Voigtlander VF 135 – A Very Small Review

I must confess, right from the beginning, that for the last 40 years or so, if not even longer, I have been a rangefinder user only; I stopped using SLR cameras, and quite an extensive number of them at that, I might add, when I discovered the advantages of the rangefinders.

To me, the advantages of a rangefinder camera are so many, and the ease of use so comforting, that I cannot really consider any other type of camera when it comes to taking a shot, even if this sounds a little bit like I am prejudiced. If to that you add the pure joy of using a compact camera, rather than a heavy and cumbersome model, you will understand why I started to look, recently, for something other than my usual collection of film and digital Leicas, something to carry in my pocket and not worry about anything else but composition, something to allow me to take a quick shot.

So I began to search on the eBay for a very compact rangefinder and when I found a black Rollei 35 XF, which was “looking beautiful”, I rushed to place an order; the seller was from Germany, a fact that, based on my long experience purchasing on that site, would justify my choosing that particular seller. Much to my disappointment, when it arrived, the camera was only “looking beautiful”, but otherwise failed to work, completely. I therefore sent it back and looked immediately for a replacement, finding out that a very similar camera to the Rollei would be a Voigtlander VF 135, which I bought, this time, from a British seller.

This Voigtlander VF 135 was made in Singapore in the early 70s, and is more or less a clone of the said Rollei, its very strong point being a 40mm f/2.3 Color-Skoparex lens (5 components, 4 groups), which in fact is a licence-built Sonnar. The only difference of this Voigtlander from its Rollei brother, apart from its chrome finish, is its lack of automatic Flashmatic flash exposure.

VF 135 is a fully automated camera with manual focus. Being automatic, the camera will choose exposure between f/16 at 1/650th of a second, to f/2.3 at 1/30th of a second. Bulb is also available and ISO is selectable between 25-400.

Powering requires an old PX-625 mercury battery, which is no longer produced, but, nowadays this is not a problem any more, as the 1.35V MRB625 battery from Weincell is available almost anywhere, and pretty cheap at that.

Other specification points worth mentioning are:

• Filter size  46 x 0.75mm
• Coupled rangefinder, with a bright spot.
• Nearest focusing distance
• Automatically chosen Aperture and Shutter speed are indicated by a metering needle, situated on the right side of the very clean nice looking bright
• Hot shoe, with flash sync at 1/30 s.
• CdSlight metre, with a range from 20 to 16 000 cd/m² (with ISO 100 film).
• Dimensions and weight: 112x71x32 mm, 355 g.

I must also add that, in order to circumvent the problem of the rather restrictive aperture/shutter speed range, all you need to do is buy a ND 8 filter, which will allow you to shoot in the very bright summer days with a 400 ISO color film; you can also buy a lens cover, to fit the new filter and to complete the very nice look of the camera.

I bought a roll of Kodak 400 color film and started to shoot, curious to find out how the camera would perform; all in all I must say that I am pleasantly surprised at how the camera handled the various lighting conditions. Surely, this camera is not a Leica, but the lens, at least in my opinion, is really worthy of its Sonnar reputation; it renders beautifully and is quite sharp.

I find that even flares are handled acceptably.

I am sure I will keep using this newly acquired compact rangefinder, at least from time to time, when my Leicas will “need a rest”…

Hope I managed to raise your interest and would appreciate any comments that you might have.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

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