rgeorge911 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Anyone ever see / use a Beier Beirette? I have a beautiful example (as beautiful as a cheaply built camera can be, but it's in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?). I haven't shot with it yet, but it seems to work, and literally looks like it's never been used. Came w/ original box (with 1971 labels) and full documentation. It has an E. Ludwig lens. Just wondering if anyone else has any experience with one of these. I'll have to get it loaded and shooting this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_m Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Those cameras were very popular in Britain in the 1960's. In fact one of the largest pharmacy chains 'Boots', which at the time sold film and cameras, marketed its own version called the 'Boots Beirette'. It was all black. There was a very similar chrome version sold independently. Its a scale focussing camera with 1/25, 1/60, 1/125 shutter speeds and a Ludwig Meritar 45F2.9 lens (probably 3-element). I have a couple of them. Its a nice little camera but the shutter and winding mechanism is somewhat fragile<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_m Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Here's the Boots version<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francisco_arcaute Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 They were also sold in Mexico in the 1970's - I remember seeing them next to the orange stacks of Agfa Color and Agfa Chrome in discount stores...never used one though. Francisco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winfried_buechsenschuetz1 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Beier of Freital (near Dresden) was the last independent camera manufacturer in former east Germany (GDR). I think in the last run of nationalization they were merged into the Pentacon company. They made some nice cameras before WWII, including a Retina competition (the first Beirette) and a camera with a strange rangefinder - it looked like an SLR prism but actually was a telescopic rangefinder. In the 1950s they mainly made 6x6 folders (Beier Precisa) and later made low-end 35mm cameras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan_james Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Ah, my first ever camera in its Boots livery! I am one of 6 siblings and one Christmas - I think I was about 12 at the time - my parents realised about an hour into the present unwrapping that they hadn't bought me one!!! They gave me the astronomical sum of ﾣ10 to spend and I went with my father to buy a camera. Why we went to Boots must just be down to bad taste and ignorance. I blew the lot on a Beirette which I used for six or seven years until I went to University where I was bitten by the photography bug and bought a Minolta srt 101b as my first serious camera.<p> I believe that my brother who lives in Stockholm still has it. I would love to show you some fantastic images I took with it, but I don't think there are any! It was capable of adequate photographs but never great. The lens is a simple affair with no vignetting but not dramatically sharp. I had particular fun servicing a stuck shutter by having to cut into the leatherette on the front to release the lens. This is one of my very few successful self repairs on a camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgeorge911 Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 Cool! Nice to here about them. I like the black one! Thanks everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_m Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Stay tuned.... I'll be scanning a couple of shots I took with one last summer. Just don't have time till the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_willett Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 I also had one of these from Boots as my first 35mm camera in the early '70s. In fact I still have it though I haven't put a film through it for almost 30 years! I took a lot of Kodachromes with it at the time but I can't put my hands on them now. If anybody finds one of these cameras, be aware that the wind lever just winds the film, the shutter is cocked by the film moving the sprocket inside- so to check the shutter you need either to put a film in or to move the sprocket manually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgeorge911 Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 David M. - anxiously awaiting your post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickc1 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Here is a picture of the Boots Beirette I remember from the 60's It cost just under 7 pounds I think, and at the time I could not work out how it could be fitted with the same 3 element Meritar lens that was an option on the Exa I had then. Even more surprising was that the Exa lens cost twice as much as the Beirette for a lens alone!! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_m Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Reed, see my later post, I added the photos there. I probably should have scanned them a little larger, the original scans looked better. You have to guesstimate the distance very well to get sharp results with this camera. The jerky oddly placed shutter release does not help either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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