Finally. Out With The Zeh Goldi, A 1930s Folding Camera

Finally. Out With The Zeh Goldi, A 1930s Folding Camera

Once the Goldi was cleaned and dusted, it was time to take it out for a test. When the post introducing this camera was published back in June, (https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/2026/06/04/a-folding-camera-from-the-1930s-the-zeh-goldi/) we had planned a trip to Nazaré a few days later. Unfortunately, it was postponed, as was the next trip, and the next. Since I was determined to take the Goldi to Nazaré,  it sat unused, just waitng for the opportunity. Now, several months later, we finally managed a trip to this wonderful location, and I finally loaded the Goldi with a roll of Crossbird Creative 127 film.

During Big Wave season, starting around October time to April, the hills around the North beach just outside Nazaré are packed with hundreds, if not thousands, of people watching and photographing the big wave surfers. At other times, the sea is flat, the beach is often deserted, and the road too and from the lighthouse is much less busy. You have to pay to get into the lighthouse, but it's just a few Euros and the view from the top of the fort is amazing. There, you can see a topographical map of the undersea canyon that funnels the sea to create the big waves, and small museum containing a lovely collection of some of the big wave surfers boards.

Actually, when we talking about Nazaré, we're actually talking about the region known as the Sitio, the old town at the top of the hill, and the Praia do Norte, the north beach. Nazaré is really a town of three parts, the Sitio, on the hill, which includes the fort/lighthouse and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazareth, the Praia, a sprawling town at the bottom of the cliff and along the south beach, and the Pederneira, which is another old village on the top of the hill. The big wave surfers are taken by jet ski from the harbour at the Praia, and pulled around to the waves in front of the fort. From there the current takes them, ideally on a big wave, to the north beach. It can be incredibly dangerous. 

We arrived about midday, and after a nice seafood lunch spent some time wandering around the sitio, stopping at the fort and around the town. At each location, I used the Zeh Goldi on its test run. The camera is really a pleasure to use, and so simple. I left the shutter speed at 1/100s, and used the Camera Meter app to set the aperture. With Crosbird Creative, which is rated at ISO 200, the Camera Meter app suggested an aperture of f32 at 1/100s. However, the smallest aperture of the Zeh Goldi is f16, so I expected the film to be overexposed. 

In the event, I didn't use the whole 16 exposures in Nazaré, so a few days later I took a short trip to an industrial estate just outside of Vagueira to finish the roll. Back in Aveiro, I took the films for development at Forever Blue and scanned them with an Epson Perfection v750 Pro flat bed scanner and Epson Scan software.

The images from the Goldi came out remarkably well. Yes, they were a little 'soft', but for a ninety-odd year old camera they were not too bad. I was also really happy with the Crossbird Creative film. I've used it once before, on 127 Day a couple of years ago with the Purma Special, so I was confident that the film would give some nice results. But I was really blown away with the images from the Zeh Goldi. Incidentally, the film is called Crossbird Creative because it's actually a slide film, but it can also be cross-processed in C41 chemistry as a negative film, and that's all our local lab can do.

The Zeh Goldi itself worked magnificently, and is a definite addition to my collection of medium format cameras. It's also a bonus folder for (hopefully) the next Folder Week. Mind you, I will have to consider taking a neutral density filter with me next time, on a sunny day the f16 aperture was a little hit or miss. If you're interested, I’ve posted the whole series in an album on my Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/gp/147583812@N06/hZ6UX186cn) if you want to see the rest of the images. 

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