I’d been after a Baldessa for a while. Balda was another legendary German camera maker decimated by the rise of Japanese compacts in the 1960’s and its Baldessa series take on a 35mm compact.
I’d recently mused about the alternatives to a Holga 135 series camera given the high cost. Just after that a newer color optical lens camera arrived and I managed to get a working 135BC.
I was quite entranced by the Holga 120N and with prices rising I thought I’d try this little plastic Half frame 35mm camera that also offers 3D stereo shooting
If the Olympus Trip 35 became the classic P&S during the 60’s-70’s, that title was likely held by Voigtländer in the 50’s with this all time classic of German Engineering
I’d effectively stopped looking for Poundland cameras (any that I could buy a quid or less) some time ago but this camera body came up as a you might like too when browsing eBay.
In 1998 Samsung weren’t exactly the obvious name for a camera. Whereas these days Samsung and Japanese competitors Panasonic & Sony are often top dogs at photoshows, back in ’98 they were better known for non camera stuff. Samsung’s modest range of compact point and shoots including this one were hardly stars of 1998 Photokina show in an era still dominated by Japanese marquees.