Pics from Perkeo II

[css9450]

Its always exciting to get a new camera, but its even better when the first pics come back from it. In this case, its the new (to me) Voightlander Perkeo II from RFF Classifieds (thanks Bherman!). It came in the mail Friday, and by Saturday I had film in it. Too bad the whole weekend was murky and dark. I was ready for some crisp wintertime Sunny 16 shooting, but what I had instead was 4 to 5 stops off from there. But here's a couple samples. Just snapshots, really, to be sure it works. And I do believe it does!

All my B&W is on Ilford XP2, which of course is ASA 400. Growing up on Kodachrome 64, the extra speed might seem like a dream come true, but Sunny 16 turns out to be 1/500th at f16 or a little less than that. Most of my RF lenses have very closely-spaced f stops at the small end of their range, so its a little like splitting hairs to find the correct setting just a little bit open from f16 (try that with a Jupiter-12 sometime)! This was not the problem on this day as I was shooting around f4 at 1/500 or 1/250 instead. LOL The sunny stuff will have to wait for the next roll.

Here are a couple samples of my Perkeo test roll. In my naivete, I managed to shoot a few blanks and wound up with just 8 frames exposed on the roll, one of which was the car's dashboard and several of which were so dull and uncontrasty I won't bother posting them at all. But I was pleased with these two! I will say the camera works great and is very sharp! My experience pacing off distances in the field came into use when it came time to focus the camera. At f4 the DOF was not going to be on my side.

Of course, as soon as this roll was finished the snow came in earnest and I finished the afternoon in heavy snow showers with my Leica CL!

 

[02Pilot]

I have a Perkeo II that I really like. I've carried it on several vacations - it's a great way to shoot MF without lugging a large camera around. I should use it more often.

 

[css9450]

It is a tiny thing isn't it!

For the record, here's the weather a few hours later: (Leica CL, Jupiter-8)

 

[gb hill]

Like both shots. The theater looks much like the theater in the small town I grew up here in NC. Good to see they still show old movies there in your town.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Very nice. Skopar lens?
Cheers
Brett

 

[farlymac]

You got some nice shots per the keepers. I liked the Perkeo II so much, I went and got the Vito II to accompany it.

PF

 

[css9450]

Thanks all! Yes, Skopar lens.

BTW, the white spots on the pictures are snowflakes in case anyone was wondering.

 

[johannielscom]

Nice shots, very sharp!

Can't believe I sold an as-new Perkeo II to a fellow in Norway through here just a year ago for EUR 60... :bang: Never realised the Skopar was that good and a clean Perkeo II that hard to find... yikes.

 

[DwF]

Funny, I haven't been looking at the classifieds here much recently but saw that one last week and thought- someone is going to get a nice camera! Congrats on your purchase and so cool to see these pics appear so fast 🙂

I have Perkeos 1 and 2 and while I don't use them much these days, your pics inspire me. I have been considering getting a new and faster scanner so I'd be more likely to shoot some film again. Great little camera.

David

 

[tbransco]

Perkeo II

Perkeo II

I picked up a Perkeo II myself last month, and have yet to get around to developing the rolls of FP4+ and HP5+ I ran through it. Your theatre shot tells me I've no good excuse for procrastinating!

Hope your weather picks up.

Cheers,

 

[jmilkins]

They really are marvellous cameras. Congrats on the purchase and the thread!

 

[css9450]

From roll #2, in the sanctuary of a huge ruined church. I come here from time to time to try out new camera equipment:

 

[Guest]

Fast film problems you mentioned.

Fast film problems you mentioned.

Like you I was brought up on the 25 and 64 Asa stuff, I still shoot at around 80 Asa I recently took some 400 Asa out to Thailand. The 500th at 22/16 became an issue for me as well, so I slapped an orange or green filter on, so I could more accurately control the exposure. My Super Ikonta is like your scale, very small movement at that end of the scale. When I had her cleaned the tec told me to avoid using the 500 the speed if possible because it was a big strain on the shutter mechanism, I only shoot it at 100th or slower or use a Hasselblad instead.
Just thought I would add this bit.
Very nice lump of glass that you have there, doing lovely crisp images.
Cheers,
James.

