August 22, 2021
#436
Gentle reader,
I was going to do two more parts to this story, but I am combining these last two gifted-to-me, built-in-Germany, cameras from different eras: which are a 1950's Voigtlander Vitessa and an early 1970's Rollei 35, the smallest full-frame 35mm camera ever made.
Here are links to the previous two articles, so if you have not read them, you can get caught up:
The Robb Collections: Found: Fully Working 60-Year-Old Petri 7 35mm Rangefinder Camera. It and Three Other SURVIVOR Cameras an In Depth Review Part One.
The Robb Collections: 82-Year-Old Argus C-3 35mm Rangefinder Camera: SURVIVOR Cameras, an In Depth Review Part TWO.
I began collecting cameras late last Millennium when I found a 1960's Yashica J 35mm rangefinder camera at a church bazaar. At the time, I only had my first "real" camera, an Olympus OM-10 SLR which I bought from my very first visit to a pawn shop for a hundred bucks complete with 50mm lens and electronic flash.
I knew little about cameras and my father-in-law, who had one of those simple J model cameras, showed me how to focus with a rangefinder. I have in my collecting his Yashica J as well as some other cameras he and his wife used long ago.
From then on, collecting rangefinder cameras became my focus.
Here are the four cameras, all survivors of a throw-away-mindset society of which so many belong.
The Petri 7, top, and the Argus C-3 were featured in the first two parts of this series. The unique Voigtlander Vitessa, bottom left, and gem of a camera, the Rollei 35 are what this part will cover.
As previously written, when family members and friends heard that I had begun to collect cameras, they selflessly sent me ones they had. The first, was this tiny piece of German engineering, the smallest full-frame 35mm camera ever made. My brother Jim mailed it to me, much to my surprise and delight.
One of the few non-rangefinder cameras I have enjoyed, the viewfinder has "bright-lines" inside it to indicate the size of the subject when at the closest focus range.
A dial below the viewfinder is a visual reminder of what type of film you put in it. But, it serves a dual purpose as you will see below.
This dial on the right front (with the camera being in front of you when shooting) sets the film speed for the built-in light meter. This dial also has a second use.
Due to the camera being so small, engineers had to place things where not usually found. The film wind lever is on the left side, mounted on top and operated from the rear with one's left thumb.The left-front dial (above) as seen from the top also sets the shutter speed. One rotates the dial to set the shutter speed.
The top of the camera on the center-right, the light meter indicator window and orange mechanisms are seen. Above that is the button one presses to pull the (stored closed) lens. The shutter button is next and it threaded to accept a release cable.
Above and below, the right-front dial, also changes and sets the lens's aperture, the internal lens opening which changes the amount of light which reaches the film. One presses up on a thin metal lever below the dial to unlock the dial and change the aperture. Releasing the lever locks the setting.
A better look down at the front dials and the lens barrel extended from the body and ready to shoot. One estimates the distance to their subject and rotates the lens's focus ring markings: (6 10 20 oo). More numbers show in the opening when it is rotated.
The rear with the back/bottom removed. Winding lever seen with the rewind film release lever (arrow up to R) between it and the viewfinder.
The film pressure place is hinged and folds down from bottom to allow placing the film across the lens's chamber.
The bottom and other parts will be shown below. I was able to find the correct flash which mounts on the bottom of the camera.
The tiny Rollei 35 has a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. A Tessar has four glass lens elements. Zeiss was often used on German cameras (except Leica cameras) above is the Zeiss-Opton Sonnar 50mm f1.5 lens I had on my pre-war Zeiss Contax II camera. The T indicates that it is a coated lens, and thus was made after World War II.
The unique 1950's Voigtlander Vitessa rangefinder camera, next to the tiny Rollei 35. I will explain how it came to be mine below.
The Vitessa is, to my knowledge, the only camera which used a bellows mounted lens, to have "barn doors" which open to release the lens and close to protect it when not in use.
I believe their similar looks are products of their time and tradition since (then) Rollei and Voigtlander were separate companies.
Little device on the side of the Rollei clips on the removable wrist strap. PC connector for a flash on the Vitessa is on the left door.
A removeable cold-shoe flash bracket hides the engraved script on the top of the Vitessa.
Whereas most cameras had the film rewinder on the top, again it is coincidence that both have theirs on the bottom. The Vitessa's lever to remove the back/bottom is next to the rewind lever.
The Rollei 35's hot shoe flash bracket, as previously seen, is on the bottom. Snuggled next to it is the little lever which locks/unlocks the back/bottom piece of the body.
Above and below are the portions of both bodies which are made as one piece and slide off the bottom of the camera bodies.
Film pressure plate on the Vitessa can be seen above. As noted before, the Rollei's is hinged to the camera body.
