C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →compact-35mm
The Werra 3 (1958) is a 35mm viewfinder camera produced by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in Jena, East Germany. It is a direct development of the original Werra 1, adding a built-in selenium exposure meter to the already distinctive Werra design. The selenium cell is integrated into the camera body -- typically in a position that maintains the clean lines established by the original model -- and provides an exposure reading without requiring a battery.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →C41
Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
Develop 35mm film
Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
The metered Werra -- Carl Zeiss Jena's felt-covered compact gains a built-in selenium cell without sacrificing its radical minimalist design.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm (24x36 mm) |
| Lens | Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50/2.8 |
| Mount | Fixed |
| Year introduced | ~1958 |
| Shutter | Leaf: 1s - 1/250s + B |
| Meter | Selenium (no battery required) |
| Exposure | Manual (meter-guided) |
| Viewfinder | Optical, no rangefinder |
| Focus | Zone (distance scale) |
| Battery | Not required |
The Werra series launched in 1954 with the unmetered Werra 1. As built-in meters became increasingly standard on compact cameras through the mid-1950s, VEB Carl Zeiss Jena developed a metered variant. The Werra 3 appeared around 1958, adding a selenium cell to the design while preserving the series' radical aesthetic.
Selenium meters require no battery -- the photovoltaic cell generates its own current from incident light -- which aligned well with the Werra design philosophy of minimising controls and dependencies. The trade-off is that selenium cells degrade over time, particularly when exposed to bright light with the meter uncapped; many surviving Werra 3 meters read inaccurately or not at all after sixty-plus years.
The Werra 5, introduced later in the series, added a coupled rangefinder for precise focus confirmation -- at the cost of additional visual complexity on the body. The Werra 3 remained available for photographers who found zone focus sufficient and wanted a cleaner instrument.
The Werra 3 is the most balanced camera in the Werra lineup for general photography: the Tessar 50/2.8 is a fine lens, the selenium meter removes the need to carry a separate exposure tool, and zone focus is adequate for most street and travel shooting at moderate apertures. The camera's felt-wrapped, rotary-collar design remains one of the most visually distinctive in 35mm camera history.
Historically, the Werra series demonstrated that East German optical industry could produce internationally competitive consumer cameras. The cameras were exported through Western European distributors and reviewed positively in British and German photographic press of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →VEB Carl Zeiss Jena Werra 3
Image coming soon