The maker Balda in Dresden made cameras that were sold under the Balda brand, and other cameras that were unbranded and sold as a “store brand” by department stores and catalogs. Some may have been used as promotional giveaways. Sometimes these cameras were marked with names like “Rusi” or “Erkania,” the latter sold by the Karstadt department store chain. Others have no brand names at all. This is one such camera.

I bought this camera in Hamburg in 2024, at a flea market in front of the Museum der Arbeit. It came in the remains of a broken artificial leather case and was not expensive. It had some old exposed film inside.

It is fun to find a usable camera like this at a flea market, unused for decades.

Typically, before I use a camera, I will clean the lens and viewfinders at a minimum. In this case, I ran a roll of film through the camera just as I found it. These images have a decidedly “vintage” look. I later cleaned this and some day I will shoot with it again. I think it’s probably capable of better photos than these.

Of course I also developed the film that was in the camera when I found it. Unfortunately the film had interacted with the backing paper, it was damaged. I got two thin negatives from decades ago. Photos that were never seen by whoever took them.