With the backs/bottoms removed, the Vitessa's faster f2.0 lens is visibly larger than the Rollei's f3.5 (slower) lens.
Above and below shows the "barn-doors" closed and latched and the Rollei's lens stowed and locked into the body.
The film must be wound and the shutter cocked before the lens can be stowed into the Rollei. So, I leave it out for display.
Finally, below are photos and explanations of how the 1950's Vitessa works.
But first, as promised, how it came to be mine. Nancy's ex-husband was friends with a man who had died when his small plane crashed. His parents who were wildlife rehabilitators were friends and pseudo-parents/grandparents to Nancy and her girls.
Thus, they became my friends too. Jim was a retired airline pilot and he had a Model T Ford which he sometimes drove.
Anyway, we stopped by their house and as Jim and I were talking, and I told him I was now collecting cameras. He stood up and went down the hallway. "That's odd", I thought. He returned in a moment and handed me something in a leather case. "What is it?" "Open it," Jim said. "I still don't know what I'm looking at." "Press that," he said, pointing to a button. I did, and the barn doors popped open and there was the lens. "Cool! What is it?"
He proceeded to tell me how he had carried that camera all over Korea during the war and how he and it had both come home unhurt. "Thanks for showing it to me about it's story." as I handed it back to him. "No, it's yours, put it in your collection and make pictures with it. It still works." Whew, that choked me up remembering. They are both in Heaven now, having died two weeks apart.
The barn doors and the camera are open for business. Lens is an Ultron 50mm f2.0.
Rangefinder window with <> shaped "patch" seen in center of the viewfinder. One uses that small area to line up vertical lines in the scene to make sure the subject is in focus.
Shutter speed is set by rotating the knurled silver ring on the lens. The aperture is set by rotating the bottom silver ring marked "2.8 2".
To close the lens, one carefully presses on the rim of the lens and it recedes into the body. Make sure both doors are closed then lock them by pushing all the way down on the tall shaft on the top left of the camera.
The same shaft or rod, is used to wind the film by pressing it down and releasing it. The shutter button is the shorter one. It too is threaded for a cable shutter release button and is the same button which Jim told me to press to open the lens doors.
Shutter button from above. The recessed dial is the focusing scale. The outer numbers are the scale of focused area depending upon how small (closed down, higher numbers) the aperture is.
Above is the knurled dial one rotates to move the lens/shutter assembly in and out to focus using the rangefinder in the viewfinder.
The front of the viewfinder above the window which shows the film counter. The latter is built into the removable bottom.
Film cartridge in the camera. One can tell a lot of film slid over that lens by the worn metal next to the film.Some years ago, the Cosina Camera Company of Japan bought the rights to the Voigtlander brand name and began building 35mm interchangeable lens bodies with the venerable Bessa name.
They started with a body with no viewfinder which used their new wide angles lenses. Then they made one with a rangefinder but which relied on shoe mounted optical viewfinders.
Those and this "R" model which incorporates a combined rangefinder viewfinder. All three utilize the Leica M39 thread/screw mount lenses.
Later, they made models which mounted the Nikon 35mm rangefinder lenses and Zeiss Contax lenses which Nikon copied for their cameras after WWII.
Some of the many lenses I have used on the Bessa R. The mounted one and four of the five silver ones are all Soviet copies of pre-WWII Zeiss lenses. The fifth, top-left, is a Canon lens. Canon chose to copy Leica cameras after the war.
Atop the camera is a Soviet copy of a Zeiss "turret finder". Each tiny lens shows the angle of view of the matching lenses. One rotates the turret to the correct lens and looks through it. Then uses the camera's viewfinder to focus the various lenses.
Here is a M39 mount Soviet copy of the Zeiss-Opton Sonnar 50mm f1.5 lens shown on the Contax II below and also after the Rollei 35 portion of this article. As I wrote, one can buy a Bessa R with the Contax mount.
Below is a Nikon rangefinder camera. One of many designed and built by them prior to making SLR cameras. One can clearly see the similarity to the Contax camera. Image courtesy of nicovandijk.net I was never able to afford one of these highly sought after cameras and lenses. The Cosina made bodies allow one to mount and use vintage lenses with built-in light metering and reliable modern construction. Thus giving these venerable and sharp lenses new life.
For further learning, here are two links which list (and link) every article I have ever written about cameras, collecting, photography and digital cameras, etc.
The Robb Collections: INDEX PART ONE To Every Article I Have Written About Collecting And Using Film And Digital Cameras
The Robb Collections: INDEX PART TWO To Every Article I Have Written About Collecting And Using Film And Digital Cameras
Thank you for taking the time to read my humble blog. I greatly appreciate it and your kind comments.
Scott
August 22, 2021
#436
Due to the camera being so small, engineers had to place things where not usually found. The film wind lever is on the left side, mounted on top and operated from the rear with one's left thumb.
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