Voigtländer Bessa 66

This is a medium format folder from the German firm of Voigtländer. It dates from between 1938 and 1940. This model was also made after WWII from 1946 to 1950, but my camera is a very early model - more later. There was also a cheaper version available with a folding viewfinder and no automatic framing.  It is extremely similar to the later Perkeo that replaced it in 1950.

Voigtländer Bessa 66 (C) John Margetts

This camera has a lot of 'modern' features that make it stand out from earlier folding cameras. These include a body shutter release and automatic frame advance - no need to look in the red window when advancing the film, the camera spaces the film automatically (more or less, it does not work too well on my camera. I used the red window).

First, a basic description.  The camera measures 125 mm wide by 40 mm thick and 80 mm high when folded and 95 mm thick when open. This is very much a pocket camera even if the pocket needs to be robust enough to take the weight - 524 g without a film. As standard, the top plate is uncluttered. It is made from chrome plated brass  and has a reverse-Galilean viewfinder right at the right-hand end. On the opposite end is the film advance knob. Close to the advance knob is a frame counter - one of the 'modern' features I mentioned. That should be all that is on the top plate but a previous owner has glued an accessory shoe on using a large amount of epoxy glue.  Close to the rewind knob, on both the front and back faces of the top plate are two sliders. Without an instruction manual, it is not clear what these do. The one on the front clearly advances the frame counter and seems to free the advance system to allow the film to be advanced. When the film moves through the camera, a feeler shaft rotates and this serves to measure the amount of film that has moved and the film advance locks when one frame (62 mm) has moved. There is no clear use for the rear slider but I think it might have to do with setting the start of the film once the red window has been used to line up the first frame. I would welcome advice here from anyone who has a better knowledge of this camera. This system only works sporadically with my camera and when using the test film I relied on the red window for all frames.

As this is a folding camera, the lens is hidden behind a door that must be opened before using the camera. This is achieved with a button the the base. Pressing this causes the door to spring most of the way open - it might well have opened completely when new. When open, it locks the lens/shutter firmly in place. To close the lens door again, there is a chrome bar beneath the lens which must be firmly pressed to unlock the struts holding the door in place. 

As supplied new, this camera came with a hinged yellow filter ('Moment' filter) but this has long since broken off as is usual for cameras of this age. Also as a consequence of age, the bezel around the lens has come loose and fallen off (it was glued in place). This means I have no lens name or focal length information but I can gather this from information from the interweb. The lens has a serial number (located inside the camera on the rear of the lens). The pre-war versions of this camera were supplied with either a  three element Voigtar or four element Skopar lens. Of these, only the Skopar had a serial number so mine must be a Skopar lens. It is a 75 cm focal length lens (as was the Voigtar option) with a maximum aperture of f/3.5. The shortest marked focussing distance is 1 m, but the lens will move significantly further than this so the closest focus is going to be nearer to 0.7 m at a guess. The lens is not colour corrected (that would be a Color-Skopar) and is not coated but performed well regardless.

The shutter is a Compur shutter with a serial number of 3 751 602 - my records tell me that this dates from between 1935 and 1939. The lens serial number is 2 245 637 and this dates from between 1937 and 1942. (The range of dates is so vague because both Compur and Voigtlander lost most of their records in the destruction of WWII.) I have a piece of further dating information in that the slider on the front of the top plate was removed in 1939 so my camera must be from 1938 or early 1939.

The Compur shutter has a fastest speed of 1/300 seconds (later models had a Compur-Rapid shutter with a nominal 1/500 second speed) and apertures from f/3.5 to f/16. Both of these are very usable in 2015 with modern film. What is missing from this shutter is a delay timer and any flash connectors. For my test film, I used Kodak Portra 160 ISO film in sunny weather in April and shot most of the film at either 1/100 or 1/300 and f/11 or f/16. As is usual for this date, the shutter needs cocking before use. While the primary shutter release is on the shutter housing, the actual release is a lever that protrudes through the lens door. This is strictly left-handed in use, leaving your right hand to have a firm grasp of the camera.  Exacta did things the same way.

