This was the camera that started the photography hobby for me back in 2015. I saw this camera sitting on a shelf at an antiques shop in Brattleboro, Vermont. I think the price was around $20. Despite the wear and age I thought it was an attractive item. The shop tag on the side from Bremen was appealing, this is a city I have fond memories of visiting. I like things I can learn about, items that offer some potential in looking up where they were made. This was such an item and I bought it because I thought it was neat. I didn’t realize until later that it was still possible to get film for this.

My first roll of film through this camera was my first time shooting film in 10 or more years. The photos were blurry and not great but they had a certain vintage charm. I thought maybe I could take better photos with another camera and I went on to try out several, thinking the cameras I was using were better and better. In reality it was not that the cameras were necessarily better- it was me who was getting better, with practice.

Photohaus Sosna was in existence as early as 1921 and remained in business into the mid-1930s if not later. Interestingly, the reference “Box-Cameras Made in Germany” by Hans-Dieter Götz identifies this camera as an export version of the Baldur Box 51/2. Of course this one has a tag on it showing that it was sold in Germany.

This camera has a little switch on the top of the front, allowing for the selection of either f/11 or f/16. That viewfinder glass on top on this example is really rough as you can see. In these cases I am not sure if the glass took a hard hit at some point or if the glass has somehow broken down from age. As you can see from the photos, a clean viewfinder image isn’t really necessary for using this sort of camera.

I took these photos earlier this year after not using this camera for a long time. The images are not tack sharp, but they are nicer than the photos I made with this camera back in 2015. I think they are beautiful.