This blog consists of descriptions of my various vintage cameras and my experiences in using them.
I welcome your comments and additional information.
I am also happy for people to write their own reviews of their old cameras for inclusion in this blog.
My most recent acquisition is this Soviet Kiev 4. It is a straight copy of the Zeiss Ikon Contax III (with only very slight changes).
Kiev 4 - front view
At the end of WWII, the Soviet army had Zeiss Ikon rebuild their production line for the Contax and then, once the line was working properly, they shipped the production line to Kiev in Ukraine. They also renamed the camera Kiev. This camera is a Kiev 4 and is a copy of the Contax III - there was also a Kiev 4a which was a copy of the Contax II. The difference between the 4 and 4a is the presence of a light meter in the Kiev 4.
The Soviet Union produced cameras both for the home market and for export. Those intended for home consumption had their logos and indicators in Cyrillic while those for export used the Latin alphabet. My camera has the logo in both Cyrillic and Latin but other writing is all in Cyrillic, indicating that the camera was not intended for export (сделано в CCCP = Made in USSR )
The camera has a very Zeiss Ikon look about it and the body is broadly similar to the Pentacon F and Contaflex - both German derivatives of the Contax, the Pentacon F being East German and the Contaflex being West German (younger readers should consult their history books!).
The camera is heavy - 768g with the standard Jupiter 8 lens - and the controls reveal the camera's design date (1936). the film advance is a knob (usual in the 1930s, very old fashioned in 1969 when my camera was made) as is the film rewind. The viewfinder is very small, hard to use while wearing glasses and (because it is bare metal) likely to scratch modern plastic spectacle lenses. The last anochronistic item is the tripod boss which is 3/8 inch Whitworth. Standard for consumer cameras had been 1/4 inch for some tine (currently 1/4" UNC rather than 1/4" Whitworth but the two are close enough to be interchangeable).
The knob on the right hand end of the top plate has three functions
in the centre is the shutter release, threaded for a standard cable release.
around the shutter release is a knurled ring to wind on the film and reset the shutter.
The shutter speed selector - operated by lifting and turning the film advance ring.
The manual says that the shutter speed can be selected either before or advancing the the film but that it is better done after advancing then film.
Kiev 4 - top plate
Next to the right hand knob is a window showing the frame numbers. This is nice and large and shows 12 numbers with a red dot indicating the current frame. This counts up from zero and goes to 36. It is reset manually by a toothed wheel on the back edge of the top plate.
Being a rangefinder camera, there is no pentaprism hump but where you might expect to see one there is a light meter. This has a selenium sensor and so has no need for a battery. One drawback of selenium meters is that they can lose sensitivity with continued exposure to light. To prevent this from happening, there is a cover to the meter window on the front of the camera. thesis opened by pushing the cover slightly to the right when it will spring open.
On the top of the meter is the meter window. This has a central lozenge and -2 and -4 marks. The meter is used by turning the control knob on the left until the meter needle is centred on the central lozenge. The -2 and -4 marks are used in low light conditions - they are each one stop away from the central position. If there is insufficient light to get the meter needle to the lozenge, you line it up with the -2 or -4 and then multiply the indicated exposure by either one stop or two stops.
Also on the top of the meter is the accessory shoe. There are no electrical contacts here so this is a cold shoe. It was intended that this accessory shoe would hold an auxiliary viewfinder when longer focal length lenses were used. In the centre of the accessory shoe is the legend сделано в CCCP (made in USSR) and the serial number 6968008 which indicates that the camera was made in 1969 (the first two digits of the serial number being the year of manufacture).
Kiev 4 - accessory shoe
On the left end of the top plate is another multi-function knob.
The outer knurled ring adjusts the light meter.
The inner ring which is adjusted by two studs to set the film speed.
The centre is a pull up knob for rewinding the film.
The film speeds are indicated in гост which translates as GOST. This is basically the same as ASA (or ISO). The Gost scale is awkward as it does not have the usual ASA numbers. There is 65, 130, 250 and 500. Using 'western' film, ASA 100, 200 or 400 film requires guessing the position of the film speed selector. If this scale was in DIN, it would be 20 DIN (65 Gost), 23 DIN (125 Gost), 26 DIN (225 Gost), 29 DIN (500 Gost) which is probably the reason for the choices - the camera having been designed in Germany where DIN is usual.
