The Voigtländer Prominent: A System 35mm camera from the early 1950s

 The Voigtländer’s 35mm Prominent camera is a strange beast. Nothing seems “normal” with this

camera with many of its controls in strange locations. But bear with me, for there is a logical explanation as to why Voigtländer placed the controls where it did. The reason being the problems all 35mm camera manufacturers and engineers had to deal with in designing a fully-interchangeable lens camera while using a leaf shutter.

    Vignetting is the fundamental issue. A camera with a focal plane shutter does not have this issue since the opening the shutter creates is as large as the film plane opening itself. However, leaf shutters with their round openings cannot give that same coverage. A leaf shutter must be located somewhere closer to the taking lens in order to intercept the cone of light emerging from the rear of a lens before it had spread wider than the largest shutter opening.
    This would suggest that the optimum location be immediately behind the rear element of a camera’s lens when the cone of light focused by the lens is at its smallest. However, two problems remain. One is that a location ideal for a normal lens might not be ideal for other focal lengths. Two, a focusing mount that moves a lens away from the shutter as close focusing occurs may result in vignetting anyway as the distance increases between the rear of the lens and the shutter.
    This was the dilemma Voigtländer faced in the post-war period when it was apparent to the entire German camera industry that 35mm film was going to be photography’s wave of the future. The company wanted to offer a professional, “system” camera that would compete directly against the post-war Leica IIIf and the new model Contax IIa. While as both these cameras featured focal plane shutters, this was not really an option for Voigtländer. Not only did German patents pretty much preclude such a shutter on other makes of rangefinder cameras, but manufacturing a new type of focal plane shutter in-house promised to be expensive and difficult: witness the problems that Eastman Kodak and Bell-and-Howell had in manufacturing and pricing their premier 35mm cameras.
    But Deckel’s Compur Rapid shutter could serve as an alternative. The Compur Rapid shutter had several benefits: It offered a full range of shutter speeds from one second all the way down to 1/500th of a second. In the new “Synchro-Compur” version, full flash sync for all bulbs and electronic flash was available at all shutter speeds. But, more important, it was available to any camera manufacturer and, with the economics of mass production and standardization, Compur shutters were selling at a cost far lower than an in-house focal plane would have.
    The problem with the Compur shutter available in 1950 was that it was really only designed for between-lens installation where vignetting and opening size were not issues.
    Having decided to go with the Compur shutter, Voigtländer attempted to solve the vignetting problem in several ways. It designed a whole series of lenses that would have smaller rear elements that would offer a light cone that could clear the shutter. It placed the shutter right behind the rear element. Then, most important, it fixed the distance between the rear elements and the shutter by causing the shutter and the lens to move as one unit when focused.

    This need to fix and maintain the distance between the back of a lens and the shutter is what led to the placement of a focusing knob on the body of the camera underneath the rewind knob. Focus the Prominent, and the shutter and the lens move in and out as one unit, the distance

between the lens and the shutter never changing. Problem solved.

    But solving one important problem led to other problems and solutions that are less obvious. Deckel later offered

Synchro Compur shutters specifically for behind-lens work. But these shutters were not available until 1956. So the Prominent used a standard Synchro Compur probably designed for larger format cameras. As a result, advancing the film and cocking the shutter requires a complex mechanical linkage with a prong reaching out to slide the cocking lever over, then retracting. Another lever then must come down on the right to release the shutter when the body release is pressed.

    Placing the focus lever on the left end of the camera body in turn required the reticle to be to the right. Convenient for left-eyed users, but not for the opposite.

    The good things: Construction and finish are superb. The chrome is excellent—on a par with post-war Zeiss Ikon cameras. Loading film is straight-forward and conventional. The advance knob/lever is where one would expect, as is the shutter release. The Ultron 50mm f2 lens that came with my camera produces images that are sharp with pleasant colors, although not as impressive as the Nikkors I have used. The normal lens mounts and unmounts easily and can be twisted on either clockwise or counterclockwise. The clickstops are deep and lettering better than most German cameras of that period. All the lenses take the same size accessories. The shutter is quiet, although not as quiet as an Ambi Silette.
    The bad things: The viewfinder is small, dull and the rangefinder patch difficult to see. Later versions of the Type I added albada lines and the Type II went life-size, but that might have been too little too late since Leica had already solved the viewfinder challenge in 1954. At two pounds with the

