Voigtlander Vitoret D viewfinder camera

This is a review of the Voigtlander Vitoret D, which was a simple 35 mm viewfinder camera made in the early 1960s and was part of Voigtlander’s consumer camera offering, below the Vito range and aimed at the holiday snapshot photographer market.

Voigtlander Vitoret D Images

My Voigtlander Vitoret D Camera

This camera was purchase for about £5 from eBay with no guarantee, and it turns out that the light meter built into the top panel is defective.

I will need to disassemble the unit to find out why that is, but it looks like it may be the meter unit itself because the needle is locked towards the end of the scale and won’t even move by shaking the camera.

Other than the meter the camera seems to operate photographically. The shutter responds and the aperture opens and closes with the aperture ring, so I’m fairly sure I could take pictures with it. The lens also seems to be in good condition, without any fungus or serious dirt problem.

Cosmetically, there is a little bit of paint off the back door and a very tiny scratch on the brightwork by the rewind knob but otherwise in it’s in clean condition.

Voigtlander Vitoret D description

As I said in the introduction this camera was made for the holiday snapshot market and is not made to the same standard as the vito B model I have. That’s not to say it’s poor quality – the engineering is easily as good as most manufacturers at the time were using, it’s more to say how beautifully well-made the Vito B was.

There is a light meter built into the top plate of the Vitoret D, but it’s not coupled to the camera lens, so to use it the photographer takes a reading and transfers the aperture and shutter speed to the camera to use the exposure information. In reality, it simply saves the photographer from carrying a hand held light meter.

The shutter fitted is a Prontor 125 unit with a minimum shutter speed of 1/125th and two additional speeds of 1/60th and 1/30th along with the B setting where the shutter is open as long as the shutter release is pressed. To assist with B exposures a cable release can be screwed into the bottom of the shutter button.

The aperture ring allows the lens to be stopped down from its wide open setting of f/2.8 to f/22 and operates in full stop clicks.

In common with a lot of the voigtlander series of cameras the frame counter is a count-down unit, and it’s mounted on the bottom of the camera under the film take up spool. There is also a tripod bush on the bottom of the camera.

Voigtlander Vitoret D specs

• Voigtlander Vitoret D 35mm viewfinder camera
• 50mm f/2.8 color lanthar lens
• Pronto 125 shutter offering 1/125, 1/60, 1/30 and B exposure
• Count down frame counter on bottom of camera
• Tripod bush
• Single throw film advance
• Bright viewfinder with framing lines
• Cold shoe accessory shoe
• Flash sync socket (sync at all speeds) mounted on lens
• Front mounted shutter release
• Cable release threaded socket
• Ser No:482676
• Manual available on-line here