![\"vito-bl\"](\"http:\/\/www.arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/vito-bl.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI say “Mr” out of respect because he’s damn old… Well compared to my other cameras anyway.
\nI have acquired yet another camera, it’s a Voigtlander Vito BL which looks like a terrific little thing. They’re not particularly a fashionable camera or have much of a cult following, however from what I’ve read they are regarded very well and produce some quality results. You may say by today’s standard their operation is quite archaic, and it isn’t packed with any advanced features, but it still has a lot going for it. First of all it has a very capable 50mm f\/2.8 lens that produces some very distinct and impressive results. Secondly it’s compact and smaller than most of my 70’s rangefinders. Then it has the bonus of not needing batteries as it comes with a selenium light meter. Oh and last but not least, its looks pretty damn good, I’ve already got comments about it and I’ve owned it less than a week.
\nIts been hard finding specific information about this camera, but there were several models in the Vito series. The BL began construction in 1956 and was based of a previous B model but came with the addition of a Bewi-Automatic Light Meter. Operating the light meter definitely isn’t simple, you need to dial in certain settings then hold down the light meter button to take a reading. If you wanted to take pictures in a hurry using the onboard light meter you’d be in for bit of a challenge. Everything else operates quite simple though, loading film is done like normal, focusing and aperture\/shutter speed selections are all on the lens barrel. The ergonomics of the camera seem quite good. It’s compact in width, but relatively tall which means your hands can grip the camera body easily and the shutter button seems to be perfectly under your index finger without having to search for it. The film advance lever is also great as its mostly recessed into the camera body except for the end which sticks out enough for your thumb to grip easily to advance the film. It all just looks so neat and feels well designed and would put many modern cameras to shame.
\nI picked this camera up for literally pocket change and it came with the original leather case, instructions, and what i eventually discovered as a plastic incident light attachment cover for the light meter, I’m sure many have been lost over the years. I was surprised that the camera not only looked close to perfect, but appears to be working perfectly too. I was all prepared to go in and start taking apart the shutter etc but everything works wonderful.
\nI love cameras like this, small, unassuming, and still functional even after 50 years. I wonder how many consumer goods sold today will be as useful in 50 years time as this little camera is.<\/p>\n
Below are a few pictures of the little beast. I still haven’t cleaned it yet, but you can see the great condition it’s in.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"vito-bl2\"](\"http:\/\/www.arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/vito-bl2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I say “Mr” out of respect because he’s damn old… Well compared to my other cameras anyway. I have acquired yet another camera, it’s a Voigtlander Vito BL which looks like a terrific little thing. They’re not particularly a fashionable camera or have much of a cult following, however from what I’ve read they are regarded very well and produce some quality results. You may say by today’s standard their operation is quite archaic, and it isn’t packed with any advanced features, but it still has a lot going for it. First of all it has a very capable 50mm f\/2.8 lens that produces some very distinct and impressive results. Secondly it’s compact and smaller than most of my 70’s rangefinders. Then it has the bonus of not needing batteries as it comes with a selenium light meter. Oh and last but not least, its looks pretty damn good, I’ve already got comments about it and I’ve owned it less than a week. Its been hard finding specific information about this camera, but there were several models in the Vito series. The BL began construction in 1956 and was based of a previous B model but came with the addition of a Bewi-Automatic Light Meter. Operating the light meter definitely isn’t simple, you need to dial in certain settings then hold down the light meter button to take a reading. If you wanted to take pictures in a hurry using the onboard light meter you’d be in for bit of a challenge. Everything else operates quite simple though, loading film is done like normal, focusing and aperture\/shutter speed selections are all on the lens barrel. The ergonomics of the camera seem quite good. It’s compact in width, but relatively tall which means your hands can grip the camera body easily and the shutter button seems to be perfectly under your index finger without having to search for it. The film advance lever is also great as its mostly recessed into the camera body except for the end which sticks out enough for your thumb to grip easily to advance the film. It all just looks so neat and feels well designed and would put many modern cameras to shame. I picked this camera up for literally pocket change and it came with the original leather case, instructions, and what i eventually discovered as a plastic incident light attachment cover for the light meter, I’m sure many have been lost over the years. I was surprised that the camera not only looked close to perfect, but appears to be working perfectly too. I was all prepared to go in and start taking apart the shutter etc but everything works wonderful. I love cameras like this, small, unassuming, and still functional even after 50 years. I wonder how many consumer goods sold today will be as useful in 50 years time as this little camera is. Below are a few pictures of the little beast. I still haven’t cleaned it yet, but you can see the great condition it’s in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camera","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1696,"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arransalerno.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}