5 Frames with a Voigtländer Vito B

I got my first camera at the age of 6. It was a properly functioning toy camera, (hearsay your honor), love at first sight, and though I did not master photography, I did properly mangle it.

Since then, I have had many cameras, and this post is about the last one which I purchased in 2021. It was locally listed ‘as is’ with a bargain price. There was a risk that it was not functioning and worse, it was malfunctioning.

When I received that Voigtländer Vito B, it was cocked but was not releasing. The shutter was not responding. What a pity! Soon later, I noticed the small lever on the left side of the lens. V-green, X-red and M-yellow. V was selected. I switched it to M. It clicked. Basically, it was on timer but the mechanical clock inside was probably jammed. I was not bothered with that. It was almost in pristine condition. The set also includes a hood and an orange filter. What more could you ask!

I checked the shutter and it looked like it was functioning. Without further equipment the best way to see if it was functioning properly, to see if it is light tight enough, and if the shutter speeds aperture settings are correct, was to take it out for a shoot. I loaded it with Fuji color C200 and went into town.

The camera does not have any onboard tools to measure the light or focus. You may apply sunny sixteen rule or use a meter or your smart phone. If you can find a dedicated cold shoe mount light meter, why not, it could be slick. For focusing, either you need to guess the distance or if the light conditions are suitable use zone focusing by stopping down. There are indicators on the focus scale. The triangle means you may have zone focus between 2.5 and 5.2 meters (8 to 17 feet) and circle means 5.2 meters to the infinity. So, if you can plan your shooting zone you may have a sharp photographs easily as this camera has a good lens.

The photographs were taken in a black sea town called Şile, located about 70 km northeast of Istanbul. I walked around the peripheral of the fisherman’s port. There is an old castle renovated believed to be built by either Genoese or Easter Roman Empire almost 1000 years ago. It is a calm town relative to the other towns of Istanbul due to its geographical position and distance to the city center. Nonetheless during the summer season, the town is crowded. The fishing season starts in September and ends in mid-April.

High performance is not to be taken for granted at this age, human or machine. After I had the roll developed, I was happy. There was no light leak. The exposures were what I inputted. Perfect, we were ready for new adventures.

Thank you for reading.

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