C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Voigtländer Vito B (1954) is a compact, fixed-lens 35mm viewfinder camera produced at Voigtländer's Braunschweig factory during the height of West Germany's postwar photographic renaissance. It belongs to the Vito family — Voigtländer's bread-and-butter line of affordable precision cameras — and represents the pure viewfinder version of the Vito concept: no rangefinder, no built-in meter, no automation. The photographer sets focus using the distance scale on the lens barrel and reads exposure from a separate meter or uses sunny-16.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →C41
Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
A trim, no-meter West German 35mm viewfinder camera from 1954 — the Vito B pairs a sharp Color-Skopar 50mm f/3.5 with a Prontor SVS leaf shutter in a compact aluminium body that epitomises post-war German precision at the popular price point.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm (36×24mm) |
| Lens | Voigtländer Color-Skopar 50mm f/3.5 |
| Years | 1954–1960 |
| Shutter | Prontor SVS leaf: 1s – 1/300s + B |
| Flash sync | All speeds |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual |
| Finder | Optical viewfinder |
| Weight | ~365 g |
| Focus | Zone focus / distance scale |
| Battery | None required |
Voigtländer's Vito line began in 1939 with a folding camera and evolved through the late 1940s and 1950s into a diverse family ranging from basic viewfinder models to metered and rangefinder-equipped variants. The Vito B of 1954 standardised the line around a rigid (non-folding) compact body — simpler to manufacture and more durable in daily use than the folding predecessors.
The camera sold alongside the slightly upmarket Vito BL (1957), which added a built-in Bewi selenium meter, and the Vitomatic I and II, which added rangefinder coupling and automatic exposure. The Vito B therefore occupied the entry position in Voigtländer's 35mm viewfinder hierarchy: maximum simplicity, minimum price, German optical quality.
Voigtländer exported the Vito B widely through its distribution network in Europe and North America, where it competed with the Kodak Retina Ib, the Agfa Silette, and various Japanese compact cameras of the period.
The Vito B represents the best-value entry into German compact 35mm photography. For less than the cost of a comparable Japanese viewfinder camera on the used market, the Vito B delivers the Color-Skopar — a lens optically superior to most comparable fixed-lens competitors — in a camera of entirely German manufacture with the fit and finish Voigtländer's Braunschweig plant was known for.
Zone focusing is not a limitation for the photographer who understands depth of field: at f/8 and beyond, distances from 2m to infinity can be covered with a single focus setting in normal light. The Vito B excels for street photography, travel snapshots, and documentary work where deliberate focus setting is impractical.
The absence of a meter simply requires carrying one separately, or committing to the sunny-16 rule — a workflow entirely standard for photographers of this era and popular again among contemporary film users.
Fixed Voigtländer Color-Skopar 50mm f/3.5. Filter thread: 32mm. Apertures: f/3.5–f/16. Prontor SVS shutter with M and X flash sync sockets; B and self-timer included. Accessories: 32mm filters; clip-on lens hood; cold-shoe external meter (Voigtländer Bewi or similar); ever-ready leather case. No rangefinder coupling; no meter coupling.
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →Voigtländer Vito B
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