Filling The Gaps: The Belca Beltica, A 35mm Folding Camera

I have a lot of cameras, but until recently I never had a 35mm folding camera. Then, a few weeks ago, I was leisurely scrolling the Kamerastore website when I came across this lovely black folding camera, the Belca Beltica. Unusually for me, it was in the ‘Certified’ category and was, ‘found to be working correctly [and any] flaws present will … will not affect typical use’. In this instance, there was ‘some minor haze on the viewfinder and some wear on the body’. This won’t affect use, so it looks like I have a 35mm folder now.

The Belca Beltica was made by the East German VEB Belca-Werk in Dresden between 1946 and 1951. It has a Meyer-Optik 50mm f2.9 Trioplan lens and a Cludor shutter with speeds of 1s—1/200s (+B). Unusually, the shutter button is on the left side of the top plate of the camera. The button to the right of the viewfinder is to open the front flap of the camera. My model is quite tightly wound, even seventy years after its production, and springs open with a mighty ‘thwack!’ so I tend to hold the flap and let it open slowly, just in case it’s not good for the camera.

Beneath the viewfinder is a distance dial with markings from 0,6m to infinity. I believe this is a parallax adjustment system, perhaps like an early rangefinder, but I’m not sure. On the right-hand side of the top plate is the frame counter, which is adjusted manually, and turns with a satisfying click. On the top left, next to the shutter button, is the rewind knob. On the base of the camera is a wheel to advance the film, and next to this another button that disengages the wind-on between frames. 

Loading and using this camera is a bit of a palaver, though in practice is easier than it sounds. To load the film, the tab on the film header is pushed under the little ‘flap’ on the wind-on spindle (which actually holds the film very securely) and the sprockets aligned with the cog wheel. Advance the film with the wheel until it stops, then push the film advance button. There’s a little click, then you can wind-on again. Repeat the process, and when the film is secure, close the back.

Wind-on one more time, pressing the advance button each time. On the top of the camera you can then adjust the frame counter to zero. Shooting involves the same process except this time, cock the shutter and set the speed and aperture. Judge the distance to the subject and set this distance on the focus ring. Set the parallax dial to the same distance, compose the image and press the shutter. Then press the advance button and wind the film to the next frame. At the end of the roll, pull on the wind-on wheel, which will disengage the film advance and allow the film to be rewound back into the cassette.

For my first outing with the Belca Beltica I used one of my rolls of the new colour shifting film from Harman, Switch Azure. This is a film like Lomochrome Turquoise where the layers on the film emulsion have been mixed up. However, although Turquoise has a quite wide ISO range, Azure uses the same film base as Harman Phoenix and is rated at ISO 125. We took the camera to Costa Nova and Vagueira, where we had lunch, and later to the Feira de Março in Aveiro. As usual, I used the Camera Meter app to judge the exposures. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr if you want to see the rest of the images. 

https://flic.kr/p/2sdvL6t

https://flic.kr/p/2sduoZW

https://flic.kr/p/2sdp2Ji

In conclusion, I was really happy with the Belca Beltica, it’s a quality camera, even 60-odd years after its release. Mind you, it’s not a camera for rapid shooting situations, and I’m always finding myself pressing the button to open the camera instead of the shutter button. The multiple steps mean you really have to think, and if you forget to wind on between shots there’s always a chance of multiple exposures. I’m also loving Harman Switch Azure, and as it’s much easier for me to get hold of than Turquoise, I might have a new favourite.

https://flic.kr/p/2sdtJ47

https://flic.kr/p/2sdvL7R

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Filling The Gaps: The Ilford Photo Pixie 35 II

It’s not that easy finding anything about the Ilford Photo Pixie 35 II. Apart from a couple of Reddit posts, practically every entry, and video, is a boilerplate product entry on an online shop. I couldn’t even find anything on the Ilford website. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. I was idly scrolling through BlueSky the other day, when I came across the most wonderful image from @Stigofthedump. It was of a building in a cemetery, but what made it special was the most incredible blur of the lens around the edges of the image.

As you may know, I love this kind of effect, and I’ve created similar digitally using the homemade ‘Deakinizer’, a wide-angle converter held reversed over the lens, and with film by reversing the front lens of a single element camera like the Agfa Clack. But this was the first time I’d seen this effect coming straight out of camera, and I had to know more. Turns out it was from a fairly new camera released by Ilford in October 2025, the Pixie 35-II. It didn’t take me long to decide that I must have one of these, though I was put off by the 80€ price tag. Then, a couple of entries popped up for Pixies on sale for 50€ in our local electronics store, and that was enough, I placed an order.