 

[Pete B]

It was the Perkeo 11 that lead to me buying a Fujifilm GF670. Great cameras both.
Pete

 

[css9450]

...told me to avoid using the 500 the speed if possible because it was a big strain on the shutter mechanism.

Hmmm, that's interesting! I noticed on the Perkeo there's a noticeably greater resistance felt while turning the shutter speed dial from 1/250 to 500, compared to any of the speeds lower than 1/250, which I'm told is due to the additional springs or mechanisms (or something?) necessary for the faster shutter speed. Maybe I should stick to a maximum of 1/250th. I'm not sure the lens is threaded for filters.... Might be time to start looking for the old Voigtlander slip-on filters mentioned in the manual!

One thing I noticed - the film-advance and frame counter aren't necessarily the most accurate things in the world. Two rolls in and I'm only getting nine or ten shots per roll due to occasional uneven and haphazard frame spacing on the negative strip. The frame counter works by having the film roll over a roughened spindle which must turn a certain number of times to click it onto the next exposure number, but if the film slips I wind on a lot more (sometimes) than needed. I think for the next roll I'll try leaving the frame counter disengaged and wind my film based on the numbers in the red window.

 

[css9450]

It was the Perkeo 11 that lead to me buying a Fujifilm GF670. Great cameras both.
Pete

Sounds like its a slippery slope!

 

[02Pilot]

Hmmm, that's interesting! I noticed on the Perkeo there's a noticeably greater resistance felt while turning the shutter speed dial from 1/250 to 500, compared to any of the speeds lower than 1/250, which I'm told is due to the additional springs or mechanisms (or something?) necessary for the faster shutter speed. Maybe I should stick to a maximum of 1/250th. I'm not sure the lens is threaded for filters.... Might be time to start looking for the old Voigtlander slip-on filters mentioned in the manual!

One thing I noticed - the film-advance and frame counter aren't necessarily the most accurate things in the world. Two rolls in and I'm only getting nine or ten shots per roll due to occasional uneven and haphazard frame spacing on the negative strip. The frame counter works by having the film roll over a roughened spindle which must turn a certain number of times to click it onto the next exposure number, but if the film slips I wind on a lot more (sometimes) than needed. I think for the next roll I'll try leaving the frame counter disengaged and wind my film based on the numbers in the red window.

I'm assuming your camera has a Compur shutter. The 1/500 speed on these uses a booster spring which is engaged separately, which is what creates the additional resistance. Note that you should not adjust the speeds, especially to or from 1/500, once the shutter is cocked - the booster spring may be deformed, affecting accuracy (which probably isn't great to begin with). Sticking to 1/250 isn't a bad idea; my Perkeo II has a Prontor shutter that only goes up to 1/300, so I don't really have a choice.

The frame counter can be very accurate. Mine spaces perfectly enough that I consistently get 13 non-overlapping frames. Cleanliness is the key. Pop the top plate off an clean absolutely every piece of the gear train and spacing should improve markedly.

 

[johannielscom]

Honestly, are there any big differences between Perkeo II and Perkeo I? Image quality? Build quality? Lenses? I think both were made with either Vaskar 4.5 or Color-Skopar 3.5 lenses, right?

 

[02Pilot]

Honestly, are there any big differences between Perkeo II and Perkeo I? Image quality? Build quality? Lenses? I think both were made with either Vaskar 4.5 or Color-Skopar 3.5 lenses, right?

The Perkeo II adds a frame counter and automatic spacing. That's it.

 

[css9450]

Well, on Ebay I found a Voigtlander "Deep Yellow 3X" slip-on filter, which at least should get me away from 1/500th in sunny daylight. I think 3X is 1.5 stops? Come to think of it, I could probably do something similar with all my vintage lenses to get away from the f/16-f/22 range where its just a hairswidth between stops. Probably wasn't even an issue back in the day when Kodachrome was ASA 10!