Value of Voigtlander Focusing Brilliant TLR w/ Heliar Lens?

[steve_mareno1]

<p>I bought this camera in the hope that it had a Heliar lens. On the auction's photo (the seller had only one pic), all I saw was possibly, maybe, a letter 'H'. The Buy It Now price was very low, and I didn't want to ask the seller about the lens and have to wait on a reply, so I bought it. Sure enough, it's a Voigtlander Focusing Brilliant w/ a 75 3.5 Heliar lens (bakelite body). It's missing the little door on the side, as well as the filters that go there, but picking up a door from a donor camera should be easy. It's not in bad shape otherwise. Clear glass, smooth and accurate focus, and the shutter is on the money from 1/25 to 1/250. At 1/500 it's running 1/350, which is pretty darn good. The mirror needs replacing, as the image there is less than brilliant, no matter what they call the camera. You can focus it though, so I have a yellow filter and hood and some Tri-X in it ready to go.</p>

<p>Does anyone know what this may be worth? I couldn't find one on the ebay auction's completed listings, and web searching gave scant info, so I guess it's somewhat rare. Sorry about the lousy shots, my digital P&S isn't up to flash photography, nor am I.</p><div></div>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>side 2</p><div></div>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>front</p><div></div>

[JDMvW]

<p>I don't have a single Voigtländer camera of any kind, but I do have a copy of the ~2004 5th ed of <em>Kadlubeks Kamera Katalog</em> which listed this camera as VOL0642 Brillant Bakelit Heliar, 1937 etc.</p>

<p>I have not found Kadlubek or any other printed catalog to be much good for modern pricing information, but in this case all of the other Bakelit models are listed at 60-70€.<br /> This particular model is apparently the odd man out, since it is listed as "*)" which is actually not defined anywhere that I can find, but apparently means something like "insufficient data for pricing".<br /> So it is either rare or no one wants one at any price. ;)</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>Thanks JDM. Looks like that would make it a Brilliant V6. I'm going to go w/ rare, as it has that Heliar lens on it. Obviously the Superbs are more sought after. They're also quite expensive, so this one is not in the same league, cost wise. As you say, there is not a lot of info floating about on it. There is a little stuff on the Brilliants w/ the Skopar lenses. From what I can gather, the Focusing Brilliants are common. Still, I have never actually seen one, just pics. It's a bit of an awkward system, as you have to reach around to the front and turn the top knurled viewing lens to focus it. To me, a side focus knob would have been a lot better, but would have added to the complexity and cost. Most of these are simply scale focus box cameras that look like a TLR, but aren't. Well, for $24 it looks promising. It's a cute little bugger, and my first bakelite body camera. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to get another bakelite camera, but the lens certainly attracted me.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I have found that many old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite">Bakelite</a> cameras are quite decent shooters. Most of them are too good for the LOMO type crowd, anyhow.<br>

For $24, how could you go wrong - that's only about 1-1.5 pizza units. ;)</p>

[Greg M]

<p>Matanle writes about this camera in his book on classic cameras. Those teeth around the two lenses are used to focus the two at the same time. He also mentioned poor engineering in the camera often had the two getting out of sync and the teeth riding over one another, which destroyed accurate focusing.</p>

<p>The Superb is the Voigtlander TLR you want to be buying.</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

<p>I know this site for VoigtL and they provide a great view of pretty much every model. When something is extremely seldom or rare it's mentioned. That this one isn't tagged doesn't mean in the big picture this is not rare. The question is "how many" . This is for the prewar period probablythe top-o-the-line, Compur, Heliar, Focusing etc . There are other more exotic but I think you got a genuine bargain. </p>

<p>http://voigtlander.pagesperso-orange.fr/cadresA.htm</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

<p>I know this site for VoigtL and they provide a great view of pretty much every model. When something is extremely seldom or rare it's mentioned. That this one isn't tagged doesn't mean in the big picture this is not rare. The question is "how many" . This is for the prewar period probablythe top-o-the-line, Compur, Heliar, Focusing etc . There are other more exotic but I think you got a genuine bargain. </p>

<p>http://voigtlander.pagesperso-orange.fr/cadresA.htm</p>

[Bill C]

<blockquote>

<p>I'm going to go w/ rare, as it has that Heliar lens on it.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ahh... this was my first camera, when I was about 10 years old. Sure sounds funny to hear it called "rare," forgive me for laughing. I was pretty excited that it had an "exposure meter" inside the little trap door, until I found what a bunch of #&%$ that was. I was glad to get a better camera a few years later, and eventually a real exposure meter, but I can understand the nostalgia bit.</p>

<p>ps: a bit of trivia (when you own an oddball of anything, you tend to pick up any little trivia about it) - Voigtlander Brillant was also the first camera of Gordon Parks; I don't think his was a focusing model, though. </p>

<p> </p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>I bought one a few years back for $150.00, but can't for the life of me use that spot to focus...it's just a spot! A friend just inherited one from her father and I can focus that no problem. Also mine, like your is missing the filters, a common problem I believe.<br>

I really don't know what Voigtlander were thinking when they made a cheap bakelite camera with that lens and shutter combination. My Superb, which was a very expensive camera in it's day, only has a Skopar lens on it!</p>

 

[steve_mareno1]

<p>I was wrong, it isn't a V6. It may be a 1945 Focusing Brillant (I even had the spelling wrong), as the specs check out on this site below. It's definitely a rare camera, as it has the highest spec shutter and the Heliar lens. Unusual to find the Heliar on this camera, as you would think it would have been saved for the much more upscale Superb like Tony said. But Voigtlander did strange things. I once had a tiny Bessa 66 folder w/ a Heliar lens. It was a 75mm like this one, but was front element focusing vs the Brillant's unit focus. The Skopar is probably sharper, but the Heliar is the "better" lens. Much more difficult and costly to produce a 5 element lens vs a 4 element. Whatever it is, I'm keeping it. The first roll of Tri-X was really promising. You should have kept yours Bill. I'm getting better photos from this old thing than I ever did from a Hasselblad.</p>

<p>That's a great website Chuck. Thanks! I'm still trying to find who painted the beautiful portrait (or illustration) of Lea w/ her father's Brillant. My camera doesn't have that focusing issue Greg. It can do anything the Superb can do I would guess. This camera is very old, and still the focus is smooth and accurate. The shutter is running on the money till it gets to 1/500, where it still hits 1/350. This is much better than any old camera I've owned.</p>

<p>http://voigtlander.pagesperso-orange.fr/anglais/brillanttousA.htm</p>