Chris's camera pages
Voigtlander Vito III
Manufactured around 1950, this uncommon 35mm folding rangefinder camera is fitted with an Ultron 50mm f/2 lens in a Synchro-Compur shutter.
The Vito III is an extremely well-made camera, and is built on a similar chassis to the Voigtlander Prominent rigid-bodied rangefinder camera. As might be expected, it shares many of the same features. Here you can see thew two cameras side-by-side. The top covers are almost identical.
The focus is controlled not at the lens, but by the large diameter knob on the top-left of the top cover. This knob is the same size and shape as the film advance knob, and is exactly where you would expect the film rewind to be.
The actual film rewind is by a nicely engineered pop-up key in the centre of the focus control knob.
You can see how much more compact the Vito III is compared to its rigid-bodied sibling. The long rectangular panel on the base of the Vito III carries the film type reminder dial and the panel flips up to provide level base for the camera when set on a table.
Here you can see the difference in size between the Vito II and Vito III cameras side-by-side.
Voigtlander Vito III instruction manual on Mike Butkus' excellent website.