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July 31, 2024

Voigtlander Vitessa T 136

Voigtlander Vitessa T 136 The Vitessa T / 136 was the last of the classic Vitessa lineup, following the Vitessa N and Vitessa L. With the T, the barn doors and bellows underneath it have gone in favour of a monoblock body with an interchangeable lens. The operating basics are much the same, so it is recommended to read the...

Categories 35 mm/Germany/Rangefinder/Voigtlander Comments: 0
July 27, 2024

Voigtlander Vitessa L 140

Voigtlander Vitessa L 140 The first in the Vitessa line was the 125, introduced in 1951. Several minor updates ended with the Vitessa N – 134  of 1954, the last of almost identical models. The market for hobby photography grew, as was the appetite for advanced technology, where on-camera, embedded light metering became a threshold for an upscale model. Voigtlander...

Categories 35 mm/Germany/Klapp/Rangefinder/Voigtlander Comments: 0
July 25, 2024

Voigtlander Vitessa N 134

Voigtlander Vitessa N 134 Of the many cameras that pass my desk, only a few are genuinely outstanding in design and ingenuity. The Vitessa N is such a model. It is a superbly built camera designed to compete with the Leica models as a high-end camera, but regrettably failed. As described on the Vitessa family page,  Voigtlander was late to...

Categories 35 mm/Germany/Klapp/Rangefinder/Voigtlander Comments: 0
July 19, 2024

Voigtlander Vitessa Family list

Voigtlander Vitessa Family list The year is 1945. The war has just ended, and the nations of the entire northern hemisphere and more lick their wounds, victors and losers alike. After shedding millions of lives and devastating mass destruction, the world had to rise out of the still-smouldering ashes. Not to make history repeat itself and to avoid the draconian...

Categories 35 mm/Germany/Rangefinder/Viewfinder/Voigtlander Comments: 0
July 13, 2024

Voigtlander Vito family List

Voigtlander Vito family List Voigtlander was one of the pioneers in the camera trade, making cameras in Germany since 1850. Till the great war, cameras were of the luggable type, with compact models using the 35mm format gradually taking the stage in the 1930s: Contax in 1932, commercial-run Leica came about a decade earlier, and mass market Retina in 1935....

Categories 35 mm/Germany/Rangefinder/Viewfinder/Voigtlander Comments: 0
May 29, 2024

Toa Koki Gelto-D III Gold

Toa Koki Gelto-D III Gold Toakoki was one of the pioneers of the Japanese pre-war camera makers who survived until the early 1950s. Post-war Japan saw an avalanche of camera makers, all aimed at the half a million US soldiers posted there, who had deep pockets and hunted for trinkets to bring back home. The newcomers and the old guard...

Categories 127/Japan/Toa Koki Comments: 0
May 28, 2024

Takahashi Arsen

Takahashi Arsen A few weeks ago, I looked at the Acon 35 by ARS Optical, and the Arsen model came to mind, a kind of name similarity. I pulled the Arsen off the shelf and looked it up online. With the first online result, the Gelto name came up; indeed, they are similar. Further looking at the little information available,...

Categories 127/Japan/Obscure/Viewfinder Comments: 0
May 25, 2024

Ars Optical Acon 35 Model II

ARS Optical Acon 35 Model II / Sky 35 Model II Over the years, I grabbed any odd Japanese camera that had passed by me. I did not realize how many are on the shelves until now, sorting them out. ARS Optical has a good place in the middle, within the odd/esoteric/obscure camera makers category. It is a typical post-war...

Categories 35 mm/Japan/Obscure/Rangefinder Comments: 2
May 21, 2024

Fuji Kogaku Lyrax

Fuji Kogaku Lyrax Most early Japanese cameras on this site are post-war, where manufacturers took available technology and ran with copies of it. Fuji Kogaku, literally Fuji Optical Works, preceded this period and is recorded from the early 1930s. Several models were offered till 1955 when the company went dark. Several online articles about this brand mostly chew upon the...

Categories 120/Japan/Obscure/Rangefinder Comments: 0
May 15, 2024

Toko Shashin Windsor 35

Toko Shashin Windsor 35 Toko Shashin, literally Toko Photo, also known as Toko, was one of many camera makers that appeared in Japan after WWII, catering to the 500,000 GI contingent looking for bring-home souvenirs. Like most other makers, it lasted about a decade from inception to wind down. Click the ‘obscure’ on the breadcrumbs at the top of the...

Categories 35 mm/Japan/Obscure/Rangefinder Comments: 0

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