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History
Johann Christoph Voigtländer
It is beyond any doubt, that Voigtländer are among
the most prominent and important companies in the history of photography.
First of all the are one of the oldest, if not the oldest
manufacturers of cameras and optical equipment, and secondly their
influence and innovation have had great influence and impact on the
entire industry through the years. Voigtländer was established in 1756 in
Wienna Austria by Johann Christoph Voigtländer (this is only 6 years
after the death of Johann Sebastian Bach !), and the company built their
first camera in 1840. In 1849 they founded the Voigtländer company in
Braunschweig Germany, and continued as an independent manufacturer until
1956, at which point the became a part of the all-mighty Zeiss-Ikon. In
1970 the Voigtländer company was dissolved as a separate part of
Zeiss-Ikon, and finally it ended in 1972 when the Braunschweig factory
and facilities were closed down. Many great and talented engineers
came out of the Voigtländer company, f.e. Reinhold Heidecke who
established the Rollei (Francke and Heidecke) company with Paul Franke.
There have always been a destinct style and aura about Voigtländer
products and designs, and in my opinion they have made many oustanding
contributions to both design and levels of quality and finish. They
recognized the ideas and design that came from Heinz Killfitt, which
resulted in the introduction of the Zoomar, the worlds first zoom-lens.
They designed and built the first camera in the world with integrated
eletronic flash, namely the Vitrona. Furthermore they've set the
standards for automatic SLR's with the Ultramatics and have designed
some of the most wonderful and desirable lenses such as the Nokton, the
Ultron and many more. One of the most innovative designs from
Voigtländer would be the Vitessa series, that introduced the "combitaste"
- the rapid advance plunger that remains one of the true Voigtländer
icons. This is the very short and simplified history of Voigtländer, and
of course it is much more colourful, detailed and complicated. I
recommend that you take a look at one of the following links for more
informations and details about the famous and innovative Voigtländer
company, that holds an important place and key position in photographic
history.
Voigtlaender - Our History
Voigtländer - Camerapedia.org
Voigtländer - Wikipedia
My Voigtländer
collection
My collection of Voigtländer are far from being an extensive or
complete collection. It is representative though. To collect
Voigtländer can be a life long process and and a lasting passion, and I
never turn my back on any Voigtländer when I come across them on
fleamarkets or at garagesales without testing and examinating them. The
very first Voigtländer in my collection were a Vito CLR with the
Color-Skopar and I was simply astonished when I saw the clear and sharp
pictures from the first testfilm. I am not very methodic in the way I
collect, but let the collection grow and expand in it's own tempo and in whatever direction fortune, faith and destiny decides. Of course, I do
have a "want list" as most collectors do, but I intend to stick around
for quite some years to come, so there is a chance that I will get there
eventually.
I have devided the
Voigtländer pages in different sections sorted by the model names
regardless of age. Some of the pages can be a little heavy to load due
to the graphics if you're on a slow internet connection, but patience
will be rewarded;-).
The earliest Voigtländer
in my collection are the Brillant, and at the moment I have no plans to
collect any cameras older than that. You will also not find the cameras
from the late 60's and onwards that were branded "Zeiss Ikon Voigtländer". I only
own one of those, and it really belongs in the Zeiss collection. Furthermore
you will not
find any of the so-called Voigtländer cameras in my collection that are
really japanese Cosinas. I will not argue that both the
Cosina-Voigtländer camera bodies and lenses might be of good quality and
even maybe interesting too, but they are just not Voigtländers in my
opinion. They are Cosinas. A Toyota don't turn in to a Mercedes just because
you put a logo on the trunk, and a Mercedes star on the bonnet. Get my
drift ?.
Join the VA ?
"Hello, my name is Simon, and I'm a Voigtnik". This is probably how
I would have to present myself on the weekly meetings if there existed such an organisation as
"VA -
Voigtniks Anonymous". Yes I am addicted to Voigtländers,
and I openly admit it !.
It's hard to describe, but I get that certain and special feeling when I
hold a Voigtländer in my hands. It's the looks, the design, the finish, the way they feel and handle and the unique little
design details thats just SO typical to Voigtländer. The exterior
designs of the different Voigtländer models always represents the period
in which they were made, maybe even more than any other camera brand.
The Ultramatic is a good example of this; designed and launched in the
first decade of the Jet Age in the early 60's. Voigtländer had some very
innovative ideas and luckily they also had the courage and guts to bring
them to life allthough some were quite controversial as f.e. the Vitessa
folders. But almost any Voigtländer you can mention will, in some form,
have little destinct and typical Voigtländer details that usually are
simply just wonderful. An example is the rewind knob and crank on the
Vitomatic IIb. The knob itself and the crank handle are retracted
totally into the top cover, but by pressing a small knob, the crank
handle pops up !. This is a detail that almost any other
manufacturer than Voigtländer would have found unnecssesary. Well I
could go on for hours, but I guess you'de rather want to explore the
collection.
*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 |
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