circa 1960 Balda Super Matic

Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

By Keith Drysdale

Many years ago, a neighbour offered me a camera he had acquired “from a mate” for £10. I had never seen a Balda or even heard of one but it looked interesting and I paid him the money. I shot a few rolls in the Balda and it was obviously a good quality 35mm rangefinder with a fixed Baldanar 45mm f2.8 lens. What happened to this camera I have absolutely no recollection, but when I saw the Balda Super Matic on that auction site a few years ago I had to bid and won it for just under £10.

Specifications

  • Balda Super Matic 1 introduced around 1960
  • Shutter B, 30, 60, 125, 250 and 500
  • Schneider Xenar 45mm f2.8 lens. Apertures f2.8 – f22
  • Built in coupled Selenium Cell light meter with pointer display in view finder
  • Manual exposure and Shutter Priority automatic exposure, powered by the Selenium Cell

First Impressions

The Balda Super Matic is a strange looking camera. The top plate is bare apart from the cold shoe. The shutter release is on the front, below the viewfinder, with a standard cable release screw on the bottom of the button. Focus, shutter speeds and aperture are selectable by rings on the lens. The film advance, rewind lever and frame counter are all on the bottom plate. Film advance is by turning a large folding key 180 degrees and the action is quite satisfying. There is a lever, which doubles as a camera stand, to select rewind, and when you select “R” the rewind handle pops out. The frame counter needs to be set manually when you start a new film and it is partially obscured by the film advance key. To load a film you push two buttons on the side and the whole back plate comes off. The rangefinder patch is not the dimmest and not the brightest, but it is easy to use.

Balda Super Matic
Quite uncluttered and convenient in use.

In Use

I quickly realised the light meter pointer was missing in the viewfinder, so I usually rely on sunny 16s or a handheld meter, however, I did try a shot on the Automatic setting and it seemed to work quite accurately. The film loads the opposite way to most other cameras, resulting in the negative frame numbers being upside down. That film advance key is really nice in use.

Balda Super Matic Example Photographs

Colour shots on Agfa Vista 200

Detail of lifeboat

Black and White shots on Ilford Delta 100

This was shot on automatic and the Blada has selected a medium wide aperture

This last shot is on automatic and the Balda has selected a wider aperture

Conclusion

There is a lot to be said about the quality of cameras made in the late 50s and early 60s before the days of the Instamatic and other cheap family cameras. Balda was not a premium brand, but this camera would have represented quite a substantial outlay for a family in 1960, around £350 (converted for inflation). This Balda Super Matic is still working over 60 years after it was manufactured (even without the light meter pointer) and that is a testament to the design and manufacturing employed. I love this camera!

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About The Author

By Keith Drysdale
I have been a hobby photographer since the early 70s and since retiring at the end of 2021 I started a very amateur YouTube channel (The Olduns Shot) dedicated to film photography using a variety of mainly inexpensive cameras. I have also taught myself to develop film to scan. The whole experience gives me great satisfaction. http://www.youtube.com/@theoldunsshot1005
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Comments

Jeff T. on Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Balda was a significant player in the camera market in Europe in the 1930s-1960s. My dad gave me my first real camera when Thanks for the Balda report. The name Balda brings back memories. I was a young teenager; it was a Balda Jubilette 35mm camera that he'd brought back to the US from overseas when he got out of the Army (WW2). It had an f/2.9 lens and shutter speeds from 1 sec. to 1/300. It was very compact when folded. Sadly, it had no rangefinder so I had to estimate distance. It had no meter, so I generally followed the advice for exposure that came with every roll of Kodak film. It was more challenging than the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye that I'd been using, and that was pleasing. I used that Balda in high school and college until the shutter broke and I found out that it would cost more to fix than it was worth. It'd be nice to hold one in my hands again, but not practical for shooting today.
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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

I have friends who use folding Baldas and swear by them. I have had six 35mm Baldas and unfortunately only 2 of them have worked, possibly because the original owners didn't treat them as well as owners of more prestigious brands. When they work they are really good to shoot.

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Louis A. Sousa on Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Nice shots! The lens is quite sharp. Louis.
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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Thanks Louis. I think it is a Tessar type and it never fails to impress me.

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Gary Smith on Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Size-wise it reminds of the Voigtländer VITO CLR that I learned on. Nice images!
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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Thanks Gary. Yes, about the same size.

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Tony Warren on Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Nice results Keith. This must be one of the later models making use of the automatic shutters appearing at the time. This I think is the Pronto version, the Prontor having slower speeds in addition. I imagine the finder is pretty good, many manufacturers were making them larger and easier to use. The lens is good too, 4-element and very sharp. Thanks for the story.
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Tony Warren replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Just looked closely and see it is a Compur shutter but both they and Deckel were producing the type.

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Tony Warren replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Oops - Gauthier!

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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

Thanks Tony. I forgot to name the shutter type but you found it anyway. I was surprised to find an automatic camera from 1960, that didn't need a battery, and I subsequently found out there were a few different makes appearing around this time.

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Tony Warren replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

There was a lot of effort being put into simplification around that time, led by the shutter manufacturers efforts. Interchangeable lens, leaf shutters too. Interesting period.

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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 28/09/2024

My favourite period for viewfinder and rangefinder cameras.

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Flashknappen on Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

Comment posted: 29/09/2024

Thanks for the photos and a good story + some history! I have owned a similar model for some time, albeit with light meter but no auto exposure. The first roll I exposed - which I was itching to do thanks to the quirky winding thingy etc - looked great though the photos overlapped because of some mechanical failure. So the next roll which I'm half through I expose as though I am using a half-frame camera instead. I've taped the sides of the frame to avoid overlapping. If I'm lucky I will get 72 photos on the roll. Good luck with your Balda experience!
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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 29/09/2024

I hope your "half frame" solution works.

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Rhymer on Balda Super Matic – Quirky but fun

Comment posted: 30/09/2024

I used to have one of these - and I really liked the idea of it. Cool, mad, astro-futurist looks, a decent lens, very good value, takes decent photos. But the ergonomics of it drove me nuts (and the build felt a bit cheap). Eventually I sold it. I found it so annoying to use I didn't even want it sitting around on the shelf. It's a shame but it's the one camera I've used once and thought "never again".
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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 30/09/2024

Thanks. They are certainly an acquired taste and the build isn't quite up to the standard of cameras like the German Kodaks such as the Retinas and Retinettes, but I like them and have been happy with the image quality. I have been less than happy about the fact that I have bought six and only two worked.

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Keith Drysdale replied:

Comment posted: 30/09/2024

Thanks Rhymer. I accept that they are an acquired taste, but I really like this one. As for quality - I have bought six and only two worked, so no, they aren't up to the rigours of family abuse. The German Kodaks, such as the Retinas and Retinettes, are far more robust.

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