A Bentzin Folder

I had just one roll of 120 Kentmere in my refrigerator so I dicided to use it in my Bentzin Primar folding camera which I had used only once before since its acquisition in 2018.  I bought the camera on ebay because I had been very impressed with the quality construction of my Benzin plate camera.  The camera's features are an interesting pre- and post-war mix.  The Compur shutter and the uncoated Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan lens definitely look  to be from the 1930s.  

 On the other hand the self-erecting feature and the plastic advance knob are typically found on folding cameras made after 1945.  This camera also has two ruby windows on the back, indicating an option of getting sixteen frames from a roll of 120 film.  However, my camera did not come with the half-frame mask which would enable that choice.  The Bentzin looks like it was little used, including a faultless bellows and no Zeiss bumps in the covering.

 Being a Friday morning, the old guys and their restored classic cars were available in the Plaza Vieja to help with camera testing.   

 

 

 One of the old guys had come for his last ride.

 

For a three-element lens, the Meyer Gorlitz Triplan lens delivers impressive performance.  I have the same lens on one of my KW Patent Etui plate cameras and on my Certo Dolly SuperSport, and they make images as sharp and undistorted as the four-element Tessars.

I remembered that the Rada rollfilm adapter for my  Bentzin plate camera came to me with a thin cardboard mask for half-frame images.  It does not quite fit in the Bentzin folder, but it would be just a few moments work to cut one to fit.

The Ruby Window Solution

At first glance the Anscoflex II may look like a caricature of a camera.  However, it does have a number of unique and useful features.  Most significant of those features is the extraordinarily brilliant viewscreen -- brighter than any other regardless of origin or price.  The Anscoflex II has a two-element lens rather than the single-element meniscus found in many simple cameras.  There is also a supplemental close-up lens which can be levered in position for shots in the 3.5 to 7 foot range.  Another lever moves a yellow filter in front of the taking lens, which adds some control over exposure as well as darkening over-bright skies.

All of the simple cameras with ruby windows allowing proper frame spacing for paper-backed medium format film including the Anscoflex II present a problem for users.  Those ruby windows worked fine when a lot of those simple camera were new.  However, in the intervening years film makers have quit making the numerals on the backing paper with enough contrast to show up well through the ruby windows.  As a result it can be very difficult to see the framing numerals well enough to properly center the frame, and overlapping frames are a constant danger.

There is a simple solution to the dark window problem.  You can just remove the ruby window, leaving a hole in the camera back through which the framing numerals are easily seen.  The ruby coloring was really only an advantage long ago when films were less sensitive to red light.  Letting through the full spectrum onto the backing paper these days is not a problem as long as the length of exposure is kept short.  That can be ensured with a small strip of black tape covering the window except when the film is being advanced. 

 I was pleased to get 12 perfectly spaced frames on this roll of Kentmere 400.  With my simple cameras I most often use 100-speed film for proper sunny day exposure.  In this instance with the faster film I flipped the lever to place the yellow filter over the lens when the subject was mostly in full sun, and flipped back to the uncovered lens for shaded subjects.

Butkus has the Manual.

Bentzin X 2

Bentzin cameras were produced in Görlitz for over fifty years.  There were many models, but production runs were relatively small compared to the other major manufacturers like Zeiss and Voigtlander.  All of the Bentzin cameras featured innovative design and excellent materials and construction.  Because of their high quality and relative scarcity, most of the Bentzin models command high prices from collectors.  However, the company did devote some production to meeting the needs of average amateur photographers, and even the "economy" models from the company showed a lot of originality in design.  I was very impressed with the small size and sturdy construction of my Bentzin plate camera, so when I found a listing for a 6x9 roll film model from the company at less that $40 I grabbed it.

My Bentzin roll film folder looks like it hardly had any use; the exterior metal parts showed only a very little tarnish, and the bellows are perfect.  I did open the Compur shutter to clean it and the Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan lens.  I also adjusted the infinity focus on the lens, and that is a rather difficult hit-or-miss procedure.  Like the same lens mount on the Certo Dolly Super-Sport, the focus stop is on a ring underneath the front lens group and keeping it in position while tightening down the lens is a tricky affair.  Bentzin made a very similar model throughout the 1930s, but mine is clearly a post-war camera as evidenced by the self-erecting lens mount which clicks into position as the front is opened.  Once I had everything properly adjusted, I loaded some Tri-X and took the camera for a test drive to the Tingley Beach station of the little railroad that runs between Albuquerque's Botanic Garden and the Zoo.

I decided to process the Tri-X in hc-110 so that I could take advantage of the film's full box speed.  That let me shoot in bright sun at 1/250 and f-22.  The results were satisfyingly sharp, pretty much what I expected given my previous experience with the same lens on my Super-Sport Dolly.

My Bentzin 6x9 folder is superficially similar to a lot of other European and American cameras of the period, but there are many small details in the camera's construction which set it a step above the ordinary of its time.  There is no wasted space at all in the design and the result is a level of sleekness and reliability that was not often equaled.  The two ruby windows on the back indicate that there was a frame mask accessory for allowing 16 shots in 6x4.5 format rather than the full 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 negative size.

Both of my Bentzin cameras have "Bentzin Primar"  embossed on the backs.  Ads from the time refer to the plate camera as the Bentzin Plan-Primar.