C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Welta Weltax (1939) is a 6×6 medium-format folding camera produced by Welta-Kamerawerk in Freital, near Dresden. It was designed as the entry-level companion to the more sophisticated Welta Weltur, which featured a coupled rangefinder. The Weltax offers the same folding architecture and lens quality, but navigates distance by scale focus rather than a coupled optical rangefinder.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the — format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →C41
Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
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About this camera
The simpler sibling to the coupled-rangefinder Weltur, the Weltax is a 6×6 medium-format folder from prewar Dresden offering Zeiss Jena or Schneider Xenar optics at a more accessible price — scale focus rather than rangefinder, but the same fine lenses.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 6×6 cm on 120 roll film |
| Lens | Tessar 75/3.5 (Zeiss Jena) or Xenar 75/3.5 (Schneider) |
| Years | 1939–1956 |
| Shutter | Compur/Prontor: 1s – 1/400s + B |
| Flash sync | X sync (postwar versions) |
| Meter | None |
| Focus | Scale focus |
| Negatives | 12 per roll (6×6) |
| Weight | ~570 g |
| Battery | None required |
Welta-Kamerawerk was established in Freital, Saxony, in the 1910s and became one of the more prolific Dresden-area camera manufacturers of the interwar period. The company produced both low-cost scale-focus folders and more sophisticated rangefinder models under the Weltur name.
The Weltax launched in 1939, shortly before Germany's entry into World War II disrupted production. Postwar, Welta was incorporated into the East German VEB system and continued production of various models including updated Weltax variants. The camera was a workhorse of East German photographic culture in the late 1940s and early 1950s, available through state retail channels.
Production wound down in the mid-1950s as 35mm cameras increasingly dominated the consumer market. Welta continued under various VEB groupings, eventually merging with other East German manufacturers.
The Weltax demonstrates the depth of the mid-century German folding-camera tradition. Where the Weltur offered coupled-rangefinder precision, the Weltax offered the same optical quality — Tessar or Xenar glass — at a lower price point, accepting scale focus as the trade-off. For photographers comfortable with zone focus or careful distance estimation, the Weltax produces results indistinguishable from its more expensive sibling.
Today the Weltax is one of the more affordable entry points into medium-format Tessar photography. Examples in good working order typically sell for considerably less than equivalent Zeiss Ikon or Voigtländer medium-format cameras, while offering optically comparable results.
Fixed non-interchangeable lens. Standard: Tessar 75/3.5 (Carl Zeiss Jena), Xenar 75/3.5 (Schneider Kreuznach), or Trioplan 75/3.5 (Meyer Görlitz). Push-on filters in 32mm or Series VI step rings; cable release; cold-shoe accessory meter.
BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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