Hi all--
I just bought (and am awaiting) a rather impulsive buy. Specifically a Voigtlander Prominent with a 50mm Ultron f2 lens. I've always kind of wanted one but the prices were more than I wanted to pay. This one was about $150 which seems like a decent price. My questions are sort of stupid now that I already bought the damn thing, but does anyone here use one/have opinions of it? Which lenses should I watch for, etc?
Thanks,
Matt
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"Everytime I find a film or paper that I like, they discontinue it." -Paul Strand
Hi all--
I just bought (and am awaiting) a rather impulsive buy. Specifically a Voigtlander Prominent with a 50mm Ultron f2 lens. I've always kind of wanted one but the prices were more than I wanted to pay. This one was about $150 which seems like a decent price. My questions are sort of stupid now that I already bought the damn thing, but does anyone here use one/have opinions of it? Which lenses should I watch for, etc?
Thanks,
Matt
In my opinion, rather like the Kodak Retina Reflexes, absolutely nothing on the camera seemed to have been designed so that a human set of hands, eyes, could use it conveniently. The "human" part of engineering solutions did not seem to be part of the German design parameters. Meine zwei Groschen.
Many of Voigtlander's cameras had quirky ergonomics, and the Prominent is among them.
The left-handed focus by knob is a popular Voigtlander feature. And advancing the film when the shutter is set to 1/500 requires a huge amount of effort.
But I think it's best if you handle the camera and come to your own conclusion.
If I recall, there should be a 35mm Skoparex and a 100mm Dynarex. The Voigtlander lenses were quite good.
Love mine, and MF and LF are my usual weapons of choice. It's fashionable to decry the layout of the body, but for the left-eyed it's good (not sure about the right-eyed, mine is terrible thanks genetics!).
It built like the proverbial brick (out)house.
I have the Voigtlander VC II meter attached which matches the Prominent winder and focus nicely, but is obviously not essential. My problem was remembering that there is no linkage between the meter and the lens, ya gotta do it manually. The manual, somewhere online, will advise you to assist the cocking of the shutter at 1/500 with your hand.
There are a few lenses, but I'm happy with the 50mm Ultron.
The Prominent has its fans, and it's possible that you'll fall in love with the camera.
The Ultron lens is excellent and coupled with the body, you have a very sturdy camera.
Shutter speeds are on the ring around the lens mount, and the lens has detents (click stops) for the various apertures. Or at least my Ultron has these.
As I said, give the camera a good workout. That's always how you learn if a particular camera works for you.
I think I paid $175 about five years ago, which at that time seemed to be slightly on the lower end of what people were paying for the Prominent. I think that you got a good deal.
My first 35mm camera was the Prominent w/the 1.5 Nokton all purchased new at a BX while stationed in England. I also had the 35 and the 100mm lenses plus all the hoods the finder I had everything but the reflex 150mm tele. That was back in the mid fifties and to this day I regret getting rid of it because I wanted wider and longer. I think I took some of my best photos with that set up. I don't remember having any problems when using it with my right eye. Ross is correct in saying the cocking lever should be assisted when using 1/500 sec.
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Originally Posted by tjaded
