Certo

Saxon camera craftsmanship from behind the Iron Curtain

Certo is one of Dresden's great survivors, a camera company that weathered two world wars, Soviet nationalization, and four decades behind the Iron Curtain while never losing the fundamental Saxon instinct for building things properly. The Dollina series alone justifies Certo's place in photographic history, but dig deeper and you will find a catalog of cameras that rewards the curious collector with genuine discoveries.

History

Certo Camera-Werk was established in Dresden in 1902, joining a constellation of Saxon camera manufacturers that would make this single city the undisputed capital of European camera production for half a century. From the beginning, Certo positioned itself as a maker of solid, reliable cameras for the enthusiast market, filling the space between cheap box cameras and expensive professional instruments. The company's early output included a variety of plate cameras, folding cameras, and medium format designs that sold well across Germany and beyond.

The 1930s proved to be Certo's golden age. The Dollina series of 35mm folding cameras, introduced in the mid-1930s, demonstrated that Certo could compete with the best that Dresden and Wetzlar had to offer. The Dollina II and Dollina III featured coupled rangefinders, fast Schneider or Zeiss lenses, and Compur shutters, all wrapped in a folding body that slipped into a coat pocket. These were genuinely sophisticated cameras, and they earned a loyal following among European photographers who appreciated the combination of portability and optical quality.

Like every Dresden manufacturer, Certo was devastated by the Allied bombing of 1945 and the subsequent Soviet dismantling of industrial equipment as war reparations. The company was reconstituted as a state-owned enterprise (VEB Certo) and continued producing cameras under East German management. The postwar Certo cameras, including the Certo Six medium format camera, maintained a respectable level of quality despite the constraints of the planned economy. By the 1960s, Certo was absorbed into the larger VEB Pentacon combine, and the brand name gradually faded from production. But the cameras endure, and they remain some of the best values in vintage photography.

Notable Cameras

Dollina III

The Dollina III is Certo's masterpiece. This 35mm folding camera features a coupled rangefinder, a Schneider Xenar or Zeiss Tessar lens, and a Compur-Rapid shutter, all in a body that folds flat enough to fit in a jacket pocket. When photographers talk about the golden age of German camera engineering, they are talking about cameras like this. The Dollina III delivers image quality that holds up against any fixed-lens camera of its era, and the rangefinder focusing is smooth and accurate. Finding a clean example with a coated lens is a genuine thrill, because you are holding a camera that represents the absolute peak of 1930s Saxon craftsmanship.

Dollina II

The Dollina II is the slightly simpler sibling, lacking the rangefinder of the III but retaining the excellent lens and shutter combination. Scale-focused by the experienced shooter, it is actually faster to use in many situations than its rangefinder-equipped sibling. The Dollina II is a camera for the photographer who trusts their eye and their sense of distance, and it rewards that trust with razor-sharp images from its Tessar-type lens.

Certo Six

The Certo Six is a postwar medium format camera that shoots 6x6cm on 120 film. It represents the continuation of Saxon camera traditions under East German state ownership, and while it lacks the refinement of the prewar Dollinas, it has its own utilitarian charm. The Six was built for the working photographer in the German Democratic Republic, and it does its job with admirable straightforwardness. Load it, compose, shoot. The 6x6 negatives are generous and forgiving, and the lens, while not world-class, delivers honest results that print beautifully in the darkroom.

All Models in Archive (4)

Compact

• Dollina - 1935-1940
• Dollina II - 1936-1940
• SL100 - 1970-1974

Folding

• Six - 1932-1958