The base plate has three items. On the left is a lever with two functions. In the closed position, it prevents the back being opened and when swung out, it acts as a foot to allow the camera to be securely placed on a flat surface for longer exposures (together with a cable release, which the shutter is threaded for). There is no delay timer, so no selfies with this camera. In the centre of this lever is a tripod boss. This is a 3/8 inch Whitworth socket with a 1/4 inch Whitworth insert.  At the other end of the top plate is a depth of field calculator. You rotate the disc to set the distance you are focussing at to the pointer and then read off the depth of field against the aperture you are using.  The third item on the base plate is the release for the lens door.

In use, this is a simple, easy camera to use. The hardest part is the viewfinder which, as was normal in its day, is rather small and not usable while wearing glasses. With the left-hand shutter release, you can get a really good grip on the camera while actuating the shutter release with your left index finger. It is easy to cock the shutter with your right hand while still gripping the camera. 

The hardest part is reading the numbers on the shutter speed, aperture and focus scales. They are rather small for my ageing eyes.

As is common of Voigtländer cameras, there are Happy Snapper settings on the lens. These are marked by a small triangle and a small circle. If you set the focus to the triangle and the aperture to f/8 then all between 2.5 m and 5 m will be in focus (ideal for portraits) and if you set the focus to the small circle, and the aperture to f/8 then all between 5 m and infinity will be in focus (ideal for landscapes).

Even though the lens is neither colour corrected nor coated, it has performed well. There is no visible colour fringing (the panchromatic films in use in the 1930s would have needed well corrected lenses) nor is there any significant flare visible in my test pictures. Where I have shot Contra Jour, there is some slight evidence of flare but it is very minor. I have much worse lenses in my collection.

The film I used for my test was Kodak Portra 160, developed and scanned by Snappy Snaps in Lincoln.  Loading the film is easy - both spool holders are hinged. The camera takes either 120 or 620 film (only 120 is currently available). The dark bar along the right-hand edge of some frames is a scanning artefact, not the camera.

Shot into the light - some flare on the right-hand edge

Voigtlander Vito CLR

This is a development of Voigtlander's Vito range. That started as the folding 35 mm Vito of 1939. The folding Vitos were replaced by the rigid bodied Vito B in 1954 . The Vito B sired a small range - Vito BL, Vito BR and Vitomatic. Then in 1960 came the Vito C and a small range - Vito C, Vito CD, Vito Cl, Vito Cs, Vito CLR and Vito CSR and these were followed by the Vito Automatic (very different to the Vitomatic of 1957).

So, this is the third range of Vito cameras. The name, Vito CLR, tells us it is the C range with a light meter and rangefinder. Both the light meter and the rangefinder are coupled to the shutter.

Voigtlander Vito CLR  (C) J. Margetts

As I usually do, I shall start with a physical description of the camera, followed by notes on using it.

My camera is the third iteration of the deluxe version. Deluxe means there are slight variations on the layout of the top plate and I get a ring of black leatherette around the base of the shutter housing. The camera is somewhat bigger than the Vito B - it measures 125 mm by 85 mm by 75 mm and weighs xxxg. The main difference in appearance is that the camera now has a 'standard' hinged back fastened with a catch on the left-hand side. This is much easier to use than the Vito Bs somewhat strange back (although I like the Vito B's back for its idiosyncrasy).

On the top plate on the left is a recessed rewind knob. This has a turnable film reminder which can be set to either blue or yellow - sunlight or artificial light? Just right of centre is an accessory shoe. As was usual at the time this camera was made, there are no flash contacts so this is a cold shoe. To the right of the accessory shoe is the window for the light meter. This is reflected into the viewfinder so you can set the exposure without removing the camera from your eye.

Top plate - (C) J. Margetts

On the back of the camera there are three items. On the left is the viewfinder eyepiece. This has bright-lines directly on the rear glass with parallax markings for close-ups. Below the viewfinder and slightly to the left is a lever to raise the rewind knob and free the film advance mechanism. To the right of the back is the film advance lever. This moves through 220 degrees as far as I can judge and advances the film one frame and cocks the shutter.

