Nearsighted
RFF-aholic
I'm not sure if I'm asking this in the correct place but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the Voightlander Vito B. I was snooping around the bay and saw one listed very cheap. It's a fixed lens (50/3.5) rangefinder I believe. Does it have a meter? It looks pretty compact and it's a nice looking camera. Shutter speeds only go to 1/300th I think. If this isn't a camera you would recomend from this time period what would be a better choice and why? I took a look at Gandy's site and the Vito B wasn't mentioned in his classic camera profiles or else I over-looked it. Thanks, Jim
ffttklackdedeng
Registered User
Hello Jim,
there's a lot of different models around the Vito B:
- the B was made in 2 versions, one with a small finder (the one that are most common on bay) and one with the Kristallsucher which has a 1:1 view (you see things in their natural size and can keep both eves open while framing, the other finder has 0.7 'enlargement'). Both have no light meter and no rangefinder. They are very nice 'back to the roots' cameras, the lens is sharp. If you like to try one and have the choice go with the Kristallsucher.
- the BL had a light meter (there were 3 versions with different light value readouts). Although it can still be pretty accurate (enough for negative film), the Selen based meters fade away with time / amount of light, so if it was not stored in a bag for the last 50 years, you could end up with a non working meter.
- the BR had a range finder (but no light meter).
- then there were the Vitomatic series which look quite similar and were the successor series: Vitomatic I, Ia, II, IIa, Ib, IIb, IIIb, I CS, II CS, III CS. So you could also end up collecting the whole series, be warned
I think there's nothing wrong with the Vito B's (if we call this family like this), they are cheap to get, have good optics and are fun to use. There were optics with 1/3.5, 1/2.8 and even 1/2 (might be harder to get and also more expensive), for normal ouside usage I'd say the 3.5 is fine since you mostly will need to guess the distance. On the backside they are not really compact and also not really light. Ah yes, their camera bags may need a fix, since they have a rubber band which might become too old now. And the long times (1/15 and longer or so) might not work correctly anymore without cleaning, you may ask the seller if that's important for you (for me it wasn't).
Of course there are also hundreds of other models to choose from this time period, so others may recommend other cameras. I've had the B with the Kristallsucher and a Ia and had fun. If you have more questions feel free to ask.
Robert
there's a lot of different models around the Vito B:
- the B was made in 2 versions, one with a small finder (the one that are most common on bay) and one with the Kristallsucher which has a 1:1 view (you see things in their natural size and can keep both eves open while framing, the other finder has 0.7 'enlargement'). Both have no light meter and no rangefinder. They are very nice 'back to the roots' cameras, the lens is sharp. If you like to try one and have the choice go with the Kristallsucher.
- the BL had a light meter (there were 3 versions with different light value readouts). Although it can still be pretty accurate (enough for negative film), the Selen based meters fade away with time / amount of light, so if it was not stored in a bag for the last 50 years, you could end up with a non working meter.
- the BR had a range finder (but no light meter).
- then there were the Vitomatic series which look quite similar and were the successor series: Vitomatic I, Ia, II, IIa, Ib, IIb, IIIb, I CS, II CS, III CS. So you could also end up collecting the whole series, be warned
I think there's nothing wrong with the Vito B's (if we call this family like this), they are cheap to get, have good optics and are fun to use. There were optics with 1/3.5, 1/2.8 and even 1/2 (might be harder to get and also more expensive), for normal ouside usage I'd say the 3.5 is fine since you mostly will need to guess the distance. On the backside they are not really compact and also not really light. Ah yes, their camera bags may need a fix, since they have a rubber band which might become too old now. And the long times (1/15 and longer or so) might not work correctly anymore without cleaning, you may ask the seller if that's important for you (for me it wasn't).
Of course there are also hundreds of other models to choose from this time period, so others may recommend other cameras. I've had the B with the Kristallsucher and a Ia and had fun. If you have more questions feel free to ask.
Robert
sircarl
Well-known
There's an active thread on the Vito B on the Zeiss Ikon forum (of all places).
