Skip to content

Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

  • Index
  • Camera list
  • Repair Manuals
  • Vintage camera lenses
  • Contact Us
October 17, 2023

Dr Wohler Favor

Dr Wohler Favor Online research for most camera brands yields endless pages, where only a few are original; most are just advert vessels with copy-and-paste data. When this fails, there are numerous printed sources with coherent information. The data derived here is agreeable with the rest, so one can mine helpful information. That is not the case here. I am...

Categories 35 mm/Dr Wohler/Germany/Viewfinder Comments: 0
October 14, 2023

Apparate und Kamerabau Arette

Apparate und Kamerabau Arette Arette B Arette IB / Optina IB Apparate & Kamerabau, German for machinery and camera works, short as AkA, was established in Germany in 1946 by two brothers, one worked in the camera industry, and the other came from a business background. Their first venture was a shutter assembly mounted in a 35mm format camera, the...

Categories 35 mm/Apparate und Kamerabau/Rangefinder/Viewfinder/West Germany Comments: 0
October 12, 2023

Montanus Rocca

Montanus Rocca Four years after the lacklustre Montana, Montanus had introduced a mainstream camera model. Appearance and features conform to the standard other makers had offered. I pulled at random three other cameras off the shelf, German-made within a year or two; they all look alike as if a troop of dress-coded bridesmaids: Baldessa Franka Optina. The Rocca offered much...

Categories 35 mm/Montanus/Viewfinder/West Germany Comments: 0
October 10, 2023

Montanus Montana

Montanus Montana As mentioned in my thoughts on Neidig, many camera makers flourished in post-war West Germany. So was Montanus, making cameras for about a decade. Based in the Solingen district, it subscribed to a long history of precision tools makers, going back to the Middle Ages. Solingen name is primarily known for its blade industry, where it is taken...

Categories 35 mm/Montanus/Viewfinder/West Germany Comments: 0
October 8, 2023

Neidig Perlux

Neidig Perlux Post-war West Germany saw industries coming out of the ashes. The large conglomerates regrouped to be accepted back into the civilized world, and new high-tech grassroots industries flourished, not the least of which was the optical industry. Quite a few camera makers ventured in the 1950s, most to vanish within a decade. Others lasted a tad longer and...

Categories 35 mm/Neidig/Viewfinder/West Germany Comments: 0
October 6, 2023

Voigtlander VF 135

Voigtlander VF 135 In the mid-1960s, Voigtlander, a time-honoured brand in the industry, had felt the brunt of the up-and-coming Japanese camera industry. After making quality cameras for decades, they needed to broaden their local and export market to capture the base of the user’s pyramid. The time of the Klapp style has long gone, and the quality Vito, Vitessa...

Categories 35 mm/Compact/Rangefinder/Voigtlander/West Germany Comments: 0
October 5, 2023

Voigtlander Vitoret F

Voigtlander Vitoret F Voigtlander had an entry-level camera line sold parallel to the high-end models, the Vitoret. It seems there was an unofficial convention by the camera makers to name their bottom line with pet names ending with ‘tte’, such as the Jubilette, Baldinette, Gloriette, Lordette and so on. Voigtlander dropped the ‘te’ at the end and added ‘re’ to...

Categories 35 mm/Viewfinder/Voigtlander/West Germany Comments: 0
October 4, 2023

Voigtlander Vitomatic I / II

Voigtlander Vitomatic I / Vitomatic II In 1958, Voigtlander introduced updates to two early Vito models: the Vito BL viewfinder updated to the Vitomatic I, and the Vito BR rangefinder updated to the Vitomatic II. The ‘Matic’ in the names did not mean much innovation over what was already there, just rebranding. Both cameras closely resemble the earlier models, weight...

Categories 35 mm/Rangefinder/Viewfinder/Voigtlander/West Germany Comments: 0
October 3, 2023

Voigtlander Vito BL

Voigtlander Vito BL After the Vito B, Voigtlander followed with a similar body camera, with an added light meter, as the Vito BL. And, as with the Vito B on its four models, there were two models under the same name. The early model had a rectangular window on top, with a needle over a zebra crossing and a reference...

