Advancing explorations into the past - Voigtländer Vitessa!

[Godfrey]

I remember seeing these cameras all through my youth up into High School... never really knew what they were, but the 'barn door folder' concept always seemed novel and amusing. A thread on another forum inspired me to look for one, and I found what I think is a very clean example. Here's a stock photo of one:


The one in the photo has the Ultron 50mm f/2 lens whereas the one I bought has the Color Skopar 50mm f/3.5 lens. Most of the ones I saw with the Ultron seemed to have some cloudiness now (what, 60-70 years later?) whereas the Color-Skopar on the one I'm buying looks crystal clear. The gods know it will likely need a full service anyway... LOL!

This is complementary to my Kodak Retina IIc obsession (yeah, I have four of them) and I hope it doesn't get out of hand like that one did. It will look nice alongside my Voigtländer Perkeo II and Vito II cameras anyway... And it should take very nice photos.

Onwards into the past!

G

 

[JoelM]

I used to have one in the 1990s. These are great little camera! You could get the Color Skopar 50mm f2.8 or the Ultron as shown.

 

[arri]

The Ultron is a good reason to use this camera. It were the best standard lens of the time, it beats every other 2/50mm Leica, Zeiss, Nikon etc. lens.
The lens were tested in the 1950th by journalist in UK and USA and I read that some of them were sad that the Ultron were never reagular sold for other camera systems.
I converted some Ultrons of defects Vitessas to Leica M39. Believe me, I never miss a Summicron.

I still have a few of this cameras and no Ultron shows any haze.

The Color Skopar are excellent lenses as well. The lens designer of it, A.W. Tronnier said about it that it is nearly apochromatic corrected.

 

[Godfrey]

The Ultron is a good reason to use this camera. It were the best standard lens of the time, it beats every other 2/50mm Leica, Zeiss, Nikon etc. lens.
The lens were tested in the 1950th by journalist in UK and USA and I read that some of them were sad that the Ultron were never reagular sold for other camera systems.
I converted some Ultrons of defects Vitessas to Leica M39. Believe me, I never miss a Summicron.

I still have a few of this cameras and no Ultron shows any haze.

The Color Skopar are excellent lenses as well. The lens designer of it, A.W. Tronnier said about it that it is nearly apochromatic corrected.

Yes, I'm just saying that the Ultrons in the photos of the Vitessas I looked at seem to have some kind of haze in the lens, whereas none of the Color-Skopar lenses did. It's okay, I am sure you're correct. But I'm also very familiar with the quality of the Color-Skopar lenses (my Perkeo II has an C-S 80mm ... and it is delightful) and the f/3.5 vs f/2 max aperture on the Vitessa isn't much of an issue for me.

I received word from USPS that the camera will arrive tomorrow rather than Monday, so I'm a bit excited to see it.

G

 

[JoelM]

The Vitessa and the Retina IIIc are both superb cameras and they are hard to beat even by much later film cameras.
Joel

 

[abruzzi]

The Vitessa and the Retina IIIc are both superb cameras and they are hard to beat even by much later film cameras.

One of my favorite 35mm cameras is my Retina IIIC. The built in meter is still accurate, and the Retina Xenon lens is beautiful. I recently found a 50/2 Retina Xenon that had been transplanted into a general purpose Compur shutter. I’m hoping to try it out on a smaller MF sensor, once I get some free time.

 

[JoelM]

I have the 3 lenses for my IIIC, but the Xenon is the standout. My meter is also spot on, but the counter is very buggy.
I don't remember if the Vitessa has a hot shoe on the bottom. That would be good for adding one of those tiny meters. I should think about adding one.
Joel

 

[Godfrey]

The Retina IIc has long been one of my favorite 35mm film cameras ... I have a IIIc as well, with the f/2 lens. But the IIIc meter is long dead, and the top cover is dented, so it is going to the shop to be cleaned and a IIc top cover fitted. I also have the accessory lenses (the two different 35mm, the 85mm) and the original accessory viewfinder for them. Delightful cameras!

The Vitessa arrived and is cosmetically lovely! But of course the shutter is very slow (dirty) and hangs up often, so it (and my even dirtier Vito II) are going off to service on Monday.

Kodak Retina IIc & Voigtländer Vitessa​

Hard to beat these two for style and function, unless it's a Leica M.

G

 

[JoelM]

Where do you send the Retinas for service?

 

[abruzzi]

used to be New Zealand, but Chris Sherlock retired. Paul Barden is supposed to be good so you can check with him, but I've never used him (I have a IIIC):

https://kodakretina.exposure.co/kodak-retina-camera-cla-and-repair-service

 

[Godfrey]

Where do you send the Retinas for service?

Advance Camera in Portland, OR, has done good work for me on Retina IIc cameras.

G