Voigtlander Vito B

Small, but heavy!

Entirely metal, this little viewfinder has an excellent lens that will render great images- if you can zone focus well.

This Voigtlander Vito B was an eBay purchase of mine for around $20. It was listed as untested, but as I’ve had experience with these guys before, I knew it would probably work- and it does! Pretty flawless at this point. The lens only opens up to f3.5 on mine, (some versions are 2.8) but for most outdoor work it’s excellent.

It’s got a super bright viewfinder and is very easy to shoot with. Aperture and shutter speeds are on the lens, not the body, because it’s a leaf shutter. That’s nice for flash photos, with sync at all the speeds, but it doesn’t have a hot shoe so you’ll need to use a cable. Unfortunately for me, the only flash that I have that has a cable is bigger than the camera, and just about as heavy, so using the Vito B with flash isn’t easy.

The lens is a Voigtlander Color Skopar, and it’s a great lens. You can’t change it, as it’s fixed on the camera, but if you’re a 50mm person like me, it’s great. This is really a spectacular carry-it-with-you-everywhere camera, if you are good at zone focusing- because it doesn’t have a rangefinder built in.

I’ve shot several rolls in this little guy, and have to say the results are great. The shots below were taken on a few different film stocks, including Kentmere 400 & Expired Tri-X.