Balda Super Baldina

Well, I finally took the plunge and got to grips with this 1954 Balda Super Baldina camera. I only recently discovered my Dad had had a camera. I knew he was into photography but never knew the camera was still in the family. My brother had it.

When Curt learned of my discovery, he said he knew it would make me happy to have our Dad's camera. So, he duly shipped this camera from Edinburgh to the States, along with 3 spools of film.

When I opened the shipping box and unwrapped the bubble wrap, I saw this beautiful brown leather case. I unclipped the stud, unscrewed the base and looked at this wonderful instrument that my father once held. I felt good.

Last weekend, I went online and found the original user manual. Boy, it was different back then: no autofocus, no spot metering. BUT, it had a 50mm lens, so that was a start. I read the instructions as to how to load the film, and checked a few You Tube videos for safe measure.

I then figured out the dials, watched some more videos about Rangefinders and took my first photo, that of my first love: my guitar. Kind of like a 'hello' to my Dad :-).

It's weird having no idea if your shots come out ok. I'm making a note of shutter speed and aperture for each shot so that when I get the spool developed I'll have a clue as to what I did right or wrong.

One day, who knows, I may do an exhibition at the Loft Artists , of photos taken by my father's camera.

What goes around comes around.