The front of the camera is dominated (as always) by the lens mount. This is the Contax bayonet mount (not to be confused with the Contax/Yashica mount of SLR cameras). There are actually two bayonet mounts here. The 50mm Jupiter 8 lens fits into the mount and latches onto three lugs inside the mount. There is a second, larger, bayonet mount around the distance scale which is for longer focal length lenses.
Kiev 4 - lens mount
This lens mount is connected to the rangefinder and either rotates to focus the lens when the rangefinder wheel is turned (more later) or turns the rangefinder mechanism when the lens is turned. When the lens is focused on infinity it locks inlace. When locked, the lens cannot be focused. It can be unlocked in two ways.
there is a small pointed stud near the upper left of the lens mount which can be moved away from the lens to unlock it.
there is a lever by the rangefinder wheel which you depress as you turn the wheel.
On the right of the lens mount (right as in when using the camera) is a delay action lever. This rotates through just over 90 degrees to wind-up the action. It is activated by sliding a small button which is usually hidden beneath the lever. On the other side of the lens, just below the viewfinder window, is a PC socket for connecting a flash gun.
The rangefinder shares the same eyepiece as the viewfinder. To give as much accuracy as possible to the rangefinder , the two windows on the front are kept as far apart as possible (9 cm centre to centre). This is much further apart than on the Leica which was the main competitor when this camera was designed in 1936 and also than the FED and Zorki copies of the Leica.
Kiev 4 - rangefinder wheel
Just to the right of the light meter and slightly below it is the rangefinder wheel mentioned above. I find this very hard to use as when my index finger is on the wheel ready to turn it, my middle finger naturally falls over the rangefinder window, rendering it inoperable. For me, it is much easier to focus by turning the lens. The rangefinder spot is easy to see and is slightly yellow for maximum contrast. This yellowing is achieved by 'silvering' the internals of the rangefinder with gold.
For those who do not know, a rangefinder works by producing two different images in the viewfinder.
As you change focus, one of the images moves. To achieve accurate focus, you make sure your subject is in the centre of the viewfinder and turn the rangefinder wheel or lens until the two images are superimposed on each other. With practice, this is quick, easy and accurate.
Kiev 4 - rear view
To open the camera, it is necessary to remove the back and base as one unit. At home, working on a table, this is slightly easier than a hinged back. In the field, it is a nightmare. You need to find somewhere to put the back/base while manipulating the film. To make matters worse, the take-up spool is loose and liable to fall out.
The reason for the loose take-up spool is that it can be replaced with an empty cassette, removing the need to rewind the film when finished. This gives a faster reload time - good for studio work but not good elsewhere. I think, in general, this camera was designed with the studio in mind.
Kiev 4 - back/base removed
To release the back/base there are two folding lugs to turn half a turn. Inside the camera is as you would expect a 35 mm camera to be. Until, that is, you look at the shutter. Instead of the rubberised cloth usual until the 1980s, it consists of brass slats which move vertically and are held on cloth ribbons. this works the same as a cloth shutter as distinct from the modern metal shutters. Speeds provided are impressive - up to 1/1250 seconds and down to 1/2 second. The speed range is the modern one of 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 etc.
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Kiev 4 - detail of brass shutter
The lens supplied is the Jupiter-8M. This is a Soviet copy of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar lens. This lens has six elements in three groups. How well it performs remains to be seen. Someone has attempted to dismantle my lens (never a good sign) evidenced by the aperture adjustment ring being out of kilter. Hopefully, that is as far as they got - none of the internal black paint is scratched which his a good sign. Ro-orienting the aperture ring was simply done.
Jupiter-8M lens - front bezel
The aperture has nine blades which gives a good shape to the aperture. What is curiose is that the aperture blades are curved (see photo) producing a clearly less than circular disc. I will try to produce some booked shots with my test film to see if this makes much difference.
detail of lens showing curved aperture blades
The Jupiter 8 M is a 50 mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/2 and a minimum aperture of f/22 - quite a useable range. f/22 is about the limit in 35 mm photography before diffraction softening starts to be a nuisance. The aperture ring has click stops but can still be set between these values The finish on this lens is shiny chrome with a black lens bezel. - contrasting with the matt chrome on the camera body. Test film is developed and here are the results. I am quite impressed. Soviet execution of German design is as good as it always is. There are no light leaks - always a bugbear of old cameras, neither in the seals around the base/back nor in the sutler blinds - an advantage, I would think, of using brass rather than cloth. Exposure is even indicating that the shutter blinds are both moving smoothly. There is no lens flare - although these test pictures were mostly taken in rather overcast conditions. The rangefinder test (see below) shows both that the rangefinder is accurate at close distances and that the lens produces sharp images. The picture of the iron shutter shows the one draw back of a rangefinder camera (or any viewfinder camera, come to that). I had the shutter central in the viewfinder but it is distinctly off-set in the image - parallax problem. Some cameras adjust the viewfinder when focusing closer but not here. The pictures:
Rangefinder test - focused on the nearest finial
Enlargement of the finial showing it to be in good focus.