smaller Ultron, this is one tall, heavy camera: heavier than most SLRs. Certainly not something you want to hang around your neck all day. The two-stroke advance lever has to travel too far each stroke. But worse, the lever hides the frame counter, so the only way you can check the frame number is either start to cock the camera, or kind of peer around the lever. The shutter release is too low on the camera I have and requires me to hook my finger over the wind knob.
    All-in-all, an interesting camera and a leader in the attempt to solve the challenge of a fully-interchangeable-lens 35mm camera while using a leaf shutter, but I camera I will not reach for when I want to enjoy taking pictures.

The Olympus IVa, a 1950s Japanese compact camera

The Olympus 35 IVa

In the period immediately after the end of the Second World War, a number of Japanese optical companies moved to camera manufacturing as a means of survival. 35mm soon became the format of choice, driven by a nation-wide shortage of film stock, the buying preferences of the Occupation troops and the threat of a ban on all film sizes larger than 35mm.
    The established 35mm camera manufacturers, such a Canon, Nicca and Konica stuck to the standard 24 X 36 format. For the companies just getting started in 35mm, the 24X32 format that both Chiyoda Kogaku (Minolta) and the Japanese government were promoting seemed the wiser choice. Besides Minolta, three other Japanese optical companies adapted the “nippon” format for their first cameras. Each would take a different approach. Nippon Kogaku would design a high-end camera with a focal plane shutter and fully-interchangeable lenses. This, of course, would be the first Nikon. Tokyo Kogaku, NK’s former rival in the manufacture of military goods, decided to go for the low-end with its Minion 35, a somewhat crude camera with a leaf shutter, a simple viewfinder and no double exposure prevention [see my earlier review of this camera]. The third company was Olympus. Its “Olympus 35” fell somewhere between the first two in terms of both quality and features.
    By 1949, all four of these companies would abandon the 24X32 format and expand their film gates to 34mm or 35mm. More importantly, the film advances on all these cameras would move the film eight sprocket holes, insuring compatibility with Kodak’s processing machines.

    The Olympus company had previously focused on microscopes and other research instruments, a product where the company remains a major player even today. Their first camera’s features gave evidence of a cautious approach with a fixed lens, simple optical finder and a contracted leaf shutter. Its lens was a Zuiko 4cm f3.5. The 40mm focal length is almost a wide-angle, but not too far off normal for the 24X32 format. A 40mm focal length also allowed for greater depth-of-field, which helped compensate for the lack of any focusing aid. Olympus would sell various versions of this 35mm camera from 1948 through the mid-1950s.

    The various models and types in this series are confusing (see listing of features below). The earliest ones featured an accessory shoe mounted flush with the camera’s top deck as well as the 24X32 format. In time, flash sync would become standard, the accessory shoe would sit on a quarter-inch high mounting and the shutter would become a Copal with speeds to 300th of a second.

