Buying a Voigtländer Perkeo IIIE - help!

[River Dog]

In my routine trawls through local classifieds, I have picked up a fantastic Rolleiflex 2.8E and just last week, a Bessa II in great condition - both for £200 ($330) each, as that is my budget.

I am now looking at a Voigtländer Perkeo IIIE "Excellent condition, PRONTOR-SVS SHUTTER COLOR-SKOPAR 1.35/80.LENS"

Can I ask you the usual questions:

1. Is this a decent 6x6 folder?
2. Would £200-250 ($330-$400) be a good price?
3. Any gotchas on these cameras?

Thanks in advance, as always.

 

[Brian Legge]

Give people a few minutes to get over your previous two purchases before commenting.

Off hand, that price looks in line with what the IIIEs go for. Not stellar deals like the Rollei and Bessa buys but not a bad price either.

 

[River Dog]

Sorry Brian, I was just wondering as they seem pretty scarce and I couldn't find a decent valuation.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Brian Legge]

Oh, no need to apologize!

I've mostly been watching the IIs myself and I have no experience with the IIIes so I can't comment on anything else.

The gist I've gotten is that people want the Color Skopar lens, prefer the II because of the wind auto stop, but that the auto stop is unreliable so lots of people end up disabling it. At that point losing that functionality on the IIIe to gain the uncoupled rangefinder makes sense, as does buying a I with the Color Skopar lens.

I'm a bit surprised the IIIe you are looking at has the lower spec shutter. I assumed most of them had a Compur Rapid. I don't know how much this impacts price or use in practice.

 

[River Dog]

Umm, what do you think would be a stellar deal, unseen?

 

[archeophoto]

From a photo taking point of view, the IIIe isn't a stellar deal at all. Get yourself a "regular" Perkeo I or II ($130 for a good one) with a Skopar lens and a external Voigtlander viewfinder ($50) and you have exactly the same as the IIIe for half the price.
From a collectors point of view everything depends on condition and how much YOU want to spend.

 

[River Dog]

Makes sense, thanks for the information.

 

[whitecat]

The IIIe has some features over the I and II. I would go for it, just make sure the condition is there.

 

[archeophoto]

Maybe you know more then I about the Perkeo...
As far as I know the only feature the IIIe has over the Perkeo I is the uncoupled rangefinder. So if you put an external rangefinder on the I, you have the same features as the IIIe.
Compared to the Perkeo II you actually loose the automatic film count and stop.
So truely the Perkeo IIIe is a Perkeo I with rangefinder.

If you have a Perkeo II with an external rangefinder, you have more features then the IIIe.

Or do I forget something?

Cheers!
Herbert

The IIIe has some features over the I and II. I would go for it, just make sure the condition is there.