Inventory of Voigtl?nder SLR cameras: There are six authentic models, neither dazzling nor classic. Why were they restricted in their prime years?

Some time ago, I wrote some articles about cameras. Some people said that they are all domestic cameras. Can you talk about German cameras?

So I went rummaging around and found some Voigtlanders, including many Voigtlander SLR cameras. This is a series of collections.

Friends who are familiar with camera collection will know that photography was invented by the French, but the Germans came from behind and were once the most developed in the history of cameras. However, they were robbed by the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. caught the limelight.

Among the many camera manufacturers in Germany, Zeiss, Leica and Voigtlander are the most famous and powerful. Among these three, Voigtlander has the longest history, but also has the most unfortunate fate. , if you look closely at its development history, it will inevitably make people sigh.

The Voigtlander brand was born in 1756. "Voigtlander" is the family name, and its birth was also a family business, which lasted for more than two hundred years.

Voigtlander I: Mainly made navigation compasses and some instruments and equipment. There was no such thing as a camera at that time;

Voigtlander II: First he went to England to study optics, and later besides Continue to make family measuring instruments, start mass production of telescopes, and bring the products closer to optical instruments;

Voigtlander III: Catching up with the invention of photography, the Frenchman Daguerre announced on August 19, 1839 Photography was born, and the following year Voigtlander launched the first lens camera (commonly known as the Cannonball).

Voigtlander’s first camera is an epoch-making classic. It is not only unique in the history of photography, but also leaves a deep mark.

The "Big Cannonball" is not only the representative of Voigtlander's emergence, but also the first use of a large-diameter aperture lens after the invention of photography, which reduced the exposure time of photography and made portrait photography a reality.

The maximum aperture of the Daguerreotype camera is F14, and it takes half an hour to take a photo (it is said that when taking pictures of people, you need to fix the person and prevent them from moving). The maximum aperture of the Voigtlander camera is F14. It was F3.7, which achieved the first "snapshot" in history. It only took 1 minute to take a photo, which greatly promoted the development of portrait photography.

When writing this article, I consulted Mr. Lu Wanjiang from Beijing, who is an expert in the collection and study of classical cameras. He said: Only 600 of Voigtlander’s shell-type cameras were produced that year. , there are about 9 of them in existence, all in European and American museums, but the Voigtlander company later copied them three times (picture provided by teacher Lu Wanjiang).

The first time was in 1939, and only 25 were copied.

For the second time, I forgot the specific year and copied 200 units.

The third time was in 1978, when 100 units were copied.

A total of 325 copies were made. Although they are replicas, they are now very expensive and difficult to buy.

The success of the Voigtlander Cannonball Camera also enabled Voigtlander to enter the camera manufacturing industry. Over the next 100 years, Voigtlander has been the pioneer and leader in the camera manufacturing industry. First, it is not only earlier than the later Zeiss (1846) and Leica (1913), but it is also not inferior to the latter two in terms of product development.

The world’s first SLR camera was born in 1936. It was an Actel camera with a top-down view. This camera can be easily exchanged for lenses of different focal lengths, allowing the camera industry to see new dawn and development. However, due to the outbreak of World War II, camera manufacturers had to obey the government and mainly produced military optical equipment. During this period, the research and development of SLR cameras was delayed.

After World War II, after several years of recuperation, the camera industry once again took great strides. At this time, the main launch was SLR cameras. Therefore, in addition to Exantai, Germany's Zeiss, Akfa, and the United States Kodak, as well as Japan's Nikon, Canon, Xuguang, etc. are all developing SLR cameras.

During this period of camera research and development, Voigtlander started late. At this time, Voigtlander had been controlled by Zeiss Ikon due to poor management, and the research and development of new products was also restricted. The result was The belated introduction of the SLR camera

In the ten years from 1959 to 1969, only six Voigtlander SLR cameras were released.

It should be noted here that although Voigtl?nder has a long history, due to various reasons, it declined after World War II. It was sold to Zeiss Ikon in 1956 and then to Luolai in 1972. , moved to Singapore for production, Voigtlander increasingly loses its own cultural flavor.

This is not over yet. In 1999, Voigtl?nder changed hands again. This time it was taken over by the Japanese company Zenneng. This was too humble. It felt like Pan Jinlian was sold to Wu Dalang. .

Today's Voigtlander is completely a Japanese brand. Apart from the "Voigtlander" name, it has nothing to do with Germany or the Voigtlander family.

In the history of the "Voigtlander" brand, there are several types of SLR cameras called "Voigtlander", but the ones with pure Voigtlander pedigree are the following six, and the others were produced later. SLR cameras are either produced in Singapore or are OEM products of Japan's Corsenon Company. They seem to have no blood relationship with the original Voigtlander of Germany.

Let’s talk about the purebred Voigtlander SLR cameras produced in Germany, including four Bessamatic series and two Ultramatic series.

The first Bessamatic SLR camera was launched in 1959. It has a powerful appearance, sharp edges and corners, and natural arc transitions. It uses high-quality raw materials. More than sixty years later, it still shines like new. The overall Adhering to the tradition of German cameras, it uses solid materials, fine workmanship and full weight.

