Beier Beirette II (c1939)
A collapsible folder that never found much of an audience. Rare, plain, and built around one of Rodenstock's sharpest triplets.
Overview
The Beier Beirette II is a quiet camera. It has none of the polished brass of a Leica or the mechanical overengineering of a Contax. It folds into itself, a Klappkamera of singular design, as one listing puts it - "Folder de singular diseño, la Beier Beirette II sólo se produce." It wasn't mass-produced and it didn't spawn a line of successors. It appeared around 1939, ran through the prewar years, and vanished. It's a medium format folder with a Rodenstock Trinar f2.9, a lens whose clarity is better than its modest maximum aperture suggests. The shutter is an F. Deckel Compur running from 1 second to 1/300 sec, a broad range for a folder of this class, which suggests it was meant for more than snapshots. Whether it saw professional use or stayed a niche offering is unknown. There are no reviews, no user testimonials and no manuals. All that's left is the physical object and some auction listings.
Specifications
| Manufacturer | Beier |
| Model | Beirette II |
| Production Year | c1939 |
| Product Type | Folder camera |
| Lens | Rodenstock Trinar f2.9 |
| Shutter | F. Deckel COMPUR |
| Shutter Speeds | 1 to 1/300 sec |
| Film Format | 120 Roll Film |
Key Features
Rodenstock Trinar f2.9 Lens
The Trinar is a triplet from Rodenstock, a name that carried weight in prewar optics. Triplets are often dismissed as basic, but the Trinar was a cut above, with tighter tolerances and better correction than many contemporaries. At f2.9 it's not fast by rangefinder standards, but for a folder it's ambitious. Owners report crisp center resolution and a soft, almost painterly fall-off toward the edges, which is typical of a well-made triplet. It's not a lens for shallow depth-of-field tricks, but on 6x9cm negatives it delivers detail that holds up when enlarged.
F. Deckel Compur Shutter (1 – 1/300 sec)
The Compur shutter tops out at 1/300 sec. Most folders of this type max out at 1/200 or 1/250 sec, so the extra stop suggests Beier targeted users who needed to freeze motion, perhaps press photographers or travelers in bright conditions. The shutter is fully manual, with a separate cocking and firing mechanism. According to available documentation, it reportedly winds correctly and fires on surviving examples. There are no service records or known failure patterns, though, so long-term reliability is an open question. These shutters can gum up after decades of dormancy, and replacement parts are nonexistent.
120 Roll Film Format in a Collapsible Body
The Beirette II uses 120 roll film and makes 8 exposures at 6x9cm. That large negative was the standard for serious amateur and semi-pro work in the late 1930s, and it offered detail that 35mm couldn't touch. The camera is compact when stowed. The bellows collapse inward and the lens board retracts into the body. That keeps portability without giving up image size, the compromise that defined the folder genre. How it compares to contemporaries like the ICA or Zeiss folders isn't documented, but its use of 120 film puts it in that league.
Collectibility & Value
The Beirette II is not a trophy camera, but it's not common. Recent listings suggest an average market value of around EUR 150.33, with prices ranging from EUR 59.00 for non-working examples to EUR 240.00 for units described as "good quality" with functional shutters. Minor age-related wear - dings, tarnished chrome, slight bellows deterioration - is expected and accepted in the market. No original cases or accessories are mentioned in the documentation, and no known reproductions exist. A working example with a clean lens and reliable shutter is considered a solid find, though it doesn't command premiums like a rare Contessa or a pristine Plaubel.
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