Metal shutter showing parallax error in the viewfinder
Lincoln City Square
Witham looking west
Witham looking west
Old bicycle that I use as a test piece for all my old cameras
Indoor shot of Lincoln Central market - fairly slow shutter speed.
I already have an article on Yashica Minister III rangefinders. This Minister D is clearly from the same stable.
The camera is about the same size to look at - I suspect the Minister II and D both use the same main casting. The most obvious difference is with the light meter. With the Minister III, the meter cells are selenium cells in a ring around the lens and do not require a battery. The Minister D meter has the sensor on the left edge of the top plate and it does require a battery.
lens: Yashinon
focal length: 45 mm
apertures: f/2.8 to f/16
focus range: 0.8 m to infinity
lens fitting: fixed
shutter: Copal SVL
speeds: 1 second to 1/500
flash: PC socket
film size: 35 mm
The camera measures 135 mm long (not including the strap lugs), 85 mm high and 40 mm deep - 75 mm including the lens.
The controls are as had become standard on (non-SLR) 35 mm cameras. On the right is the film advance lever. this lever moves through about 120 degrees to advance the film one frame which is easily achieved with one movement of the thumb. Between the film advance lever and the right edge of the top plate is a window to the frame counter. This counter is automatically reset to 'S' when the back of the camera is opened. This is two before the counter shows '1' allowing for the film to be wound on two frames to move the fogged film leader past the film gate once the back is closed.
Just to the left of the film advance lever and slightly in front is the shutter release button. this is chrome plated and is 5 mm is diameter. It is threaded for a standard cable release.
To the left of these three, the top plate is slightly raised. on this raised portion are the light meter display and ASA setting. ASA (effectively the same as ISO) can be set from 10 to 400 - about the range of film speeds available in the early 1960s. the film speed can only be set in ASA numbers - there is no DIN scale - but for those who prefer DIN (me!) there is a ASA/DIN conversion scale on the inside of the back door.
The light meter consists of a window to a black and white scale and a pointer - see forward on how to use it.
Left of the light meter is an accessory shoe - no electrical contacts so a 'cold' shoe. On the far left is the rewind crank. This pulls up to release the film cassette when loading/unloading but plays no part in releasing the back.
The front of the top-plate has the viewfinder window - fairly large at 20 mm by 13 mm - and a small rangefinder window at the end of the 'Minister D' logo. To the right of the viewfinder is the light meter cell. This is circular and is around 5 mm diameter in a 15 mm diameter enclosure.
The lens is central in the Copal SVL shutter. Just to the left of the shutter housing is a PC (Prontor Compur) flash connector.
The base plate is uncluttered. It has a button to release the rewind mechanism, a 1/4 inch UNC tripod boss (the old standard for tripods was 1/4 inch Whitworth which is very close to 1/4" UNC), a battery compartment and then usual Yashica recessed catch for the back. This is marked O-P - 'O' for open and 'P' for closed.
The back of the camera, as well as having the hinged back, has the light meter actuating button, the viewfinder eyepiece and a grey plastic plug. This plug hides the rangefinder adjusting screw. last thing to note is the presence of strap lugs at either end.
The lens is a Yashinon f/2.8, 45 mm lens (actually described on the lens fascia as 4.5 cm as was usual up to the 1940s but was old hat by the 1960s). I am told the lens has five elements in four groups. It is, of course, coated as was usual by the 1960s. The camera focusses by moving the whole lens; this is the high quality method of focusing compared to the cheaper method of just moving the front element of the lens.
The lens is set in a Copal SVL shutter:
S - for flash synchronised
V - for Vorlaufwerk (delayed action)
L - for light value settings
The shutter clearly takes its name from the German Prontor shutters - S, SV and SVS.