But in terms of performance, it is still very conservative and primitive. The shutter uses a very traditional leaf shutter, so the maximum speed is only 1/500 seconds. The photometering uses selenium, which was no longer advanced at the time. The light meter and the camera as a whole are unremarkable.

In addition, the lenses provided by Voigtl?nder are all exquisite and compact. The huge body feels top-heavy. Since there is no aperture on the lens, adjustments need to be made on the body, which may occur during use. I feel awkward.

The second Bessamatic SLR camera (Delxe) came out in 1962. This is a "deluxe version" that does not live up to its name.

Compared with the first model, the overall change is not big, except that the "forehead" is not bald and looks slightly better. A small "probe" is added in front of the pentaprism so that it can be directly viewed in the viewfinder. Seeing the aperture and speed greatly facilitates the photographer, and for serious photographers, it will be easy to adjust. And this little "probe" has also become the standard feature of subsequent SLRs.

Both Voigtl?nder SLRs are produced in large quantities and are now easily available on the market. Their prices are not high and their functions are basically the same. Although sixty years have passed, most second-hand phones are still available. The functions are also intact and the quality is new and clean. This also shows that Voigtl?nder cameras are carefully produced and the materials are excellent.

The third Bessamatic SLR camera (Model M) came out in 1964. This was an unexpected "simplified version".

I don’t know why Voigtl?nder came up with a simplified version of the very useful selenium light meter five years after it produced its SLR camera and turned it into a " "Blind machine", a machine that completely requires experience exposure.

This is a completely incomprehensible operation. Perhaps it is launched for a specific group. Simple means cheap. In short, this model is not popular, the output is not large, and it is not easily seen on the market now, but the collection value is higher.

The fourth Bessamatic SLR camera (CS type) came out in 1967. It was equipped with electronic photometry. The selenium photometer was changed to a battery-based cds cadmium sulfide electronic photometer.

The Bessamatic series of cameras has gone through eight years at this time. In these eight years, the world's SLR camera research and development has undergone tremendous changes. Among them, Japan's Nikon Big F came out in 1959, and Canon's first SLR FLEX Also born in 1959, Japanese cameras not only rose in the field of SLRs, but also overtook them in a corner.

On the other hand, Voigtl?nder SLR cameras at this time had not made much progress in the past few years and had not changed much. They only increased and decreased in terms of metering. There were no changes in other aspects, let alone innovation, so to Production ceased in 1969, basically giving way to the rising Japanese camera industry.

The first Ultramatic camera was produced in 1962. It came out almost at the same time as the second model of Bessamatic. Its difference is that it adds one stop of automatic exposure (A), which is shutter priority exposure. Other improvements are that the aperture is adjusted back from the top of the camera to the lens. Aperture and shutter adjustments are next to each other.

This model also uses a selenium light meter and controls automatic exposure, but in other aspects, there are basically no big changes. There is also a small "probe" that can read the shutter and speed values ????in the viewfinder of the body.

The second Ultramatic (CS type) camera was born in 1965. The change on this one is the use of a cadmium sulfide (cds) light meter. It is said that this is also the earliest TTL light metering SLR camera.

It also has manual and first-speed A (shutter priority exposure), and the battery used is the current 625 type.

These six original Voigtlander SLRs have been produced for 10 years and have a lot of output, but the changes are not big in terms of function or appearance. It can be seen that at this time There is a problem with Voigtlander's R&D capabilities.

After Zeiss Ikon took control, in order not to affect the development of Zeiss, Voigtl?nder was obviously restricted. Not only did it have no follow-up products, it also seemed conservative and lacked confidence in the market. The road became narrower and narrower. .

This may be the result of changes in the system. Zeiss regards Voigtl?nder as its "second wife" and is afraid that it will be too popular and does not put too much real love into it.

Voigtlander SLR cameras of this period used DKL mount lenses. Although the Voigtlander body did not have much highlights, the matching lenses were still remarkable.

There are three types of headers, namely 50/2.8 (there are two types), 50/2, and 50/1.5.

There are two types of wide-angle lenses, 35/3.4 and 40/2 (rare). The 35/3.4 is divided into two types: 0.4 meter version and 1 meter version.

There are three types of mid-focus lenses: 90/3.4, 100/4.8, and 135/4.

There are two types of telephoto heads: 200/4 and 350/5.6.

One type of zoom head: 36-82/2.8, which is also the world’s first zoom head for 135 SLR cameras.

These Voigtlander lenses are of good quality. If you use an adapter ring, they can be used on today's digital cameras. Since there is no aperture on the lens, the entire lens is "miniature" and looks compact. , but the adapter ring needs to add aperture function, so the price is relatively high.

Among these lenses, the hardest to find is the 40/2, people like the 35/3.4 the most, and they also give it a nice name "Pearl Ring", and the cheapest is the 135/4 , due to the large output, although the lens is good, the price is not high.

At the end of the article, if I could sum up my understanding of Voigtlander SLR cameras in one sentence, there would be only two words: What a pity!