The front of the camera is a lot busier. At the top is a chrome rectangular bezel. This contains on the left (while looking at the lens) the light meter lens, above the shutter housing the rangefinder window and on the right the viewfinder window.

In the middle of the front, just off centre, is the shutter housing. This contains a Gauthier Prontor 500 LK shutter. The outer ring on the housing is the focussing ring. This ranges from 1 metre to infinity (my camera is marked in metres rather than feet which usually means a grey import but the body is clearly stamped 'Made in West Germany' so it is a factory import). This ring has three Happy Snapper settings at 1.3 m, 3.2 m, and 10 m. The last one is the hyperfocal distance at f5.6 and the middle one is the hyperfocal distance at f16.

The next ring is the shutter speed ring - this adjusts from 1/15 to 1/500 and B. This is also used to set the film speed for the light meter - you need to depress a small black tab immediately behind this ring while setting the film speed. Behind the shutter speed ring is the aperture ring which runs from f2.8 to f22. this ring has two sizeable black tabs attached which makes finding the ring by feel easy - this is important when setting the exposure with the camera at your eye.

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In the centre of the shutter is the lens - a Color-Skopar f2.8 50 mm lens. This is front cell focussing so not ideal but will still produce excellent images. The lens will take 32 mm push fit filters and lens hood. To the left of the shutter housing (again, while looking at the lens) is the shutter release button. This is threaded on then underside for a standard cable release. Below the shutter release is a PC flash connector.

The base of the camera has then usual 1/4 inch tripod boss - slightly left of centre and slightly forward - and a frame counter. The frame counter counts down so tells you how many frames you have left.

Vito B (top) Vito CLR (bottom)

27/10/14

I have completed a test film using Fomapan 200 Creative. This has shown up a problem with the camera - one the seller drew my attention to - the exposure meter under-exposes by around two stops. So, using this camera I need to set the meter for ASA 50 rather than the correct ASA 200. I suspect this is due to the selenium  sensor in the meter deteriorating. This is something we are always warned about with old selenium meters but not something I have actually come across before (it could, as the seller suggested, be the setting ring having moved from its correct position, but I doubt it).

Because of the metering problem, the negatives are very thin and getting a good scan has been difficult. tonal range is not as it should be and there are very visible horizontal lines in each picture. There is also some evidence of a light leak in the pictures - it is on the left-hand side which means it must be from around the hinge of the back. In some pictures it is not very evident, so, perhaps, if the pictures were exposed correctly, it would not be a problem. There are no foam light seals in this camera to deteriorate.

Second test film results are below the monochrome results.

Cathedral from Broadgate, Lincoln

City Square, Lincoln

High Street, Lincoln

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Flowers to test the lens for close-ups.

Second test - with Agfa Vista+ colour film, processed by Snappy Snaps in Lincoln.  Negative density is fine, so the earlier problems were either lack of use or my developing of the film.

Voigtlander Vitoret 110

Voigtlander Vitoret 110, front view

I am not entirely sure why I bought this camera. The original thought came when I saw some Lomography 110 cartridges for sale in Snappy Snaps in Lincoln. When I saw this camera for sale on Ebay, I found myself bidding.  I was the only bidder and I got the camera for £1.00 plus postage.

It is not a complicated camera. It is a black box measuring 120 mm by 25 mm by 35 mm. The lens and viewfinder (both front and back) are covered by shutters when the camera is not in use. The camera is opened by moving the film advance slider. The shutter button is on top (it is coloured grey) and the film advance (also grey) is below it. If you hold the camera in a pinch grip with your right hand, your forefinger will land on the shutter button and your thumb on the film advance slider.  I don't think you could use this camera one handed as the camera needs to be steadied when winding on the film.

The lens is a Lanthar f5.6 lens - Lanthar lenses are triplets. There is no indication on the camera as to focal length but a search on Google tells me it is 24 mm - this is slightly wide for 16 mm film (normal would be about 26 mm) which is what we would expect for a point-and-shoot camera.

