This is the Voigtländer VF101, a Rollei-manufactured coupled rangefinder with Zeiss Ikon DNA from the 1970s. When looking at the VF101 there is also a definite nod to the Rollei 35 in terms of form factor and overall feel. It is a solidly built camera, though on this particular example the focus ring feels lightweight.
I picked this camera up in Osaka, Japan at Camera Kitamura – Used Buyback Center on a recent trip along with an Olympus Wide and Goerz Baby Tenax. It was in the “junk” room along with a lot of other fully functional cameras.
The Voigtlander VF101 has a flash sync speed of 1/30 seconds, which is used when the camera is switched to flash mode. In automatic exposure mode, it can achieve shutter speeds from 1/500 seconds to 4 seconds.
In order to use auto mode the VF101 requires four PX625 batteries to work. Apparently there is a hack where you can remove the red portion of the battery compartment and pop in a C123 as replacement, instead I have ordered one-to-one replacements for the PX625 as I don’t want to modify the camera.
| Make | Voigtlander |
| Model | VF101 |
| Year | 1974 |
| Format | 35mm |
| Shutter | electronic leaf |
| Speed | 4 to 1/500 |
| Lens | Voigtlander |
| Color Skopar f2.8 40mm | |
| Focus | 0.9m-inf |
| Aperture | f2.8 – f22 |
| Light Meter | cDs |
| Focus System | Rangefinder |
I will post sample photos here after I have run a couple of rolls through the camera.
