In Praise of the Perkeo

Move over, you Agfa Isolettes and all you other bulky 6x6 folding cameras, there's a svelte new camera on the block. It's the Voigtlander Perkeo I.

 

Voigtlander Perkeo I

 

 

I will start by saying this is the nicest medium format folding camera I have used, bar none. It's not the most sophisticated, but in terms of quality of design, construction and finish, I don't think I've come across anything better. It's also very compact; using 120 film, it's one of the smallest of the 6x6 folders, and it's beautifully balanced with a bright and reasonably accurate viewfinder and a truly silky shutter release. "Perkeo" is said to translate from the German as Pygmy or dwarf, though Google isn't too sure about that, but the camera really isn't much larger than many 35mm folders. And the Color-Scopar lens is right up there with the very best Tessar designs. Do I sound infatuated? I am...

 

We hear a lot about the Isolette on this forum, and it remains one of my favourite folders. While the Perkeo is not much lighter, it's considerably more compact. Here's a pic of the two side-by-side; notice the tiny leg that folds out from the Perkeo's tray to support it in this position.

 

Perkeo and Isolette

 

 

When fitted with the excellent Solinar lens the Isolette will match the Perkeo for image quality, but my success rate per film with the Perkeo is far greater than with the Isolette. It's just such a relaxing camera to use, with the solid build and fine finish inspiring confidence. Produced circa 1951-55, this example has a double exposure lock and a little indicator on the top deck to advise the film winding status, but it lacks the auto-wind feature of later Perkeo models, and one must still line up the numbers in the red window on the back. The shutter must be cocked manually; there was quite a range of Prontor shutters available, with a Compur at the top. This copy has the mid-range Prontor-S with speeds from 1 to 1/300th plus B. Two lenses were offered, a 80mm Vaskar f/4.5 or the superior 80mm Color-Skopar f/3.5 . The attention to detail is typical of Voigtlander design and construction, the film loading facility being one of the best I've come across, thanks to swing-out cradles and pivots that really simplify matters.

 

Inside

 

 

For the first film I fitted the camera with the Voigtlander rangefinder in the illustration, mainly to check my estimates, but they were accurate enough so I abandoned it for the second and third films; with practice, estimating distance becomes surprisingly second-nature. I ended up with a very creditable number of usable images, and I'll post a selection below. I hope they serve to demonstrate the quality the Perkeo can produce; the film was Arista EDU 100 developed in PMK Pyro, with scans from an Epson V700 Photo using Silverfast SE software. And what would I like next? Well, perhaps a Perkeo IIIE with the uncoupled rangefinder, but it would have the same lens and, despite having a price tag of around $400, I don't think it would take much better photographs...

 

Avenue

 

 

Bench

 

 

Flagpole

 

 

Park

 

 

Renovations

 

 

Relics

 

 

LITU

 

 

Winter

 

 

Going Nowhere

 

Edited June 10, 2017 by rick_drawbridge

Move over, you Agfa Isolettes and all you other bulky 6x6 folding cameras, there's a svelte new camera on the block. It's the Voigtlander Perkeo I.

 

Voigtlander Perkeo I

 

Beautiful Work here Rick!

Great minds think alike. I was considering this camera in a wider context post, but alas, you've beat me to it! I always believed the later models ie the III e had a coupled RF. Hmmff!! I think you'Re right if that'S all there is than you are equally served with this model. My Perkeo has the lesser lens. And indeed this 120 loading feature is extremely well designed. You used the fog to your advantage here . Relics is very nice and the focus is right-on in the close up for Litu. Experience at estimating distances... is very impressive. Also your example with the beautiful etui is in impeccable condition

Beautiful Work here Rick!

Great minds think alike. I was considering this camera in a wider context post, but alas, you've beat me to it! I always believed the later models ie the III e had a coupled RF. Hmmff!! I think you'Re right if that'S all there is than you are equally served with this model. My Perkeo has the lesser lens. And indeed this 120 loading feature is extremely well designed. You used the fog to your advantage here . Relics is very nice and the focus is right-on in the close up for Litu. Experience at estimating distances... is very impressive. Also your example with the beautiful etui is in impeccable condition

Beautiful series of pictures. Some cameras just click into the hands and eyes, don't they.

 

I took my Perkeo on a trip recently because of the light weight and easy handling. It has the Vaskar triplet, not the Skopar, but it gives very decent results.

 

Voigtlanders are generally smooth, very well made and well designed cameras. Look for instance at the pivoting spring devices for moving the rolls in and out when loading and unloading film in the Perkeo.

 

A sample from my Perkeo.

 

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a11/julio1fer/Perkeo%20I/201308012_zps26b45889.jpg

Great work with the Perkeo, Rick. Such a pristine example of the camera. How do you find such wonderful examples? It's almost like you have Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel and can "snatch" them out of history. Again, great work and thanks for sharing.

Wow, Rick, wow! Very glad to see another set of great images out of a Voigtlander camera. A compact and high quality medium format folder is probably the most enjoyable photographic tool on a hiking trip.

The world of folding cameras, especially, seems to be like totally isolated islands in a vast sea.

 

It sort of makes sense that 35mm cameras (folding or not) had to be fairly decent or they were worthless for Kodachrome slides - evolutionary pressures and all.

 

But the folding cameras came in all kinds of formats, and the hurdle to jump (image quality) was not as crucial as in smaller formats. Like Wallace's Paradox in biology, these things seem better than they had to be.

 

At least in your hands (which may be the answer to my little paradox, after all).