The lens can focus down to 0.8 m (2.8 feet) and is coupled to the rangefinder. this camera is now 50 years old and the rangefinder patch is fairly dim. However, knowing this is in the centre of the viewfinder it is not necessary to actually see it. It is still quite easy to the secondary images of strong verticals and so the rangefinder is straight forward to use. On the rear of the top plate is a small (5 mm) grey plastic plug. This is easily removed to reveal a small screw which is used to adjust the rangefinder. This camera seems to be already adjusted correctly.
Incidentally, it is possible to improve the contrast of dim rangefinder patches. this can be done by inking in a small black circle in the middle of the viewfinder using a Sharpie or such.
Another nice feature with focusing this camera is parallax adjustment. As you focus the camera closer, the bright lines in the viewfinder move progressively to the right and down. You will still get some parallax error in your framing but you should be able to avoid cutting peoples' heads off.
There is a usable range of f stops from f/2.8 to f/16. This couples with shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/500 seconds. With films rated between 100 ISO and 400 ISO there will be few conditions that this camera will not cope with - at least in the UK; Florida beaches might be a problem.
Setting the exposure takes several steps.
1) press the red button on the rear of the top plate to switch on the meter
2) while holding the red button in, note the number the meter needle is pointing to
3) transfer this number to the outer-most ring on the lens/shutter housing
This sets the exposure but to the camera's choice of aperture and shutter speed. To get either the aperture or speed you want requires a fourth step.
4) turn the inner, gnarled, ring until either the aperture you want, or shutter speed, is against the red index mark. Not every aperture or shutter speed will be available for a given LV setting. For instance, with an LV setting of 17 you are stuck with f/16 and 1/500 and at LV 3 you only get shutter speed of 1 second and an aperture of f/2.8.
This is essentially a shutter priority system as altering the LV will alter the aperture, the shutter speed staying constant until the aperture required is outside the available range.
Most Japanese cameras use black foam in the recess the back fits in. this acts as a light seal. Unfortunately, this foam eventually turns to goo which has happened to this camera. Before I can run a test film I need to clean out the remains of the light seals and fit new black foam - easily secured on the Interweb.
This is my second Balda Baldina. The first is a folding Baldina from the 1930s. The Super in the name indicates that it has a coupled rangefinder. This new Baldina is from the 1950s and is not a folder but nods in that direction with a collapsible lens. This is fairly effective - it reduces the thickness of the camera by two cm which means it easily fits in a jacket pocket. The camera leatherette is stamped "Made in Germany" and the focus scale is in feet, indicating that this is an official import into the UK.
Balda Super Baldina (C) John Margetts
The top plate is as you might expect from a mid-1950s German camera. In the middle is a large hump containing the viewfinder and rangefinder. This has both the viewfinder and rangefinder eyepieces in one - my Franka Solida of the same period has separate viewfinder and rangefinder eyepieces which makes using the camera awkward. On the top of the viewfinder/rangefinder hump is an accessory shoe - no electrical contacts at this date, so a cold shoe.
Balda Super Baldina top plate.
On the left of this hump is the rewind knob. This is surrounded by a film type reminder. There are four options for this - film speed in DIN, film speed in ASA, colour positive or colour negative. To the right of the hump is the film advance. This is a lever with a large, coarsely milled thumb post.This moves through 180 degrees to advance one frame which is easily done in one throw of the thumb. At the base of this is the frame counter. This counts up from one to thirty six. In front of the film advance is the shutter release. This is a fair-sized button, threaded for a standard cable release. I have a slight niggle here as the shutter release button is slightly below the level of the film advance level which makes finding the release button by feel less obvious than it could be.
On either end of the top plate is a lug for attaching a strap - this is far more important than camera manufacturers seem to understand.
With lens collapsed.
With lens extended.
The front of the camera is dominated by the collapsible shutter/lens housing. This is quite well organised with the parts easy to get at. The shutter/lens housing is mounted on a square stainless steel bezel. On the top right of this bezel is a button to release the collapsible housing. When pressed, the shutter/lens housing pops out with a satisfying clunk.
Around the base of the housing is the focusing ring. This has a large knob on it below the lens which makes focusing at eye-level with the rangefinder very easy. Between the focusing ring and the lens release button is a depth of field scale - something regrettably missing from more modern cameras.
