The Balda Baldi of around 1935

Is this the basis of my mystery camera ?

Whilst researching pre war Baldas, I came across this tatty pre war Balda on E-bay. It is a Balda Baldi from around 1935, it is scruffy, dirty and a bit battered, but I thought it looks like the same body as the Mystery camera featured last month.

Yes, it's pretty ratty I must admit, but the more I looked at it, the more similarities I found with my mystery camera.

The basic body looked the same, okay the film wind on knob is on the other side of the body and the red window cover is different but the body itself is exactly the same.

It has had a hard life though! Grubby and battered a bit like myself! But I was convinced that the body is the same as the 'Mystery Balda'

So everything had been looking like the mystery camera was a Balda for a while, but now here was the actual proof. Balda!

But what model, after lots of research and lots of detailed input from Helen S one of Kamera Ostalgies millions of subscribers, it now looks like the mystery camera is a Balda Baldi, like the camera above or a Balda Rigona. Helen S is leaning towards it being a Rigona as they were fitted with the Compur Shutter / Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 2.9 5cm lens combination, the same as the mystery camera, I suspect that this is correct. Either way, the Baldi and Rigona both seem to be based on the same actual camera body, so I don't suppose it matters too much, Rigona, or Baldi. What we can say is that the Mystery Camera is without doubt a Balda.

Right lets get back to the 'new' Balda Baldi! I thought it would be interesting to do a post on it, compare it with the 'Mystery Balda', so left a starting bid and hoped for the best, thinking it looked in a state so maybe nobody would bid, it was in a state and nobody did bid so here it is in all it's glory for under a tenner!

Right it needed bringing back to life, the first thing was to give it a good clean and evaluate it. The viewfinder was badly damaged, the glass very dirty and loose, metal surround damaged etc, however I have managed to get it into a working useable state. Not perfect, but useable.

What came next was hours of cleaning, very carefully using cotton buds, the nickel edges were cleaned with a cleaner used for polishing Bakelite ! ( Greygate Paste Polishing No5, for metal contacts and Bakelite telephones.) I use that instead of chrome cleaner as it is not abrasive so you don't rub through the nickel plating which is very thin. It takes for ever but the result is good and no damage.

The door struts and rewind knob were cleaned in the same manner. Result nice and shiny with no scratches. The black leatherette body covering was cleaned with a mild soap for cleaning leather, then polished up with a soft black shoe polish. All the lifting edges that were coming away from the body were glued back down. I use really 'soft' glues like Pritt Craft Glue and Copydex adhesive, which means you don't get any bad reactions and the body coverings can be lifted in the future if needs be, again takes time holding things together to make sure things have stuck, but much safer than modern super glues.

The handle shown in the picture above is leather, it had gone rock hard, so was soaked in a hide food until some life was back in it, then once it was all wiped off and dried, given the shoe polish treatment. The nickel plated catch was very dirty and green with oxidisation, but came up well after cleaning off with Bakelite polish and cotton buds. It takes time, so do not rush, just keep working on one thing and it will clean up.

I was more than happy with the strap and catch. The Baldi writing was cleaned with leather cleaner, the black around it finished off with black shoe polish again using a cotton bud. Cloth is no good for this type of work, apart from a final buff up when finished, but the cotton buds are controllable and accurate. You want to put the black around the writing, not over it.

The lens was gently cleaned with Zeiss lens wipes, put no pressure on it and keep changing the wipe. The lens on the Baldi is a 5cm Meyer Trioplan F2.9, lens number 703973. Luckily the Compur shutter worked on all speeds and needed no attention whatsoever. How's that for German engineering? Ninety years on and as sweet as anything. I was not expecting that looking at the poor original state of the camera.

Right, lets do a little comparing and contrasting with the 'Mystery Balda' ! I suppose the first thing to jump out, is that the film wind on knob is on the other side of the body, the viewfinders are of course different, as is the catch to open the back.

The top leatherette coverings are of a different patterned tooling and there is the Baldi name on the Baldi, but no name or pattern on the 'Mystery Balda. The handle on the Baldi says Made In Germany, on the 'Mystery Balda' nothing ! The Baldi name is outlined in a pale yellow which is unusual. Also of interest, the fastening that holds on the door foot, is a screw on the Baldi whilst the slightly later Mystery Balda it is a rivet.

Sideways on, the film rewind knob is the main difference.

From the rear we can see the different door catch and red window covers, and of course the viewfinders and film rewind knobs.

The view from the other side......

The alloy viewfinder really makes the 'Mystery Balda' look a very different camera!

The film pressure plate is also a different design on the slightly earlier Baldi. If we look at the shutter release below, the Baldi has a strangely shaped black lever attached to the shutter face at around nine o clock. This odd looking lever is actually superb in use, you can trip the shutter without any movement or vibration with it, unlike the body mounted release on the 'Mystery Balda' which is a total nightmare to release smoothly.

So the initial clean up resulted in a nice Balda Baldi complete with leather case a cable release and an exposed roll of 127 film !

I was particularly pleased how the case finally came up! I'll outline my method in case (no pun intended) any of you are interested.

First the case, which was extremely dirty was cleaned using Gliptone leather cleaner, then allowed to dry. Gliptone is quite safe, I've used it for years, not too harsh. It has been in production since the 1940's. After that, I treat it with Gliptone Leather Conditioner. (a type of hide food) which eventually softens the leather bringing it back to life.

You can see on the picture above that the central area is quite badly scuffed. Some people use brown polish, but if you had used brown polish on this, then the scuffed area would have taken up all the brown polish colour and would end up looking much much darker than the rest of the case. The trick here is to use a traditional clear furniture polish with no stain or colour in it, then the beeswax in the polish will eventually knit together the scuff and put back a nice shiny finish without ruining the case.

The brand I use is Lochinvar Old English Furniture Cream, which is now getting hard to get hold of, but any natural beeswax furniture cream would give the same effect.

So that is about it.

One 1930's Balda Baldi Camera brought back to life and the manufacturer of the 'Mystery Camera' confirmed as Balda of Dresden Germany. Not a bad result for £9.20!

However there are still a few questions around the 'Mystery Balda' I have not found answers too !

Why no makers name on the camera anywhere?

Who made the alloy viewfinder it is fitted with?

Why did this same viewfinder style appear on some of the early postwar Agfa Billy I folding cameras?

Am I becoming a Bala nerd?

There are enough questions to keep me going for a while.

The 127 film put through the Mystery Balda has not yet been processed and scanned, due to Photo Hippo being shut when I went there with the film! Hopefully it will be open next time I manage to get there. I was hoping to include the results in this post, however that has not worked out as planned!

I hoped you enjoyed the latest post from KameraOstalgie, thankyou to the people who helped me put this post together with information about Balda cameras and thoughts and ideas regarding the 'Mystery Balda'. All much appreciated!

Take care,

Phil