Voigtlander Vito family List

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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. Other manufacturers slowly subscribed to this format, but the #120 and #127 were still mainstream a good decade after the war.

Voigtlander’s journey into compact, true pocket-size cameras began with the Bessa and Perkeo, both #120 format. The answer to the market trend with on-par, competent cameras was a decade late, with the high-end bulky Prominent positioned against the Contax and the elegant Vitessa line aimed against the Leica models. However, when the Contax, Leica and Retina were already freely available, the Prominent and Vitessa were still on the drawing board. Note that early Vitessa models are not to be confused with the cheap 1960s models that tried to bank on the original model’s glory.

As a stop-gap, Voigtlander introduced the Vito cameras. It was not positioned against the market’s high-end models but aimed to stand up against the 35mm models such as Zeiss Contessa and Contina models, Agfa Silette and many other 2nd tier makers, such as the Arette, Baldessa, Beirette, Paxette, Franka, Iloca, to name just a few. All were mid-market cameras, slated to cater to the popular hobby that grew with the post-war up-and-coming middle class.

The early Vito was a sized-down Perkeo and Bessa model, still Klapp, as were most cameras then. For film format reasons, the pre-war Perkeo and Bessa saw no market in the decade and a half surrounding the war and did not evolve after that.

What Voigtlander had in mind when choosing the Vito name is unclear. In Latin, it means vine. Vita means life, and the popular Vito name is derived from it. The name seems caught up, and the Vito legacy models served for a good two decades.

A quote from a 1951 article: ‘The vito — designed as a convenient, small instrument, easy to carry, quick to shoot with, inexpensive in use and good in performance’.

Vito / Vitorette cameras can be loosely grouped into the following categories:

Category A: Early Klapp models, introduced in 1947, marked with Roman numerals, including the first Vito aka Vito I, Vito II, IIa and III. The first Vito was initially designed for unperforated 35mm film giving 30x40mm format, but after the war broke and ceased, the Kodak 35mm format was everywhere, so Voigtlander obliged. The two early models were viewfinders, with Vito III being a rangefinder.
Vito II and the later Vito B are the most popular products in current sales. I am unsure if they were made in larger quantities or made better than the rest, so more survived.
The Vito I & II had 3.5 Skopar lenses, and the Vito III was equipped with 2.0 Ultron lenses, which could be the reason for its high price in the collectors market, the only production model that fetches over $200.

Category B: Second generation, monobloc models, offered from 1954, marked with letters, Vito B onwards.
The Vito B was the base model, the Vito BL added a light meter, and the BR forgone the meter and added a rangefinder.
The C models followed a similar pattern; with the CD added an uncoupled meter, the CL had a coupled meter, and the CLR kept the meter and added a rangefinder.
The CS and CSR were the last in this group, sold in the late 1960s. Identical looking cameras, whereas the CS was a viewfinder and the CSR a rangefinder.
Vito C, CD, CL, and CLR had a Deluxe version with leatherette covers on parts otherwise chromed or painted. It had the same specs as the base model.

Category C: Vito Automatic models, viewfinders marked Vito Automatic, I & II, and the rangefinder Vito Automatic R. Shutter priority cameras, with coupled selenium meter.

Category D: Vitomatic models were sold parallel to the other models of 1957 onwards. Step-up models that were meant to bridge the gap between the Vito line and the high-end Vitessa. The early viewfinders, Vitomatic I, Ia and Ib had coupled selenium meters with the Vitomatic I CS using a CdS meter. Vitomatic II had similar specs but with a rangefinder. The Vitomatic IIIb was the same as the IIb, with a 2.0 Ultron glass. The Ultron was also an option on the Vitomatic IIa. Both Ultron models carry a price premium in the used market.

Category E: The Vitorette line was the last true Voigtlander camera before the name was licensed to other manufacturers/distributors. The same as restaurants’ last resort before closing is offering a cheap meal, selling a lot and losing further; here, Voigtlander took a step back, offering more affordable models, hoping that quantity would make up for lost revenue. This line lasted for a decade until Zeiss, who owned the brand then, pulled the plug. The Vitorette line was a confusing mix of viewfinders and rangefinders, with or without uncoupled meters. A Rapid film format was offered with the Vitorette D, else all used 35mm cartridges. Adding to the confusion, early models were offered with traditional rounded bodies, and mid-run, at about 1966, the same designation was changed to square bodies. Otherwise, specs remained the same on both generations.