The next control on this housing is the aperture selector. This varies between f/3.5 and f/16. There are no click-stops so intermediate positions can be selected. Outside of this is the shutter speed selector - this is a conventional ring. The shutter is a Prontor SVS (a Compur Rapid was also available) so shutter speeds are from one second to 1/300 seconds. The 'S' in the shutter name tells us it is synchronised for flash - two 'S's tells us it can be synchronised for M (bulbs) or X (electronic) flash guns. The V stands for Vorlaufwerk which indicates a self-timer is available. There is a PC (Prontor Compur) socket set into this housing for attaching a flash gun.
Balda Super Baldina rear/internal view.
The shutter controls have Happy Snapper settings - f/8 is in red and there is a red dot at nine feet and a green dot at around thirty feet. The red dot is intended for portraits and will give you a focus range of six feet to twelve feet - suitable for a head-and-shoulders shot or a small group. The green dot is for landscaped and is the hyperfocal distance at an aperture of f/8 - it gives a focal range of 12/13 feet to infinity.
The focusing knob moves the whole shutter/lens assembly. this means that the whole lens moves to focus rather than just the front element. This means that the lens always performs at its optimum - whatever that optimum might be. The lens is a Baldinar which is made for Balda rather than by them. There were a host of lens-makers in Germany making lenses for camera manufacturers and this could have come from any of them or, indeed, several of them. The lens is a triplet (three pieces of glass) which is unlikely to perform well with a wide aperture. my experience of German triplets is that they perform very well once stopped down to f/8 or smaller. At the date this camera was made, the lens will be coated - and there is the tell-tale blue sheen to the lens to confirm this.
The inside of the lens front is threaded for filters. I make it to be 35mm diameter but that could be plus or minus a millimetre or so.
On the rear of the top plate, to the left of the viewfinder eyepiece, is a large screw. I suspect this is to adjust the rangefinder but as the rangefinder is working fine I am not going to fiddle with it to find out for sure. The rangefinder works as they usually do. There is a central spot that needs to be aligned to the main image by moving the focusing knob on the front of the camera. This spot is clear, even in poor light, which makes the rangefinder useful in practice - not something I find you can safely assume. One quirk here is that the rangefinder spot is pale blue in colour rather than the more usual yellow but that does not affect its usefulness.
Mamiya made cameras both for themselves and for re-badging by other companies. This camera is re-badged by the USA company of Mansfield. It is badged as a Mansfield Eye-tronic but is actually a Mamiya EE Super Merit. This model was also available in the USA as a Honeywell Electric Eye 35 and in the UK as the Vulcan. The camera is well designed and well made as I would expect from the Japanese in 1962 (the year of this model's introduction, in September). That makes this camera 50 years old (give or take a year) - and it is in very good condition. It all functions as it should, the only real deterioration being the foam light seals - as is usual on Japanese cameras of any age, these are reduced to a sticky goo and I have partially replaced them. The seals I have replaced are the two ends: around the hinge and around the catch. The long seals top and bottom of the back look to be recessed enough not to cause any trouble - I shall see for sure when my test film is completed (12 exposures of Fomapan 200 Creative).
lens: Mamiya-Kominar badged as Mantinar focal length: 40 mm apertures: f/2.8 to f/22 focus range: 1 m to infinity lens fitting: fixed shutter: Seikosha speeds: 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250 flash: PC socket film size: 35 mm
Front view - lens with a Petri UV filter in place
This camera is about the standard size and weight for a fixed-lens Japanese rangefinder camera of the period. it measures 130 x 60 x 80 mm and weighs xxxg. Of the three Japanese rangefinders I own, this is the most thoughtfully designed.
The top plate is spare. On the left is the rewind crank which is slightly proud of the top plate when not in use. In the centre is the accessory shoe - a cold shoe as it has no flash contacts. In front of then accessory shoe is stamped the name "Mansfield" - this would say "Mamiya" on a non-re-badged version or "Honeywell" or "Vulcan" for the other brands of re-badged Mamiyas. On the right of the top plate is the frame counter - this counts down to zero so needs to be set at the film length when you load the film. I don't usually bother with frame counters - I just keep using the camera until the increased tension in the film advance tells me the end has come. With this camera it is, if not essential, then very useful to set the frame counter as when the film is finished the film advance lever keeps moving with no change in tension. What this camera does is when the frame counter reaches zero the word "END" appears in the viewfinder. You can keep winding the film and pressing the shutter release but the film is not moving and you are repeatedly exposing the same last frame.