Categories 35 mm/Viewfinder/Voigtlander/West Germany Comments: 2
October 2, 2023

Voigtlander Vito B

Voigtlander Vito B Voigtlander’s (Pronounced Foichtlander(1)) roots go back to the mid-1850s as a pioneer optics maker in Germany, deep to the Daguerreotype fame. In the early past century, prewar models were the classic types, folders, TLR and stereo cameras. The post-war era brought a demand for cheaper, friendlier cameras, so the Vito model line was born. The first Vito...

Categories 35 mm/Viewfinder/Voigtlander/West Germany Comments: 0

Posts pagination

  • «
  • 1
  • 2
  • …
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • …
  • 30
  • 31
  • »

Categories

  • #620 (1)
  • 110 (6)
  • 120 (13)
  • 126 (5)
  • 127 (11)
  • 16mm (2)
  • 35 mm (242)
  • 35mm half frame (13)
  • 828 (1)
  • AGFA (2)
  • Aires (2)
  • Apparate und Kamerabau (1)
  • Argus (1)
  • Austria (1)
  • Balda (2)
  • Beauty (3)
  • Beier (1)
  • Bencini (2)
  • Bilora (1)
  • Bolta (3)
  • Box (1)
  • Bridge (1)
  • Canon (7)
  • Carl Braun (2)
  • Carl Zeiss Jena (1)
  • Chinon (1)
  • Compact (9)
  • Corfield (1)
  • Cosina (4)
  • Czechoslovakia (4)
  • Dacora (3)
  • DDR (19)
  • Diax (2)
  • Dr Wohler (1)
  • Ducati (1)
  • Eho Altissa (2)
  • Ensign (1)
  • Finetta (5)
  • Foitzik (1)
  • Folder (1)
  • France (3)
  • Franka (2)
  • Fuji (3)
  • GAF (1)
  • Germany (45)
  • Goerz (1)
  • Graflex (3)
  • Halina (2)
  • Hanimex (2)
  • Hasselblad (1)
  • Hong Kong (2)
  • Ihagee (5)
  • Iloca (1)
  • Instant (1)
  • Italy (4)
  • Japan (179)
  • Kalimar (3)
  • Karat (2)
  • King Regula (3)
  • Klapp (14)
  • KMZ (9)
  • Kodak (12)
  • Konica (11)
  • Kowa (5)
  • KW (8)
  • Leidolf (1)
  • Leitz (1)
  • Mamiya (3)
  • Medium Format (2)
  • Medium format SLR (1)
  • Meopta (3)
  • Mini camera (10)
  • Mini SLR (3)
  • Miniature box camera (1)
  • Minolta (18)
  • Miranda (5)
  • Montanus (2)
  • Nederlands (1)
  • Neidig (1)
  • Nihon Seiki (2)
  • Nikon (5)
  • Obscure (21)
  • Olympus (12)
  • Pentacon (9)
  • Pentax (11)
  • Petri (8)
  • Point and shoot (4)
  • Poland (1)
  • Polaroid (1)
  • Pseudo TLR (1)
  • Rangefinder (89)
  • Revere (1)
  • Ricoh (13)
  • Romania (1)
  • Royal Camera (2)
  • Samoca (3)
  • Sears (1)
  • SEM (1)
  • Shinano (4)
  • SLR (93)
  • Soligor (1)
  • Spring loaded (5)
  • Stereo (6)
  • Sub compact (2)
  • Sugaya (1)
  • Sweden (1)
  • Taisei Koki (3)
  • Taron (5)
  • TLR (4)
  • Toa Koki (1)
  • Topcon (5)
  • UK (6)
  • USA (27)
  • USSR (9)
  • Viewfinder (111)
  • Voigtlander (11)
  • Walz (4)
  • Ward (1)
  • Werra (1)
  • West Germany (21)
  • Wirgin (3)
  • Yamato (6)
  • Yashica (15)
  • Zeiss Ikon (6)

©2025 Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

Coldbox WordPress theme by mirucon

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Back To Top