Vitoret 110, rear view

The viewfinder is a reverse Galilean finder (as was usual on consumer cameras by the 1970s)  and is quite large and bright with bright lines for framing - complete with close-up markings. The iris diaphragm is essentially square - so the bokeh will not be spectacular. The aperture can be altered but only by selecting weather icons. The pictorial instructions give f-numbers for these icons - sunny is f16, dull is between f11 and f8, light cloud is f5.6 all at speed 1/125 and dull cloud is f5.6 and speed 1/60.
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Blog copyright by John Margetts, 2014
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This camera uses the 110 film cartridges which just drop into the camera - no need to connect the film to the take-up spool. Opening the camera to insert the film cartridge is not obvious. You need to press a small grey button and slightly move the end of the camera (it only moves 2 mm or so) and then lift up the back.

Using the camera is very easy, there only being three controls: shutter button, advance slider and weather selector. Opening the lens/viewfinder shutters winds on the film. This means it is important not to wind on the film if you are going to put the camera away as when you next use the camera you will waste one frame. I found I kept forgetting to alter the weather selector, but as the light was only varying between sunny and dull I am expecting the latitude of the film to cope. Actually, this raises another point. the instructions mention using 80 ASA film (or 80 ISO for modern films) but the film I am using is 200 ISO which is more than twice as fast. it remains to be seen as to what exactly this means for my final prints.

Sample pictures:

These are reasonable - particularly if you consider that back in the day, these would have been printed as 5x7 prints at the largest.  Compared to a quality camera and quality film, they are a bit grainy but that is not really a proper comparison.  Biggest fault was my propensity to include a thumb in the right-hand edge of the pictures!

Holkham Hall, Norfolk

Filey, North Yorkshire

Humber bridge

Ropewalk Art Centre, Barton-on-Humber

Horncastle market

Horncastle market + close up of my thumb

Perkeo I

This is a nice, medium format camera from Voigtlander. It is a direct competitor to Zeiss Ikon's Nettar 518/16 - that is, at the lower end of the enthusiasts' 120 cameras - and is a replacement for the Bessa 66. This is a folding camera which fits nicely in a (large-ish) pocket. It measures 125 mm wide x 85 mm high x 40 mm deep (closed) or x 95 mm deep (open). It weighs 483 g. In 1952, Wallace Heaton were advertising this camera at £22/11/6 for the model I have here (that is in old money and equates to £22.57 in new money. That is equivalent to about £1,400 in 2013 values).

Voigtlander Perkeo I

lens: Vaskar

focal length:  75 mm

apertures: f/4.5 to f/16

focus range: 3.5 feet to infinity

lens fitting: fixed

shutter: pronto

speeds: 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/200

flash: F synch only

film size: 120

The lens is a Voigtlander Vaskar - 75 mm focal length and maximum aperture of f/4.5. The Vaskar is Voigtlander's cheaper lens (a more expensive Perkeo I came with a Color-Skopar lens) and has a triplet construction (again, comparable to Zeiss Ikon's Nettar on the 518/16). I have yet to see the result of using this camera, but it has a reputation for having soft focus in the corners. This is not a fatal flaw for me as I have no need for sharp focus in the corners although I am aware that others find this unacceptable.

The shutter is a Gauthier Pronto - four speeds being available of which only 1/100 and 1/200 are of any interest. This shutter has a delayed timer (Vorlaufwerk) which, unusually for a camera of this age, works well. Flash synch is provided for fast flashbulbs - I intend to try this camera with electronic flash to see if this works as well.

The shutter release is standard for the early 1950s - primary release on the shutter housing and a secondary release button on the camera's top plate, linked to the primary release by a lever.  There is also a cable release socket which is between the two - on the hinged door.  The secondary release has a double exposure prevention mechanism fitted requiring the film to be would on before the shutter can be released a second time. On my camera, this does not work very well at the moment. When I had a similar problem on my Franka Solida II, it sorted itself out after a few shots.

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Blog copyright by John Margetts, 2014
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Being a folding camera, there needs to be a mechanism to bring the shutter/lens forward, ending with the lens exactly parallel to the film. On my camera this is defective - a small strut has snapped half way along its length. When I received the camera, this folding mechanism barely worked and then very badly - the lens ended up at quite an angle to the film plane.  This needed attention with naphtha to flush out dust and dirt, lubricating with clock oil and repeated folding/unfolding to free up the many joints in the struts.

