but my camera's shutter also goes to 1/300. The Super-Baldina with a rangefinder was available with a Compur-Rapid, it says here..

Balda - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Baldina - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Hi Dustin, thanks for your reply. I've since found out that the Compur shutters were made by a company called F Deckel and supplied to various camera makers including Balda. Zeiss Ikon had a 17% stake in the company at that time. The shutters were made in various standard sizes so it wouldn't be too difficult to change the original shutter. Thanks again.

Gerryatrick · Jun 14, 2024

Nicholas Lindan said:
The shutter says 'Balda' - which was a separate camera maker located in Dresden. Someone has grafted a Balda shutter on to your Kolibri. That's not necessarily a bad thing, Compur shutters are well regarded though also held to be rather hard to repair.

Hi Nicholas, thanks for your reply. I've since found out that the Compur shutters were made by a company called F Deckel and supplied to various camera makers including Balda. Zeiss Ikon had a 17% stake in the company at that time. The shutters were made in various standard sizes so it wouldn't be too difficult to change the original shutter. Thanks again.

Zeiss Ikon Kolibri with unusual shutter.

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