Voitlander Vitomatic IIIb

[WhaleDaughter]

A few weekends ago, I popped in to a camera swap meet "just to look."

Now that you've all stopped laughing...

I ended up with a Voitlander Vitomatic IIIb for $10 because the filter threads were dinged. Oh boo hoo, a minor cosmetic imperfection in an otherwise perfect camera. I'm not even kidding, the selenium meter still works and is accurate! I sure wasn't about to tell him what it was actually worth.

Anyways, anyone who's handled a Voitlander camera from back in the day knows that they're a bit idiosyncratic (to say the least). The IIIb has several important diffferences from my IIa, which is much more common. The thing that's tripping me up is that the shutter release is on the front of the camera, not the top, and I can't figure out a place to attach a cable release.

I haven't had any luck finding a manual online for the IIIb, or even the more common IIb which mostly just had a different lens. I was hoping someone here might have some experience with this little camera and be able to help me out.

 

[john.margetts]

Anyways, anyone who's handled a Voitlander camera from back in the day knows that they're a bit idiosyncratic (to say the least). The IIIb has several important diffferences from my IIa, which is much more common. The thing that's tripping me up is that the shutter release is on the front of the camera, not the top, and I can't figure out a place to attach a cable release.

look under the shutter release. There should be a small threaded hole on the button there which takes a standard cable release.

 

[WhaleDaughter]

Anyways, anyone who's handled a Voitlander camera from back in the day knows that they're a bit idiosyncratic (to say the least). The IIIb has several important diffferences from my IIa, which is much more common. The thing that's tripping me up is that the shutter release is on the front of the camera, not the top, and I can't figure out a place to attach a cable release.

look under the shutter release. There should be a small threaded hole on the button there which takes a standard cable release.

Thank you, I'll look there.

 

[compur]

Try looking here:

I'm not sure but I think that's a cable release socket under there.

 

[webestang64]

A bit of info on the III...... Introducing the Voigtländer Vitomatic IIIb IIICS - Rangefinderforum.com

 

[WhaleDaughter]

Try looking here:

I'm not sure but I think that's a cable release socket under there.

Thank you. I'll try that again. Maybe it just needs more patience than I had the other morning.

 

[compur]

I don't have a IIIb so I'm not sure if that is a cable release socket but it seems that a nice camera like a Vitomatic ought to have one somewhere! Those were not cheap cameras.

I never did like those front mounted sliding shutter releases used on some German cameras. It seems much more difficult to hold the camera steady during release using those things.

 

[WhaleDaughter]

I don't have a IIIb so I'm not sure if that is a cable release socket but it seems that a nice camera like a Vitomatic ought to have one somewhere! Those were not cheap cameras.

I never did like those front mounted sliding shutter releases used on some German cameras. It seems much more difficult to hold the camera steady during release using those things.

It is requiring a bit of a learning curve. Especially since my IIa has the more traditional top mounted shutter release and I've had that one for a few years now. The trick for me is to place my left hand cradling under the camera body, much like I would hold the lens on an SLR. That way when I'm pushing down I can push back to keep things steady. We'll see if it's a winning strategy when I get my first role developed.

I'm very interested to see how the Ultron lens stacks up against the Color-Skopar. Everything I've read says it should be better, but the Color-Skopar already does things with color that can shift your perception of reality (I took a series of pictures with both the Vitomatic IIa and my Canon Rebel SL-1 and my poor little DSLR couldn't even come close).

 

[compur]

Yeah, Voigtländer knew a thing or two about making lenses.