The Voigtlander Vito BL

I found this camera a few weeks ago (april 2001). When I saw it it reminded me of Minox and Kiev. It is a small, heavy and fixed objective camera. It was made between 1956 and 1958. It has a 50mm 2.8 Color Skopar lens. The camera is an small but very impressive piece of work. No cloth shutter but a very nice (expensive) all metal leaf shutter. It is even a very quiet shutter. I shot one roll of film through the Vito and it seems to be in an excellent condition. Except for the lightmeter which seems to be dead. So all shots are made with the aid of an old Leica lightmeter (also from the 50's). Focussing is difficult on the Vito since it's not a rangefinder or SLR. So you have to guess the distance to your subject.
Bottomline,
Handeling the Vito is fun. It is heavy enough, fits well into your hands. The lens is coated. Photos come out with well saturated colors, it's like having a polarisation filter on the lens. It's a sharp lens too. Only problem is the focussing. If it was like a rangefinder it would have been a better camera. Now you have to guess or learn the Hyperfocal technique. And the latter has become somewhat of a lost art. But if you are willing to spent some time on learning the old ways then the voigtlander Vito is a nice small camera to start with. Later you can switch to rangefinder or a nice slr. Fact is that it performs well for such a small camera.

First shots with the Voigtlander Vito BL. Yes, it's Charlie the Cat yet again. Ever willing to pose... 1/125 aperture 11 focus set to 1 meter.

The flowershot, 1/125 aperture 8 focus set to 1 meter. Both shots were made around six o'clock in the evening, note the long shadows.

The Buildingshot, made through the glass at 1/125, aperture 16 lens set to infinity. No strange stuff with the lens. All lines are nice and straight. This Color-Skopar is a very good lens. Very well coated.

Again Charlie the Cat, dozing away in the garden. Shot was made about seven in the evening, low sun, 1/125 with an aperture of 11 focused down to 1 meter.

Just a simple shot, a few flowers and some grass. Why ? Because I can.

A ship in the Amsterdam Harbour delivering wood from Sweden or Norway. Again the colors are very saturated. If you look closely you can make out two stripes in the foto. Not a fault of the camera though.

Nice buildingshot, reflections of clouds and all. 1/125 at 22 and lens set to infinity.

Yes, another buildingshot. It's not like you have a big choice here in Amsterdam.