Reading around about the Pixie, and as I mentioned there wasn’t much, revealed that Stig’s images were definitely typical for this camera. The Pixie has a fixed 32mm plastic lens with three available apertures (f/6.4, f/16 and a pinhole option of f/100) and distance focusing of 0.3—2m and 2m—infinity. It has a single shutter speed of 1/100s and bulb mode. And that’s it. There’s a plastic ‘viewfinder’ on the top of the camera which shows whatever is in focus, but this covers just the centre of the frame and the rest of the images is soft and blurred.

When the camera arrived, my first impression was that it was a 3D printed camera, and everything about the Pixie screams self-assembly. In fact in one ‘review‘ of this camera it says it comes ‘fully assembled ‘, and that got me wondering. In a comment on Stig’s original image, @thereisnocat mentioned that the Pixie ‘doesn’t appear to be available in the U.S., just in Europe and Asia. Based on a camera from Gakken, the Japanese magazine that occasionally features kit cameras you build yourself’, and Stig had confirmed that Gakken was imprinted on the lens surround.

I wasn’t really familiar with Gakken, so that was my next rabbit hole to look into. Gakken is a Japanese publisher that produces a range of magazines. Each edition of the magazine Otona no Kagaku, which translates as ‘Science for Adults’, contains a kit of a featured product with that issue, and back in 2009, in issue 25, Gakken included a self-assembly TLR camera, which became known as the Gakkenflex, and has become something of a cult item. If you look at the taking lens of the Gakkenflex, and compare it with the Pixie, there is definitely a resemblance. as if Ilford/Gakken have taken the Gakkenflex and rejigged it slightly to fit into a 35mm body.

Like the Pixie, the Gakkenflex has this wonderful blurred effect around the edges of the image, and though the Pixie has more options for aperture selection, the Gakkenflex and Pixie feature one fixed shutter speed. The Pixie is pure ‘self assembly’ in appearance, and I can imagine it coming flat packed in a magazine instead of ready assembled in a box. Everything about the Pixie is basic, from the wholly plastic body to the cheap construction as you turn it over in your hands. Yet at the same time that’s part of its appeal, and I couldn’t wait out take it out for a test.

The weather has been quite poor just lately, although really those sort of conditions are quite well suited to the Pixie, which recommends using ISO 400 film. But I wanted to try a roll of Harman Switch Azure in this camera and with a box speed of ISO 125 was waiting for a sunnier day. Eventually, the weather cleared and the sun came out. I had previously decanted some Harman Azure into a Rapid canister, so the remaining film I loaded into the Pixie, about 20 frames, I reckoned. 

I took the Pixie for a ‘walk around the block’, in the fields behind our house, and visited some of my favourite places. I used the Camera Meter app to set the aperture, which on this unusually sunny day this was mostly f16. In the shade under the trees, the app suggested an aperture of f5.6—f8 so I assumed f6.4 would work. I also calculated that with an ND8 neutral density filter, on a sunny day the aperture could be reduced to about f6.4, so I’ve invested in a cheap ND8 filter, that I hope will allow me to get the maximum blur possible. 

https://flic.kr/p/2sd1cjs

https://flic.kr/p/2sd1GRE

Having only used about a half of the film, a week or so later I took the Pixie with me to Aveiro where I used up the remaining film. By this time, I had obtained an ND8 neutral density filter, so I used this to try and use the heavily blurred f6.4 aperture. Once completed, I took the films from the Pixie, the Belca Beltica, and the Sprocket Rocket to Forever Blue to be developed.

https://flic.kr/p/2sd1GRe

https://flic.kr/p/2sd1cp2

According to what I’ve learned about this camera, the viewfinder, which is a roughly film proportioned piece of plastic on the top of the camera, only shows what will be in focus in the centre of the frame. The actual field of view of the lens is much bigger, and all of this is blurred, so what I tried to do was fill the viewfinder with the subject, and leave the rest of the frame to the whims of the gods (since this is definitely a ‘shitty’ camera, the gods in question are the Elder Gods). And I must say, it worked a treat.

https://flic.kr/p/2scUQTX

https://flic.kr/p/2sd1GYD

With the aperture set to f6.4, even with the neutral density filter, the blur of the Ilford Pixie was amazing. At f16, the blur was less pronounced, but it was still present. The colour shift of the Switch Azure was very reminiscent of Lomochrome Turquoise. I found the tones of Lomochrome Turquoise a litter richer than the Switch Azure, but aside from that they’re quite similar. For me though, the best thing about the Switch Azure over the Turquoise is that it’s much easier to obtain. If you’re interested, I’ve posted the whole series in an album on my Flickr if you want to see the rest of the images.

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First film out of the Ilford Pixie, a roll of Harman Switch Azure.
#HarmanTechnology, #ToyCamera, #IlfordPhoto, #HarmanSwitchAzure, #ColourShift,

https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/2026/05/14/filling-the-gaps-the-ilford-photo-pixie-35-ii/