The Voigtländer Prominent are a very interesting camera, but if you are more of a user than collector, you should consider carefully if this what you really need. To find a Prominent in good working order and just collect 2 lenses; the 35mm Skoparon and the 100mm Dynaron will take some time, and these items are not easy to find in perfect condition. Of course I love the Prominent !. You didn't doubt that, did you ?. But the ongoing and eternal search for lenses drives me crazy !.  There are a couple of very good websites about the Voigtländer Prominent that you should also visit:

Voigtlander Prominent

Manual for Prominent from Mike Butkus

he Prominent are a kind of enigma. It is both very strange, quirky, annoying and a curse, but at the same time it is beautifully made, wonderful, different and fascinating.  If you choose to follow the path of the Prominent, you'de better be prepared for all of it. First of all, the Prominent are like no other camera. You focus by turning the knob where the rewind button is supposed to be.Well, it actually is, but just incorporated in the same knob !. The bayonet lens mount is totally unique, which limits you to use only the original Prominent lenses, which are getting harder and harder to find, and might I add; in good condition. Secondly there are not a lot of lens-options. There are the 35mm Skoparon, 3 different standard lenses; Color-Skopar, Ultron and Nokton. A short tele lens; the 100mm Dynaron, the rare 150mm Super-Dynaron and finally the equally rare Telomar reflex-housing with a 100mm Dynaron. Thats about it !. But what a choice of standard lenses !. The Color-Skopar, the Ultron and the incredible Nokton are truly "a string of pearls" ! . The early type 127 didn't have any accessory shoe, but an add-on shoe was supplied, that slides on the top cover. You can see this accessory shoe on the thumbnails below. The disadvantage are clearly, that it stratches the satin finish !.

Let me just prepare you for somewhat of a quest for the holy grail(s) when you're to going find lenses for the Prominent. They are getting more an more scarce, and unluckily some of them suffer from various flaws as f.e. fungus, scratches, coating damage etc. On the other hand this is what "collecting" is all about isn't it. Finding those rare juvels and gems ?. Unfortunately the Prominent doesn't share bayonet mount with any other rangefinder camera that I know of, so you'll have to find the few rare original ones. Honestly, unless you want a complete collection, you can do without the 150mm Super-Dynaron, which by the way can be used by scale focusing only. There were 3 standard lenses for the Prominent: Color-Skopar, Ultron and the famous Nokton. Below you can see the Prominent lenses that are in my collection, including the Telomar mounted on the camera body. They represent the entire range of lenses except for the Color-Skopar which I unfortunately do not own yet. Click on the thumbnails for larger views.