Top view
The front has no surprises. The viewfinder bezel is at the top. This is black plastic with a very worn (on my camera) chrome outline. The viewfinder is slightly to the left of the lens and the rangefinder window is slightly to the right (both as when using the camera).
The viewfinder has bright-lines and the display for the light meter. There are no parallax markings for close-ups as the viewfinder physically moves as you focus the lens. This is quite a sophisticated facility for a mid-range camera. The viewfinder also includes the word "END" when the frame counter reaches zero.
The rangefinder spot is yellow (as is usual) but is an undefined blob which makes using the rangefinder harder than it should be. Having said that, it does work in good light - test photos will tell me how well. Both the light meter and the rangefinder are coupled.
Inside
Below the viewfinder bezel is the shutter assembly. The shutter is made by Seikosha and is a leaf shutter. the camera offers a choice between automatic and manual exposure control. In auto, the required shutter speed is set and the diaphragm set to auto - the camera selecting the aperture. See the notes on the test film to see how well this works. If you want manual control of the exposure, you can set the aperture as well as the shutter speed. the light meter display in the viewfinder will tell you the required aperture for the set shutter speed (the only time you need to look at the light meter display) or you can use a hand-held light meter to gauge exposure (see below where I have tried all three methods on one picture).
back
On the bottom of the shutter housing is the selector for the film speed. this shows the camera's age as it goes as low a 10ASA/11DIN but only as high as 200ASA/24DIN. The lens itself is surrounded in common Japanese fashion with a circular selenium light sensor. This means it is always pointing the same way as the lens and gets covered by any filter used. In turn, this means that no exposure compensation is needed with filters - as good as you can get without TTL metering. Incidentally, selenium means that no battery is required for the light meter to work.
Underside of lens showing DIN/ASA selector
To the right of the shutter housing is the shutter release button. Personally, I do not like face mounted shutter releases but I have to admit that this one is fine in use. There is a screw socket for a cable release but this is on the top plate. On the opposite side of the shutter housing is a PC socket for flash. There is no means of synchronising the flash so I assume it is intended for FP bulbs or electronic flash.
The back of the camera is very plain - just the viewfinder eyepiece and the film advance lever. Inside, film attachment is very simple and is about the easiest I have ever come across. There is a generously wide slot with a prominent tang to fit into a sprocket hole. Most 35mm cameras have a shaft with top and bottom sprocket wheels. Not here. There is a single large sprocket wheel below the film gate. This does nothing with the back open making it easy to secure the film to the take-up spool - the film advance will keep moving the film without the user having to repeatedly press the shutter release. Once the back is shut, this sprocket wheel will only allow one frame to advance at a time.
Shutter set to shutter priority automatic exposure
The base of the camera is also bare - just the tripod boss (1/4 inch) and the rewind button.
Shutter set to manual exposure.
Test film results.
The results are good. In the pictures, the horizontal bars to be seen in the sky in some pictures are a scanning artefact due to the negatives being a bit thin (i.e. under-exposed). Overall, both focus and exposure are as they should be producing usable negatives. Although not all the negatives have scanned well, they would produce reasonable silver -prints.
Derelict factory, Stamp End, Lincoln
Social housing estate, Lincoln
River Witham, Lincoln
Footpath
This next photograph is a test of the rangefinder. I focussed on the nearest pale ball on top of the black steel fence. It is not quite in focus - focus being just a bit closer than it should be (look at the black top rail of the fence just this side of the pale ball).
Rangefinder test
Stamp End lock, Lincoln
River Witham, Lincoln
This is what happens if you continue to take pictures after the film has ended. The camera does nothing to stop you (apart from displaying the word "END" in the viewfinder) and you end up with multiple exposures on one frame.
The last frame of test film - multiple exposure
These last three show the effects of 1) using automatic exposure, 2) manual exposure using the built-in meter and 3) manual exposure using a separate hand held meter. All three are exposed well enough to be usable with the automatic exposure perhaps being the best exposure. it is a bit surprising that using the built-in meter automatically differs from using the same meter manually, but the difference is there. This is possibly due the the camera being able to select in-between aperture values while with manual exposure you have to use one of the marked aperture values. The last exposure, using my trusty (and trusted) Ikophot meter is of more concern as it is clearly rather underexposed.
Child's bike - auto exposure
Child's bike - manual exposure using built-in meter
Child's bike - manual exposure using Zeiss Ikon Ikophot hand held meter.
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.
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