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Voigtlander Perkeo I

Image of a Voigtlander Perkeo I (courtesy Phill Brown)
Voigtlander Perkeo I (courtesy Phill Brown)
Old Sekonic light meter
Sekonic Light Meter

First of all, I have to say a profound "thank you" to my mother for allowing me to use this camera from the age of about 11 and for passing it onto me shortly after that time. And of course also a thank you to her (wealthy) ex-boyfriend who gave it to her for her 21st birthday!

This is where, and to some degree why, my journey into bulb photography started.

The beauty of a camera like this is that is so ... primitive (by today's standards). Even when I started using this camera (about 1971) it was pretty old technology. No "through the lens" viewing for starters, and perhaps far more importantly, no light meter (let alone an automatic one).

This forced me to learn from the very start (with the aid of an external light meter identical to the Seiko pictured here) about the relationships between shutter speed and aperture and, to a lesser degree, film speed. Essential ingredients in bulb photography. (I was not to learn about depth of field etc for some years following this - an indication of my contempt for formal education in the art of photography.)

This camera... according to this list of Voigtlanders the Perkeo I was made in 1950.

Jurgen Kreckel's page on the Perkeo states that the camera(s) were made with different lenses. Mine was equipped with a f4.5/80mm Vaskar lens.

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