The camera at hand:
I took a chance on this one. The seller offered no details as to condition, but the price was low and with no other bidders, an easy buy. It came with its original case in good condition, an original lens cap and a meter. It was clean, had been well cared for and everything worked—unlike too many older German cameras I have tested.
    This Olympus 35 IVa is a compact camera with trimmed, Contax-like corners, somewhat high (three inches) but narrow (only a little over 4.5 inches wide). Since the camera does not need any room for a focal plane shutter and was originally designed for the 24X32 format, the narrower width makes sense, although it does cramp the top deck. The 40mm lens does not stuck out too far, but the camera is front-heavy and can easily tumble over on its front face.
    The top deck features a conventional advance knob with a manually-reset frame counter around its base. The counter is additive. The knob turns clockwise, as does the spindle inside which makes for a simple mechanical working. Next is the shutter and film advance release. The button is quite small and set into a dished guard that likes little fingers to feel comfortable. The guard unscrews to take an external cable release such as the Barnack Leicas and the Nikons used. Behind the release is a unique feature: a lever with three settings marked R, D and A. Set to A engages a film interlock that requires the user to both cock the shutter and advance the film before a picture may be taken. The D setting disables that interlock allowing the shutter to be cocked and released without advancing the film. The R setting releases the sprocket spindle allowing rewinding the film. I like this feature and find it easier to work with than the usual “Hold-down a button on the bottom of the camera to rewind” that many other manufacturers used.
    Centered over the lens is a simple optical viewfinder. In the sample here, the glass is clear and the reticle large enough that I can see the full field-of-view even with glasses on.
    Next to the left is a substantial accessory shoe. At first I wondered why it is set so high off the deck. Trying to mount a meter on the shoe quickly provided an answer. Since no extra finder is ever needed, the height of the shoe is not important, but clearing the finder is, and the viewer does get in the way of the shoe.
    The narrow rewind knob, crammed next to the shoe completes the top. It lifts to make grasping while rewinding the film easier.
    I have read that the 4cm f3.5 Zuiko lens is a six element, Gauss type. Looks like a front-element focusing Tessar type to me. The f-stop setting ring is to the rear. Only the red-dot setting between f5.6 and f8 has a faint click stop. Next to the front and on top is the shutter-setting lever and a standard PC flash receptacle. This is a later variation. Most of the IVa’s I have seen have a ASA flash post set on the lower left-hand front escutcheon. Next, a rim to the front turns to allow setting shutter speeds from one second up to 1/300th of a second using the old progression (1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 300).
    The distance setting ring turns easily and focuses as close as three feet. Markings are engraved and black-filled except the 24 feet mark which teams up with the red dot set between f5.6 and f8 to indicate a universal distance and exposure setting. Use that combination and everything should be in focus from infinity down to 12 feet.
    Strangely, the front rim is not threaded to take filters, although 37mm press-on filters should work. This is a fairly standard size and such filters is readily available today.
    Finish overall is good with neat engravings, decent quality chrome and black faux leather.
    Loading the camera requires the removal of the back. Turn a knob on the bottom from S to O and the back and bottom slide off as a unit. The back is heavy and rigid with an oversized, dimpled pressure plate. The camera interior is finished in a smooth flat black, Even the guide rails are black. The film opening is 24 X 35 and the narrow sides of the opening suggest that even that wide of an opening was a stretch of the original 24X32 design.

Olympus removable back.

Note opening enlarged to handle 24x35 format.

    A quarter-inch tripod socket sets opposite the back removable knob on the right end.

Overall, the camera gives a good impression, a straight-forward, basic design that follows the KISS principle. The metal cast body has haft and feels solid. The controls are easy to understand; the ergonomics are good and the camera compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket.

    However, as a picture-taker, this one was a disappointment. The slides I took are all dull and most are over-exposed. Part of this may be due to shutter speeds being slower than their marked speeds. But I also note considerable flare. Overall, the pictures lack snap and vibrancy. In addition, a number of the pictures show a white blur vertically down the middle suggesting a light leak—perhaps from the right edge. No foam seals in these old cameras and the back appears to have a tight fit, so who knows. I might try another roll, tape the back edges and cut exposure times and see what I get, but for now I am not impressed.

Note flare.

A Review of early Olympus types:

Model 1: (1948-1949) MIOJ
24X32 format. Advances film seven sprockets to a wind. Room on either side of film gate.
Seikosha-rapid shutter with speeds 1 to 1/500 plus B
4cm f3.5 Zuiko lens.
shutter cocking on left and push down.
Chrome projection on face upper right covers the connection to the shutter release from the on-camera film release.
Low accessory shoe.
Serial number on top in front of shoe.
Model II: prototype, never marketed.

Model III: (1949) Most are also MIOJ
24X35 format. Advances film eight sprockets. Hardly any room on either side of film gate.
Same shutter and lens.
ASA socket flash sync added lower left of front escutcheon. PC connector on lens mount also seen.
Raised accessory shoe.
Serial number on base in some cases, on top for others.

Model IV: (1949-1952)
Copal shutter with speeds 1–1/200 plus B
Front bump is gone. The release connection to the Copal shutter is internal and no longer requires the bump to hide the connection rod.
Shutter cock is left to right over top.

Model IVa: 1953–1954.
Copal shutter speeds 1 to 1/300 plus B
Type 1 has same sync as III.
Type 2 has PC connector on top of lens/shutter housing.
Serial number in front of shoe on top.

Model V: 1955. total redesign.
Helical focusing of lens.
Advance and rewind knobs set into the top and finder integrated into top.
Hinged back with hinge on left.