Re: belplasca

[P3D emdesher <emdesher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 5 Nov 1996, P3D Michael Kaplan wrote:

> Belplasca obviously outsourced the lenses - from  Zeiss. The first three
> digits might have represented the batch. Obviously, Zeiss didn't produce 4
> million 37 mm lenses.
> 
> Since there are at least two reported numbers on the back of the camera,
> maybe those numbers contain some useful information, and should be
> recorded along with the body and lens serial numbers.
> 
> ===================================
> Michael Kaplan
> Professor of Architecture
> University of Tennessee, Knoxville
> mkaplan@xxxxxxx
> 
> 
The Belplasca was produced in former East Germany, from pre-war Carl 
Zeiss plans.  After the 1945 division of Germany, most of the 
management and engineering personal went to the western zone and 
reestablished the present Carl Zeiss optical company there.  The original 
optical works located at Jena was occupied by the Russians, who promptly  
proceeded to strip the factory's equipment and ship it back as war 
booty.  The East German photographic industry was later reorganized 
under state control, when several different pre-war companies were combined. 
One of these companies was Belca Works, who made the body for the Belplasca.
The lenses were suppied by Carl Zeiss Jena.  The rights to the famous 
Carl Zeiss name were legally contested by both West and East German 
factories, eventually the "new" Carl Zeiss factory winning out.  The 
Eastern Jena plant lost the rights to the name in the US and Canada.  
Some lenses, in later years, were marked Carl Zeiss Jena, then CZJ, and 
lastly just Jena because of these legal battles.  I have often compared 
the workmanship and quality of the Belplasca to having a Rolls-Royce 
engine stuffed into the body of a Yugo.  If you open up the camera, the 
quality difference between the Jena supplied lens-shutter assembly and the
rest of the camera is dramatic.  The shutter release mechanism is incedibly
crude, not much better than a toy camera.  Another problem with the camera,
was that sometimes certain key components were made out of inferior substituted 
materials.  Shortages of brass forced the len barrel to be made of aluminum,
sometimes causing problems with the helical focusing groves.  Still, IF 
everything is working right, the resulting stereo images are vastly 
superior to any (flame shields up) Stereo Realist slide I have personally 
seen.  The format was very cleverly throught out, and the Belplasca's 
lastly value is evident by its high resell price.  Because of the "Cold 
War", there wasn't any US distributors for the Belplasca, limiting its 
importation to the occasional G.I. returning from Europe.  East German 
goods were subject to high tariffs, further discouraging any private 
purchases.  Dennis Sherwood
 


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