Perkeo I - folded

It now unfolds easily and seems to put the lens parallel to the film plane, judging entirely by eye. The test film will tell me how parallel things actually are. The broken strut does not seem to matter here. What does not work too well is closing the camera. to close properly, the lens must remain parallel to the camera body otherwise it will not fit into the available space. I suspect that the broken strut is there is achieve this. Without this strut, my thumb has to do its duty. 

As an aside, I have tried a new technique with this camera. When lubricating small parts, it is quite hard to apply a small enough amount of oil to exactly the right place. Getting that small amount of oil into the linkage is a matter of working the linkage and hoping. This time I have diluted the clock oil two parts of oil to one part of naphtha to produce a very runny oil. Because the oil is diluted, once the naphtha has evaporated I am left with 2/3 of the amount of oil I applied. Also, because the oil is now very runny I am hoping that the oil will run between the surfaces of the linkages more easily before the naphtha evaporates to leave a very small amount of oil in place. So far, the only downside I have seen is that the naphtha is very good at wetting surfaces and has carried a small amount of oil over all the surfaces around the linkages. I am not convinced that this is a bad thing.

Perkeo I - showing top plate

Before loading the test film, there are two things I need to do. The first is to use compressed air to blow dust out of the inside. Moving film through a camera generates a small amount of static electricity and this will pull any dust onto the film. After that, I need to check the bellows for light leaks. To do this, I wait until dark (about five PM at the moment) and shine a torch onto the bellows at close quarters. Viewing inside the camera, any light leaks will clearly show.  I have found one very large one. That broken strut I mentioned earlier has scored the bellows material and created a line on pin-pricks. These will need sorting before I try the camera. Otherwise, the camera is good to go.

Voigtlander Vito I

Voigtlander Vito

I have used as a title for this article 'Vito I' but the camera is actually the Vito - Voigtlander were not aware of the forthcoming Vito range at this point.  I already have an article on the Vito II here and much in that article applies here as well.  The two cameras are very similar as you might expect.  The lens serial number says the lens was made in 1945 which is also the probable date of manufacture - one of the first cameras to be made in war-ravished Germany.

lens: Skopar

focal length: 50mm

apertures: 3.5 to 16

focus range: 1 metre to infinity

lens fitting: fixed

shutter: Prontor II

speeds:  1/5 to 1/200

flash: synchronised for bulbs

film size:  35mm

The camera is a folder and nicely compact when closed.  It measures 120mm by 70mm by 40mm closed and 120mm by 70mm by 80mm when open.  Closed, it nicely fits in a trouser or jacket pocket.  The only distinguishing mark on the closed camera is an ornate 'V' on the lens door and a fairly indistinct 'Voigtlander' is embossed on the leatherette on the back together with the model name 'Vito'.  There is also the country of origin embossed on the back which is 'Germany'.  As Germany is the English name for the country this indicates that it is an official import.  Strangely, for an official import, the focussing scale is in metres rather than feet, suggesting that Voigtlander were not fully geared up for export in 1945.

Vito top view

The top plate is very uncluttered.  There is a knurled ring at either end.  The right-hand ring is the film advance and the left-hand ring the rewind.  In the centre of the top plate is a very small, reverse Galilean viewfinder.  The eyepiece is only 5mm by 2.5mm.  The image seen is roughly 0.5 times life size.  This is very small compared to more modern viewfinders but it is more than adequate.  There is also a frame counter which counts up from one.  There is no accessory shoe (flash shoe) although one was available as an extra and fitted over the viewfinder.

On the rear of the top plate is a lever.  In the normal position (down) the film advance will only advance one frame.  When raised, the film can be advanced as far as you want and can be rewound.  The toothed wheel which is exposed by raising the this lever can be used to set the frame number to one.

The underside of the camera contains three items.  Close to the centre is a 3/8 Whitworth tripod boss.  A 1/4 Whitworth insert would have been available for the more usual tripod size.  There is also a button to release the lens door.  This is spring loaded and partially opens the door.  This door never sprung open under its own steam and from new they needed the user to fully open the door once it was released.

