Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Voigtlander Vito CL

I had purchased, well more traded, for a Voigtlander Vito CL 35mm Scale Focusing camera for some Polypan F film.  And not just a few rolls, but a lot of rolls..

I traded more than 30 rolls of film of the stuff for a few cameras, and honestly, it was very much worth it!

One of those cameras I traded for was the Voigtlander Vito CL which had a stuck shutter (oil) and fungus on the lens..  Plus, a little bit of corrosion in the chrome.  Honestly, nothing that can't easily be fixed.  So I fixed it as best as I could.  Needless to say, the camera is working perfectly and the glass looks crystal clear now, minus some dust.  The corrosion is something of a different story, though.  That is a little beyond my skills and capabilities.  Not like it matters, to be perfectly honest.

Nonetheless, I have used this camera a number of times, but I don't quite feel it is often enough.  I really like the results I get using it, but much prefer my Kalimar A for different reasons entirely.

The VITO is a great camera, honestly it really is.  And works really well, has a super sharp lens, and not difficult to use at all.

Voigtlander Vito CL

The images that I have taken with this camera are quite nice, in my eye, and exceptionally sharp, excellent contrast, and really well exposed while using the on-camera light meter.

Whether I have shot B&W or C-41 (Colour Print) film, the images always come out well exposed, and sharp.
Can't always say I can nail the focus on every image, considering that it uses a scale focus where you set the range and distance of the focus to the subject, and hope it's right, or measure it out.
I'm pretty good at guessing when gauging in feet, but I'm not quite there in meters.  Not yet!

Go figure, since I use the metric system in Canada, yet guessing the distance with feet is easier than in meters for me.

And of course, a sample image from the Vito;


Cool Calm Waters

A full in depth review of the Voigtlander Vito shall follow soon.

Until them, keep those shutters firing!

2 comments:

  1. Well, I have just bought one but yet to use it.When I opened it I found a cassette of partly loaded film inside. May get it developed to to see what gives, if not spoiled when I opened the back. Great to hold. The brilliant viewfinder was no surprise as I had a stable mate Ziess Ikon Colora way back with same viewfinder.
    Mine also has some corrosion on the base but everything works fine.Very quiet shutter. 10 secs. delay spot on and selenium meter seems accurate. Only problem my mind cannot think in feet and am thinking of getting the Vito CLR with rangefinder. Top German quality and do not cost the earth.Mine came with the original manual and as new case which had a white plastic thingy held inside the top. Looks like what were once use to cover the light meter for an incident light reading - or maybe this is to protect the selenium cell when not in use. Either way, it is not mentioned in the manual and does not fit.

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    1. No idea on that, but good possibility it's not meant for that camera and was just included in the sale of the camera.
      The selenium cell on mine worked great and was accurate as compared to my DSLR. I no longer own this Vito as I gave it away, but it was an excellent shooter.

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