Voigtlander Vito BL - the verdict
Thursday, June 26th, 2008This may become a two-parter if I receive more entries
Whilst I would dearly love to have had all the entries here there have been delays with some and I have been keen to post those that have were submitted on time (it’s been just over a month since the end of the project date). So there are a couple more people still waiting in the wings with their entries but due to other business have not yet submitted. I hope they do, and if so, you’ll see an update.
Project recap
To answer four questions and submit some photos taken with the Voigtlander Vito BL.
- 1. What attracted you to the Voigtlander?
- 2. Do you like using the Voigtlander?
- 3. How does it compare to other vintage cameras you have used?
- 4. Do you prefer modern day digital cameras to older film and vintage models?
The idea came about as I’ve had quite a few requests for a scanned copy of the Vito BL manual and it got me thinking as to what these photographers think of its performance and operation.
Perhaps if I extended the project to include other models or to vintage cameras in general I may have had more responses. But that is something I have learned for any future project I may host.
So without further ado:
Photos and verdict by Anthea Brown (me)
aka lilahpops on Flickr
Click on the corresponding link below to see the larger version at Flickr.
1. Green Door in Wall, 2. A statue watering the garden, 3. Lines and lines and lines, 4. In the garden, 5. Another sunny Sunday, 6. Afternoon at the bay
My camera belonged to my father who bought it second-hand in 1959. It’s a solid piece of equipment, totally manual and doesn’t even use batteries. He passed it on to me as my interest in photography grew - it was my first real ‘plunge’ into photography.
It’s fun to use. All the actions are manual, there are no shortcuts. You need to read the lightmeter to set the aperture, to set the shutter speed and then set the distance. Lucky for me, my father also had the rangefinder accessory which helps as it’s easy to make the wrong guess-timation without one.
For me, the most difficult action is interpreting the lightmeter although I recently discovered it doesn’t work as well as it should. I’m having better luck following the Sunny 16 rule.
Do I prefer vintage to digital? It’s a tough call and I still can’t decide. I do love my little digital point-and-shoot camera and aim to buy a DSLR in the near future. I found the Vito BL was a great introduction to learning the basics of photography and move away from automatic settings. I definitely need to improve in recording the various settings I try out as I have usually forgotten these by the time I get the film developed.
Photos and verdict by Zafer Yurtseven
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Zafer is from Turkey and here is his experience using the Vito BL:
I found the Vito BL on a local e-auction site like eBay. I am a film camera lover and although I had heard about Voigtlander cameras I had not used one. As it was cheap, I wanted to give it a try. The camera is very well built, very cute and comfortable to handle. But it lacks one major thing, a coupled rangefinder. A lightmeter can be arranged easily but not the rangefinder. If it had one, it would be my favourite camera…
I normally use two film cameras, a Leica M2 and a basic Nikon film camera FM10…
I don’t own a digital SLR as I don’t enjoy digital photography. So as my Leica is nearly 50 years old, Vito BL is not “very vintage” for me. I will keep my Vito BL in my collection but I probably won’t use it much because of the rangefinder problem. Anyway, using a Vito BL was a great experience and thank you very much for your kind help and interest
Photos and verdict by Torfinn Rosfjord
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1. Tetris 4, 2. Tetris 3, 3. Jæren, 4. Tetris2, 5. Tetris1, 6. Old DDR
Torfinn is from Norway. Here is his response to using the Vito BL:
My grandfather bought it in 1957 when he was in the Norwegian navy and took many pictures from around the world. He gave me this camera when I told him that I was in an 2nd hand store looking for an vintage camera. So that was fun!
All the parts are in original boxes with the receipt :) My grandfather said “I cant understand why you want this old junk when you got all those new cameras that you can just push a button,” but he smiled when I told him that I liked to keep up the tradition, as he did … and when I eventually do a coast to coast roadtrip in the USA I can now use his camera. In a way history repeats itself…
I like this camera and that you don’t really know how the pictures are turning out before you get them processed … I like the vintage look and that I’m getting an experience into how they did it in the “old days” … I have used a Zenite E and a Nikon fm2 before, but I don’t need a rangefinder with those. So is a little more work with the Voigtlander…
I prefer vintage cameras over the modern ones because with digital cameras, almost all you do is press a button and you get a picture … but with vintage cameras it’s a longer process, so you care more about what you take picture of. So I use vintage cameras because it gets a warmer feeling in the pictures. But I do use a small digital camera to preserve some memories as well.
Photos and verdict by Mark Wilson
Click on the corresponding link below to see the larger version at Flickr.
1. Lonely Wait, 2. Shadow Show, 3. Horton Hears a Who, 4. Reflection, 5. Early Morning Commute
Mark says:
I borrowed one [Voigtlander Vito BL] after having disposed of a Vito B. I’m attracted to these [cameras] because of the beautiful warm colours one gets from the Color Skopar lens …
It is slightly different than other cameras of the era. The one I used had a transport problem. I gave up on the light meter. The linkage between the aperture and the shutter setting that maintains constant exposure is a real pain. The bright finder promises beautifully aligned horizontals and doesn’t deliver. The eccentric film counter is great when I remember its odd operation. This camera is very small. And heavy. I like it.
Digital camera? What’s that? One which is manipulated by one’s fingers? The Vito BL is a modern camera compared to the other ones I carry.
Mark’s hints for using the rigid front Vito B and BL:
- It is scale focus (”blind focus”), so you have to set the distance to the subject. It gives one a 3-dimensional sense of the picture space, and there is a depth of field scale to help out.
- If you change the shutter speed, the aperture adjusts in the opposite direction. To set it independently, press 2 tabs on the lens mount.
- The shutter release doesn’t fire unless a film is advanced, turning the sprocket and cocking the shutter.
- With 400 ASA film on a partially cloudy day, try 1/300 shutter speed with aperture at f11 to get very crisp negatives.
- Voigtlander filters and supplementary close-up lenses are often found and are of very high quality. You can thus use the Vito BL to do interesting close-up work, infrared photography, and special effects.
A big thank you to everyone who particpated!
If you have more tips for using the Vito BL that you think may help other photographers please add them in the comments.
