Vitessa

*The Collection

*Voigtländer
*Bessa
*Bessamatic page I
*Bessamatic page II
*Brillant
*Perkeo
*Prominent
*Ultramatic
*VF-series
*Vitessa page I
*Vitessa page II
*Vito page I
*Vito page II
*Vitomatic
*Vitoret
*Vitrona

Vitessa
Page I

The Vitessa are one of the most innovative designs that ever came from the Voigtländer drawingboards. Not only are the Vitessa a remarkable Voigtländer product, but it is also an icon that stands out in the history of German camera history. It was introduced in 1953 and were manufactured for app. 10 years, and the ideas, intentions and philosophy behind the Vitessa clearly were to bring both design and standards for folder cameras to a new, more advanced and improved level. Whether Voigtländer suceeded in this is up to the owners and user to evaluate, but the fact remains that there are no 35mm folder camera like the Vitessa, it is totally unique and produced in such a superb and exquisit finish and quality that it is in fact of Leitz quality. The Vitessa came in several versions and models, but they all share the unique "combitaste" - the film advance plunger rod, that advances the film and cocks the shutter in one movement. All the Vitessa's share the same body, and came with either Color-Skopar lenses or the marvellous Ultron Some came with lightmeters, most of them with accessory shoes but all had coupled rangefinders and automatic parallax correction.

On this first page you will find the original folding Vitessa's, and on the second page the Vitessa T, which are not a folder, but a rigid body rangefinder with interchangeable lenses. In the late 60's, after the merger with Zeiss-Ikon, the Zeiss'Ikon produced a series of cameras which were also named Vitessa (the 500 series), and these are not mentioned on these Voigtländer pages. They were Zeiss-Ikon cameras, and only the lenses were made by what was left of Voigtländer at that point.

The Voigtländer Vitessa are connected with several nicknames. In German it was called the "Scheunentor", in Danish "Fyrtaarnet" which both means "The Lighthouse" named after the unique advance rod. The unique front covers are usually referred to as "the barndoors". All of these nicknames are always used with love, and a Vitessa owner tends to hang on to his Vitessa for years and years and will not willingly part with it. There are several very good Vitessa pages that you should visit:

Vitessa on corsopolaris.net

Peter Lausch about Voigtländer Vitessa

*** Schöbels Voigtländer - Archiv ***

Voigtländer Vitessa Type 134 (1957)
Serial no.: 3746848
Format: 24 x 36 on 35 mm film (135)
Optics: Color-Skopar 1:3,5 50 mm
Shutter: Synchro Compur B + 1 sec. => 1/500 sec.

As I have mentioned before, I actually prefer classic cameras without built-in lightmeters. That's probably why I like the Vitessa 134 more than my other Vitessa's. I think it is an extremely beautiful camera, and I can really do fine without a lightmeter and annoying EV-value read-outs. The Vitessa are pure pleasure to use and handle, and when you get used to the special "Vitessa grip"; advancing the film with your left hand and focusing on the thumbwheel with your right thumb, it is in fact very fast and comfortable to use. The rangefinder are clealy visible and I am just crazy about that rotating depth-of-field scale !. When folded, you just press the shutter release button, and "smack" the barndoors opens and the advance plunger pops up. When closing, you press the lens backwards by pressing the half-moon shaped engravings on the lens housing, close the barndoors, and lightly press the advance plunger down, where it stays in it's rest-position. There are very few folders that deserves to be in your camerabag with your Leica and your Contax, and this is certainly one of the few.

Front view with closed barndoors. CLICK for large view !	Top view
Bottom view. From left: Foldable rewind handle, foldable back cover locking latch, rewind release button and tripod socket.	The moving depth-of-field scale + shutter release button
Close up of foldable support tab, folded in	The support tab unfolded. A real "Voigtländer detail"
The Vitessa with back cover removed. It is in fact the entire camera housing that slides off. Note thumb wheel for focusing. The Vitessa compared for size with Leica M2

Voigtländer Vitessa Type 140 (1957)
Serial no.:
Format: 24 x 36 on 35 mm film (135)
Optics: Color-Skopar 1:2,8 50 mm
Shutter: Synchro Compur B + 1 sec. => 1/500 sec.

In comparison with the Vitessa type 134 above, the type 140 offers a non-coupled lightmeter, and a slightly faster f2,8 Color-Skopar lens. That's about it. The finish and quality are just as superb as on the other Vitessa's. The lightmeter read-out are in EV-values. On the photos below you can see the thumb wheel for focusingon the camera back and the adjusment knob for din/ASA settings on the far right. Please also note the different (beautiful) details on the bottom cover with the foldable rewind crank and folding locking latch that releases the entire outer camera casing, that conveniently slides off. If you want to own a Vitessa, you must be prepared to pay the price for it. But if in good condition it is worth evry Cent. In addition, this is one of the classics where you don't have to spend much time considering if its worth a CLA. They are worth it !.

Front view with open "barndoors". CLICK for larger image !	Front view with barndoors closed, and rapid advance rod retracted
View from back. Note thumbwheel for focusing and the round moving depth-of-field scale. CLICK for larger image !	Bottom view. From left: Foldable rewind handle, foldable back cover locking latch, rewind release button and tripod socket.

*The Collection index

*Voigtländer *Bessa *Bessamatic page I *Bessamatic page II *Brillant

*Perkeo *Prominent *Ultramatic *VF-series *Vitessa page I *Vitessa page II

*Vito page I *Vito page II *Vitomatic *Vitoret *Vitrona