The first Tessina camera I obtained weighs in at 180g. This is with the pop
up finder but no instruction plates and no film cartridge. The gold L with
nylon gears is 154g. The others are 165/166 g.

180g (35 brushed aluminium),
165g (35?),
166g (35 automatic, black),
166g (35 automatic, brushed aluminium),
154g (gold L silent gears)

I can't see why the Tessina 35 is 14g heavier than the two 35 automatic.

The later (by serial number) black camera 363113 has no provision for a
coupled meter, red B but not 125 and all the f stops are visible.

The earlier 363012 has a coupled meter, red markings for 125 and B and is
clearly engraved Tessina Automatic although this is covered up with the
black finish and not highlighted as on some cameras. Only one f stop is
visible in the alternative windows on the dial/film counter.

I didn't under stand how the dial without these two windows was to work. The
instructions mention two white pointers. The position is identical to the
later L series and appears to have no fixed mark to indicate which side of
the dial the f-stop is to be read from. In examining the brush aluminium 35
automatic the white marks are clearly two sliver pointers and these can be
found under a magnifying glass on the black Tessina!

Karl Heitz offered an upgrade service to convert older cameras so that they
could use a coupled meter.

In trying to check serial numbers to known camera type there is a large
overlap, mixed across colours and nothing certain.

35 automatic
Aluminium 62625-465241
Black 363012-363078
Gold 785033
Red

35
Aluminium 60407, 565549-965281
Black 163666, 463865-865217
Gold 65140
Red 65068, 464802-763721

35L
Aluminium 60072, 363753-769719
Black 776280-777511
Gold 163243- 785033
Red 763721

http://www.submin.com/35mm/collection/tessina has been updated with another
5Mb of additional photographs.


Gerald