The third item on the base is two 'feet'.  These are little more than pins.  A third foot is on the lens door giving three feet altogether which allow the camera to sit stably on a flat surface.  This is primarily intended to allow group portraits using the self-timer.

When the door is opened, the lens comes forward on its bellows and locks in place.  The shutter release is on the top edge of the door together with a threaded socket for a standard cable release.

Vito - lens door open

The lens is a Skopar f3.5, 50mm lens.  This is the original version of the famous Color-Skopar and is not calculated for colour film.  However, it is intended for panchromatic film so should perform well with colour film.  See the test pictures below for details.  This lens focusses from one metre to infinity and has Voigtlander's usual two Happy Snapper settings - a circle for the hyperfocal distance at f5.6 (approximately five metres to infinity at f5.6 or 2.5 metres to infinity at f16) and a triangle which gives a focus range of 2.5 metres to five metres at f5.6 (ideal for groups).  This lens has no blue/purple tinge and so cannot have been coated as was normal post-WWII and so will be liable to flare.

The shutter is a Prontor II (which is the same as a Klio on a Zeiss Ikon camera) which is a pre-war design and was soon to be updated to the Prontor S.  This Prontor II has a PC connector and so must be synchronised for flash - I would suspect for fast flash bulbs (F: sync) but there is no indication of this on the shutter housing (my Vito II has a Pronto shutter and this is specifically marked F:).  Shutter speeds are 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 which is more than adequate.  The bezel of the shutter housing bears the shutter name - Prontor II - Gauthier's maker logo and Voigtlander's script name.

Vito - lens and shutter

There is a self-timer lever which we are always told not to use on old cameras to prevent damage to the shutter.  It barely works on this camera, taking 16 seconds to actuate the shutter and then needing a little help from my finger over the last two or three seconds.

This shutter needs cocking before use - the cocking lever moves from left to right and up to cock the shutter.

Apertures available are f3.5 to f16.  As there are no click-stops, you can set an intermediate value if you want to.  The only other item of note on the shutter assembly is a stellate lever.  I am not entirely sure what this is for but I suspect it was to do with the hinged yellow filter that the early Vitos were fitted with.  The shutter bezel has three screws in it that are also part of the filter assembly.  When production had used up the store of pre-war parts, the bezel no longer had these three screws.

Inside is where this camera gets interesting.  The design dates from 1939 and the camera was intended to use unperforated 35mm film.  As the film was unperforated, there are no sprockets in the camera.  Instead, the camera judges the film framing with a feeler roller as in an up-market 120 camera. I have been led to believe  by the Interweb that this camera was designed to use Kodak's 828 film which is unperforated 35 mm film with backing paper like 120 film. As the film came on a spool with backing paper (again, as with 120 film) there are springs fitted to the film chambers to keep the film tight on the spools. Actually, looking at the camera, there is no reason why the camera should not have used unperforated 35 mm film in a reloadable cassette - Leica and Zeiss Ikon made such cassettes for their 35 mm cameras. I have never seen a 1939 Vito - this would tells us immediately whether the camera used 828 film or a loadable cassette as 828 film would require a red window on the back of the camera to allow the user to see at least the first frame number. There is no red window on my 1945 Vito - was there one on the 1939 version? When production restarted in 1945, Voigtlander decided to modify the camera for modern perforated 35mm film (135 format).  The only real change is that the film gate (the rectangular opening that lets the light hit the film in the correct place) is reduced to 24mm by 36mm (originally it had been 30mm by 40mm).

The film take up chamber will take the standard spool from a 35mm cassette as a take-up spool or an empty cassette can be fitted which means that when the film is finished you can open the back and cut the film with the exposed part already in a cassette.

These pictures were taken with this camera on Agfa Vista plus 200 ISO colour negative film (details here): (the black wedge would seem to be a scanning artifact.  The frames all overlap about 1-2 mm and this overlap is also wedge shaped)

Cowslip close-up (from one metre away)

Lincoln Broadgate

Lincoln High Street

Lincoln Pottergate