VEB Belca-Werk Belplasca1954

History

VEB Belca-Werk was a state enterprise (Volkseigener Betrieb) operating in Dresden within the East German optical-industrial complex. The Belplasca was introduced during the brief global peak of stereo photography interest in the early-to-mid 1950s, competing indirectly with the American Stereo Realist and the West German Iloca Stereo. East Germany retained access to the Zeiss Jena optical works after the 1945 division of the Zeiss enterprise, which gave manufacturers like Belca-Werk the ability to fit genuine Zeiss glass even in modestly-priced cameras. Production ended around 1961 as consumer interest in stereo photography declined sharply across all markets.

Why It Matters

The Belplasca is significant as a documentation of East German photographic manufacturing at its mid-century peak. The Zeiss Jena Tessar lenses it carries are optically respectable instruments, and the stereo pairs it produces are compatible with standard Stereo Realist-format viewers when formatted correctly. For collectors of cold-war-era photographic equipment or stereo camera enthusiasts, the Belplasca offers genuine Zeiss glass at a price that reflects its obscurity rather than its optical quality. It is considerably rarer on the used market than the Stereo Realist or Iloca Stereo, which were produced in larger quantities for export markets.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Documentary use by East German press photographers in the 1950s.
• Collected by stereo photography historians as an example of Eastern Bloc manufacturing.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Belplasca
• Stereoscopy.com: Belca Belplasca