Voigtlander Vitessa / Vitessa L
Somewhere in the late 1940s, a group of German designers and engineers were looking to create a new camera at the Voigtlander company. As a company, Voigtlander had long been associated with cutting edge optics and machining and now in post-World War II Europe, they sought to create a 35mm camera that would stand out from the crowd. The result of their labors was the Voigtlander Vitessa - and stand out from the crowd it did.
What stands out about this camera are the amazing optics, which is to be expected from a venerable lens company that also created the first all- metal camera in 1840. The most expensive Voigtlander Vitessa came with a 50mm f/2.0 Ulton lens with a design and performance still envied by many. Other versions were built that had the same 50mm focal length lens, but with smaller maximum apertures. These f/2.8 and f/3.5 Color Skopar lenses, while not as fast, are equally good and desirable.
What is unavoidably noticeable is the unique film advance mechanism called the "Kombi-Plunger", which not only advances the film, but also re-cocks the shutter. This means that with the shutter release button on the left side of the top of the camera and the Kombi-Plunger on the right hand side, the camera may be operated by the photographer's two index fingers. With very little practice, the camera's user is able to fire off shots very rapidly.
Also unique for this camera is the "barn door" mechanism of folding up the camera's lens. While other folding cameras have one door that hinges on only one side of the front of the camera, the Voigtlander Vitessa's door is split down the middle and hinges on both the left and right side. Opening the doors causes the lens to extend from the camera body similar to the bird in a cuckoo clock.
Voigtlander produced five versions of this little gem between 1950 and 1954. Later additions included models that had parallax correction, coupled aperture and shutter speed rings, and even one with a selenium meter (the Vitessa L), although with age, many, if not most, of those meters are beyond their serviceable life.
Far from being a novelty, the Voigtlander Vitessa is a very capable rangefinder camera that produces great images. Pick one up and feel why Voigtlander described this camera as being "built into your hands".
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