Voigtlander Vitomatic images

[radiocemetery]

Here are a couple from my Vitomatic II this past fall. Interior shot was mostly wide open and the lillies demonstrate the color rendition and OOF behavior of the Color-Skopar lens

 

[ErnestoJL]

Hope mine behaves the same.
I´m shooting my first roll in a Vitomatic IIb since 1970 (when I gave it to my sister).
Unfortunately the old slides I have (from 1965/67) are Agfa CT18 whose colours faded and became violet/blue with time, so almost no colours!
Worst of all, I allways used slow speeds and small apertures so almost nothing is OOF.

I´ll post some shots of the test roll when it´s finished.

Cheers

Ernesto

 

[Silva Lining]

Nice shots Radiocemetery!

I have a Vitomatic IIa, the 50/2.8 Colour Skopar is a nice lens!

Here's a link to a few shot I have taken with it CLICK

 

[radiocemetery]

Ernesto, These old Voigtlanders don't get enough attention. I love to see people post their pictures from these cameras.

Phill, Now you're making me want to come back to London. I have gotten to visit your city twice, and I think I am due again. Thanks for the pictures, nice work.

Steve West

 

[Joe Vitessa]

Yeah, love the old Vitomatics. Such beautiful design. Unfortunately, the rangefinder patch always seems to fade making it very hard to focus. Other than that, great cameras, indeed.

 

[Scarpia]

One of the few pictures in my gallery is "Accident Watchers" taken in January 2006 with a Vito C with the Skopar 50mm F2.8. Since then the rangefinder patch has faded but the camera continues to function perfectly otherwise. It is a very nice camera to carry around.
Kurt M.

 

[ErnestoJL]

The V IIb was the first camera I took seriously, but after 5 years shooting with it, I moved to an SLR and gave it to my sister. Later the V IIb was stolen (as well as all my sister´s valuables). It took me the past three years to find another one for sale and in good shape, but yes, the RF patch is dim today and worst of all, the prisms in the VF show signs of separation. Anyway, this one was the best I´ve seen in many years and the price was very very low.

Cheers

Ernesto

 

[Silva Lining]

The rangefinder and meter in mine still work OK, but I have major separation in the finder (ouch) , it still a user though ! 😉

Radiocemetery, London is a great place to photograph, iv'e lived here 15 years and never tire of the place....I would love to see more of the US one day, I've 'only' been to New York and Boston..

 

[MRohlfing]

A few shots from the first test roll - Fujichrome Astia - with my 'new' Vitomatic II a. Everything works great, rangefinder, meter, shutter! Lens is the Ultron 2/50.

More data in the EXIF

Michael

 

[Silva Lining]

A few shots from the first test roll - Fujichrome Astia - with my 'new' Vitomatic II a. Everything works great, rangefinder, meter, shutter! Lens is the Ultron 2/50.

More data in the EXIF

Michael

Looks pretty good Michael, I especially like the pink Cadillac! 🙂

 

[errorlogin]

Unfortunately, the rangefinder patch always seems to fade making it very hard to focus. Other than that, great cameras, indeed.

This is a very typical problem and it is very very easily fixed also:

I can speak only for the Vitomatic IIIb IIICS Ib ICS IIb IICS, but on the others it will probably be the same:

Remove top plate, then remove the whole light meter with unscrewing the 2 bigger screws.

Sorry for my english, hope you will understand:

Afterwards carefully clean the the moving lens in front of the rangefinder mechanism. Clean it with lens cleaner. Clean the front of this moving lens and also clean it between the lens and the white thing that moves on to the finder. This is a little bit tricky, you have to make some cleaning tools yourself for doing that. Be careful, not to disadjust the rangefinder while doing this.

Afterwards you will have an very well visible double image and focussind will be easy.

I did that on Voigtländers where the double image wasnt visibel at all. Afterwards I had a very very good rangefinder patch and focusing was easy.

