Voigtlander Vito II parts cameras, rear lens gone-got one ??

I tested the shutter and loaded film and out the door I went. I saw something that I wanted to shoot and I discovered the rear lens is missing. Anyone have one? or know where to buy one? Any help is appreciated. Voigtlander Vito II folder rear lens in need, help.

This is an appealing camera, but they are not too rare... get a complete one. The Skopar may be interchangeable with other series of similar vintage. Perhaps the Vito B or any other models sharing this lens/shutter. I really like the Vito II. Elegant.

This is an appealing camera, but they are not too rare... get a complete one. The Skopar may be interchangeable with other series of similar vintage. Perhaps the Vito B or any other models sharing this lens/shutter. I really like the Vito II. Elegant.

well I lucked out and bargained for a parts camera that is pristine except film advance is jammed due to dropping. Served my purpose well. When the rain stops I will take it out again. Keep shooting.

Cool.... Looking forward to seeing how it works... there must be synergies and screwing in a real element should not really require any type of collimation if that's the right word. You might have lifted the whole lens assembly if necessary.. either way I'm curious to see it!"

I've attempted a similar surgery on the Vito II I "borrowed" from my father (who bought it at the PX in 1957 when he was stationed in Germany). It is not a job I would recommend unless A) you don't care if you wreck the camera, B) you know exactly what you're doing and have exactly the right tools to do it, and C) you're really, really lucky.

 

My Vito II is in mint condition, but more importantly has great sentimental value as it was my Dad's first "good" camera and the first 35mm I ever used myself as a kid. Unfortunately, the inner surface of the rear element went from crystal clear to encrusted with fungus (to the point of opaque) literally overnight recently. My first thought was similar to yours: they're relatively cheap to buy, just harvest a rear element from a beater.

 

Easier said than done. The Vito II doesn't often go for as cheap as one might expect: it depends on which version (mine has the Compur shutter, much less common than the simpler Prontor, and whether the seller guarantees the glass is OK. Beaters are often totally beat, including the lens. So before I laid out any significant cash, I tried disassembling my own Vito II first.

 

Suffice to say, the Vito II is a PITA to remove the lens from: nerve wracking (and this is coming from a guy who thinks nothing of poking around the guts of a Hasselblad) Eventually the whole lens/shutter module comes off the bellows, and you discover there's no way into the damned thing: the threads on the rear element are apparently superglued. I tried every imaginable tool: no dice. All I accomplished was scratching the hell out of the metalwork, and then it took 20 tries before I could get the stupid lens properly re-attached to the bellows and synched mechanically again. Ugh.

 

Perhaps you'll be luckier than I was, and actually be able to swap elements. I've given up for now: I considered tracking down a complete, clean lens/shutter module with fully operational shutter and just swap it entirely. But then, it wouldn't really be my fathers camera anymore, so I'm torn. I don't use the Vito II much anyway: great lens, but its actually pretty horrible to operate (dismally tiny viewfinder with metal eyepiece guaranteed to destroy your glasses, fussy controls, slow separate knob advance + shutter cocking). In the end I decided keep it as a family nostalgia piece, and bought a much more practical, much cheaper "mint" Vito B to use (same Color Skopar lens, better ergonomics).

Edited April 13, 2018 by orsetto