An Old Voigtlander Came My Way

[Colorado CJ]

Since I'm getting real interested in old rangefinders (its a disease), I picked up another one.

This time an old Voigtlander Vitessa L with Ultron 50mm F2 lens. When I received it, took it out of the box and heard a rattle. When I looked through the eyepiece, I couldn't see the rangefinder spot.... You guessed it, the rangefinder mirror was what was rattling around inside the top of the camera.

Since I got this camera for $100.00, I didn't really want to send it back. So, I took half a day to take the camera apart and reglue the rangefinder. Most of the time was spent readjusting the rangefinder spot after the glue dried, MAN what a pain!

Anyway, the next day I took it outside and shot a short roll through it to see how well I repaired it. I used some cheap expired Fugicolor 100 that I picked up for $0.75 a roll. I developed the roll in some 1 1/2 year old C-41 chemicals I had lying around in glass bottles.

I'm happy with the result.

Voigtlander Vitessa L with Ultron 50mm F2 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

Here's some scans of the negative. These aren't anything special, just some snaps around the house. Also, the meter works on this Vitessa, so all the images were calculated with the Vitessa's onboard meter.

Voigtlander Vitessa L Ultron Test Roll 2 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

Voigtlander Vitessa L Ultron Test Roll 1 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

Voigtlander Vitessa L Ultron Test Roll 3 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

Voigtlander Vitessa L Ultron Test Roll 4 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

It looks like patience paid off. The rangefinder on this camera was very difficult to align. I can't tell you how many times I had the top of the camera on and off to get the rangefinder aligned. the mirror and prisms are build on top of the camera, but the eyepiece is built in the removable top. So, to align the spot you have to constantly take off and reinstall the top plate, as well as the focus wheel.

I can tell you one thing though, I think I am going to enjoy this camera. That Ultron lens might prove to be something special.

[TrueLoveOne]

Excellent results! Congrats!

[tb_a]

Indeed a very nice RF camera.
Excellent examples, well done.

[uddhava]

Congratulations!
Seems like a good camera, nice samples.

[papasito]

Voigtlander cam...well done

Ultron lens..........well done

And you, man.......well done too.

[Nesster]

DAMN nice! And DAMN good results too. I've lusted after this one for some years now...

[Teemō]

The lens has a really nice rendering together with the colours of the photos.

[Eddie46]

The Dark Side,keep it away from me.A Goodness how old Camera,expired film and possibly out of date chemicals,DIY developing.The results are superb! So,so tempted.

[kds315*]

[papasito]

Should be very nice to try this lens with sensor camera.

That Ultron seems to be really very good lens.

[Nordentro]

Wow, impressive