The image wont disappear at these Voigtländers, its just dirt, that make them to be disappeared.

Great great cameras by the way!! The finder is made of ONE piece of glass and is 1:1. They will never ever deteriorate or something. Just ONE piece of glass.....UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

I love them so much... Will open a Vitomatic fan thread soon.😛

 

[radiocemetery]

Thanks errorlogin,

I cleaned my Vitomatic II in the same way as you described when I purchased the camera. If I remember correctly, there are 16 or 17 air to glass surfaces that can all contribute to a faded image in the range-viewfinder. I made some splints from soft plastic, (like a milk carton), wrapped the splints with lens tissue and moistened them with glass cleaner and all surfaces cleaned up fine.

I really like the 1:1 finder also, as it allows me to focus with both of my weak eyes open. I would be happy to contribute to a Vitomatic fan thread!

Steve

 

[errorlogin]

😕

there are 16 or 17 air to glass surfaces that can all contribute to a faded image in the range-viewfinder.

Steve

Are you shure? Are you really talking about the Vitomatic? Or maybe my english is wrong...🙄

On my Vitomatics there are only 3 air to glass surfaces in the rangefinder mechanism. If you add the 2 surfaces of the finder, there are 5. Then you can add the glass in front of the camera, at least at the b or CS models: 2 more surfaces=7. Then at some Vitomatics there is a little plastic element or kind of that in the round hole of the black metal thing. 2 more. But not all Vitomatics have this plastic thing, in a few its just a hole without. Even in the same models. I have a few IIIb here, some have it some dont...😕

And the system is quite the same in the Vitomatic II and IIa and I and Ia.

These camereras have all the 1:1 Finder which Voigtländer called the "Kristallsucher" ~ crystal finder. Which is made of one block.

There might haver been some other cheaper Vitos and especially Vitorets, which doesnt have that finder. There might be more surfaces.

I would be happy to contribute to a Vitomatic fan thread!

Oh, thanks a lot! I have also taken apart the whole lens tube for cleaning and lubricating. There is usually a lot of old green bad grease in these Vitomatics which makes the movement bad.

The whole machine works like knew now. If somebody is out there who is interested in sharing this experience i will write it in the Vitomatic Fan thread. But I am very busy right now and it will take some time, so be patient, please.

By the way, your Color-Skopar is a nice lens, see HERE for more details and use online translator. The son of the designer says, the Color-Skopar is an apochromatic corrected lens. Nice!

 

[radiocemetery]

Errorlogin,

I am not sure of the number of surfaces, but I was counting all the surfaces, both sides of each individual element. What I have is a Vitomatic II. Fortunately, I haven't needed to take apart the lens as it is working fine. I have a Vito B that could use a relube though.

The taunusreiter site is one of my favorites. Frank contributes here at RFF. I really enjoy his historical articles and his equipment pictures are the best.

Steve

 

[errorlogin]

Oh yes, you are right, I was just counting the 3 inner surfaces I was cleaning, when the top was off.

But they are really much more surfaces in fact.

Enjoy your Vitomatic, its good to hear, that these little treasures are still in use these days.🙂 🙂🙂

I wonder how many of these have been thrown to the garbage in the last years here in Germany as people dont use them any more...🙁 .... and still thrown away...🙁

 

[Zentralverschluss]

Vitomatic III CS (Ultron)

Vitomatic III CS (Ultron)

Kodak BW 400 CN, Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400.

Cheers!

 

[errorlogin]

I wished I had a negative scanner to post some pics of the Voigtländer here as well...

:bang:

 

[feenej]

My lens focus ring won't turn easily. Does anybody know how to fix that? I got an estmate of $130 to fix it at BDC Camera in Madison, Wisconsin, but they also said that they might not be able to do it. I ended up saving the money for a Bessa R. It's now a display camera.

 

[errorlogin]

Which model?

 

[feenej]

I think it's the Vitomatic IIb?