If you are looking for a high quality shooter that are very good value for money, the Vitomatic should be your choice. Below I have shown the Vitomatic together with the Rollei 35 for comparison of size, and the Vitomatic are bigger, but not that much bigger. For me personally, I feel much more comfortable with the Voigtländer in my hands than with the Rollei, and I can warmly recommend these Vitomatics as an evryday shooter that has a lot to offer and are a true pleasure to use.. 

The Vitomatic Ia were made as a cheaper alternative to the IIa, the difference being that the Ia hasn't got a rangefinder, so you'll have to scale focus or use an add-on rangefinder. But on the other hand, the Vitomatic Ia has got a twin match-needle coupled lightmeter with read-out on the top cover  AND also read-out reflected in the viewfinder !. The rewind knob are retracted into the top cover, and are springoperated and pops up by pressing a small button on the back, and it automatically releases the filmtransport for rewinding.. The body is high enough so that your right hand fingers don't get to cover the lightmeter window. Like on all Vitomatics in my collection, the viewfinder is big, very bright and clear with brightline.
 

The Vitomatic II from 1958 were (ta dah !) the second version of the model I (not Ia !) introduced in 1957. The model II has the coupled rangefinder whereas the model I have none. The camera body itself is basically the same as the succesful Vito BL and of course the Vitomatic I, but with a modified top cover in order to fit the rangefinder. At first I didn't like the looks of the square and chunky lightmeter/rangefinder frame, but as Doppeld mentions on his webpage, it has some resemblance with the front grills on some of the cars popular at the time. If you click on the thumbnails below, you can see 2 other views of the Vitomatic II; a top view and a bottom view that shows the characteristic Vitomatic bottom cover and the manual reset framecounter.
 

What an awesome shooter the Vitomatic IIa are !. It has really got it all: Coupled rangefinder, coupled lightmeter with both read-out on the top cover and read-out with match-needle reflected in the brilliant and clear viewfinder with brightline.. In addition it offers a fast 1/500 sec. shutter and the fast Ultron lens. It's hard to think of anything more to ask for, besides some proper strap lugs ;-). This IIa can be highly recommended, and you don't have to panic if you find one with a Color-Skopar instead of the Ultron. That'll do just fine too. This is my own personal favourite of all the Vitomatics, and even with a Color-Skopar it would still be my favourite because it has really got evrything you need for street photography and as an alternative fixed lens rangefinder to carry in you travelbag. Anyone who doesn't like this Vitomatic should be comitted to a mental institution and have their head examined ;-). By clicking on the thumbnail below you can see the Vitomatic IIa compared to the Rollei 35 for size. Its bigger, but not that much bigger, and some of us have big hands !.

The Vitomatic IIb has an completely new designed top cover, and allthough the body itself are the same as on earlier models, the shutter release button have been moved to the front of the body as like on the Vito's. I don't quite know what to think of this design. It looks good, and one major improvement are, that not only the lightmeter match-needle are reflected in the viewfinder, but also the chosen shutter speed setting !. On the other hand there are no possibility for an external lightmeter read-out on the top cover on the IIb. The (cracked) white plastic cover to the right on the top cover are used to illuminate the lightmeter refelction in the viewfinder, but what if the light conditions are poor ?. And you know what I think of plastic... hmmmm. As mentioned in the introduction the Vitomatic IIb has got an unique little feature: The knob itself and the crank handle are retracted almost totally into the top cover, but by pressing a small knob, the crank handle alone pops up !. But the IIb are a nice shooter, and maybe i'm just being an old fart when I prefer the Vitomatic IIa.