Category F: Voigtlander / Zeiss tried to pump up the Vito name with two SLR models, the elusive Vitoflex CA and the Vitoflex E, a rebrand of the VSL 3E and Rollei SL 35E. The Vitoflex CA made it past the prototype stage, and an unknown number were sold and may come up for sale, whereas a recent one was sold for over US$5,000.

Category G: The Voigtlander brand was taken over by Zeiss in 1956. Once Zeiss dropped out of the camera trade, Rollei and later Plusfoto and Ringfoto handled the brand. After that, Cosina, or its remnants, held the brand. This period saw cameras under the Voigtlander name that had nothing to do with the original legacy.
In 1979, Minox offered compact 35mm cameras, the 35 EL and 35 GL, which were copied by Balda as the C35, CE 35 and CS 35, to some extent the Praktica CX, Lomo LC-A models, amongst others, and countered by the Olympus XA. Whoever held the Voigtlander name issued a series of similarly styled cameras under Vito, Vito C, CS, and CE. I marked them in the table below as ‘Mini’ for ease of reference. Sister models were sold under Balda, but I don’t believe Balda still made cameras then, so it was probably a Japanese product.
Similar were the two Vito 110 pocket cameras, me-too models that followed the avalanche of such models in the 1970s and 1980s. Oddly, these two models are sought after by collectors, although are not much different from other brands.
This group may include odd Vito models that occasionally pop up, with no traceable background. A Vito Disc is mentioned by Mckeown’s, but I have encountered none.
Plusfoto and Ringfoto sold more Vito / Vitorette branded point-and-shoot cameras in the late days of film cameras, all but vanished with the rise of cheap digital and phone photography. These models are not shown in the table below.

Vito / Vitorette models table
ModelYear/strong>GroupType
Vitoret D Rapid 1964EViewfinderRapid
Vitoret 110 1976GPocket110
Vitoret 110 EL 1978GPocket110
Vito 1947AKlappVito I
Vito III 1951AKlapp
Vito IIa 1955AKlapp
Vito II 1950AKlappW / WO shoe
Vito CSR 1967BRangefinder
Vito CS 1968BViewfinder
Vito CLR 1960BRangefinder
Vito CLR Deluxe 1960BRangefinder
Vito CL Deluxe 1960BRangefinder
Vito CL 1960BRangefinder
Vito CD Deluxe 1960BViewfinder
Vito CD 1960BViewfinder
Vito C Deluxe 1959BViewfinder
Vito C 1959BViewfinder
Vito BR 1958BRangefinder
Vito BL 1956BViewfinder
Vito B II Large Finder 1958BViewfinder
Vito B 1954BViewfinder
Vitomatic I 1958CViewfinder
Vito Automatic I 1963CViewfinder
Vitomatic II 1958CRangefinder
Vito Automatic R 1962CRangefinder
Vito Automatic II 1961CRangefinder
Vito Automatic 1960CViewfinder
Vitomatic IIIb 1965DRangefinder
Vitomatic IIb 1965DRangefinder
Vitomatic IIa 1960DRangefinder
Vitomatic Ib 1965DViewfinder
Vitomatic Ia 1960DViewfinder
Vitomatic III CS 1966DRangefinder
Vitomatic IIa Ultron 1961DRangefinder
Vitomatic II CS 1966DRangefinder
Vitomatic I CS 1966DViewfinder
Vitoret DR Wood Finish 1967ERangefinder
Vitoret LR 1967ERangefinder
Vitoret DR Square 1967ERangefinder
Vitoret D Square 1967EViewfinder
Vitoret Round 1962EViewfinder
Vitoret R 1963ERangefinder
Vitoret L Square 1967EViewfinder
Vitoret L Round 1964EViewfinder
Vitoret DR Round 1965ERangefinder
Vitoret D Round 1962EViewfinder
Vitoret Square 1962EViewfinder
Vitoret F 1963EViewfinder
Vitoret S 1970EViewfinder
Vitoflex CA Prototype 1977FCompact SLR
Vitoflex E 1977FCompact SLRVSL 3E, Rollei SL 35E
Vito CS Mini 1982GCompact
Vito CE 35 1980GCompactBalda CE 35
Vito C Mini 1981GCompactBalda C 35
Vito Mini 1983GCompact
Vito D Special GViewfinder
Vito B Left Convertion GViewfinder
Vito Blue 1947GViewfinder

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