Voigtländer Bessa 66 cameras

My two Bessa 66 cameras

It's interesting how you can notice some cameras and miss others at the same time.

While I've owned a Voigtländer Bessa in the past, I picked up the smaller Baby Bessa, or Bessa 66, from a collection in Las Vegas about a month ago. I dismissed the camera as I thought it was a similar-looking Voigtländer Vito, a much different 35mm camera than the Bessa 66, which is a compact, medium format 6x6cm camera.

There were actually three similar-looking cameras in the group I had set aside because I had mistaken them for Voigtländer Vito cameras, but after popping the fronts open, I was surprised to see longer bellows and shutters.

As I turned over the camera, I then noticed the embossed BESSA 66 on the back of the camera, and realized that the camera was slightly bigger than the Vito cameras I've had in the past. I was going on merely the appearance of the camera's shape, which is similar. It's the domed front of the camera that houses the lens that is similar on many of the Voigtländer cameras.

After I gathered the three similar cameras for a thorough check-out, I mistakenly thought they were different. Still, I found out two were Bessa 66 cameras and the third was a more refined Perkeo I. At this point, I figured it would be fun to write about the two Bessa 66 cameras and put the Perkeo away for another day.

There were a couple of differences I noticed right away about the two Bessa 66 cameras. The main difference was the viewfinder on top of the cameras. One had a fold-out, pop-up finder, more like a sports finder. In contrast, the other has an optical finder incorporated into the top of the camera.

The second thing I noticed was that the film-advance knobs differed between the two cameras. One has a lift-up handle to advance the film, while the other has a more robust wheel, which makes advancing the film easier.

Bessa 66 Standard (top), and Bessa 66 Deluxe (bottom)

Looking online at the differences between the two cameras, one is an earlier "Standard" version with the pop-up finder and handle advance. In contrast, the later camera, which some people call the "Deluxe" version, has an optical viewfinder and a round film-advance knob.

The only other thing I noticed looking at the cameras from the outside is that the Deluxe camera has a bigger and sturdier knob on the bottom where the new roll of film is placed, which resembles the winding knob on top, as opposed to a slightly different one on the "Standard" version. These knobs don't affect how the camera operates, since neither pulls out to let the fresh roll into the film chamber. Still, I'll get into loading the camera later in the post.

At this point, I'm impressed with the Bessa 66 cameras, as I am with many of the Voigtländer cameras. They feel very similar to other folding 6x6cm cameras from this timeframe, like the Zeiss Ikontas made before WWII, in size and artistry, along with other Japanese cameras like the Mamiya Six and Mizuho Six.

The larger film format makes them terrific travel cameras. They are small and compact, have wonderful lenses, shoot 6x6 (or, in some cases, 6x4.5 or 6x7), and fit in your pocket for easy transport.

My wife wanted to go to a local Grist Mill, which is about 30 minutes from our house. So I loaded a roll of outdated Plus-X film into the Bessa 66 Deluxe, and off we went to see how the camera performed.

History: The Voigtländer Bessa Cameras

Voigtländer is the oldest name in photography. Johann Christoph Voigtländer founded the firm in Vienna in 1756, making optical instruments long before photography existed, and the company opened its Braunschweig, Germany, branch in 1849. By the time the Bessa arrived, Voigtländer had already been building cameras for nearly a century.

Bessa 66 advertisment

The Bessa line began in 1929 with a folding rollfilm camera that was clever in a very practical way: it was a dual-format camera, taking both 6x9 and 4.5x6 pictures on standard 120 film. A photographer could shoot large negatives or twice as many smaller ones by changing the mask. In 1935, Voigtländer added a coupled rangefinder version, the Bessa Rangefinder, and the line became one of Germany's best-known folding camera families.

The cameras most collectors mean by "Baby Bessa" came out in 1938. These were the single-format Bessa 46 and Bessa 66, smaller companions to the big Bessa. The Bessa 46 shot sixteen 4.5x6 frames on a roll of 120, while the Bessa 66 shot twelve square 6x6 frames. Both were self-erecting folders: press a button on the baseplate and the front springs open, ready to shoot. Focusing was by guesswork, using a scale on the lens, and neither Baby Bessa was ever sold with a coupled rangefinder.

Like most German cameras of the period, the Baby Bessas came in a wide range of lens and shutter combinations, which is part of what makes collecting them fun. Entry-level models carried the three-element Voigtar or Vaskar. Better models got the four-element Skopar or the famous five-element Heliar, usually with a Compur or Prontor shutter. Early models had a folding frame finder; later ones got a proper optical viewfinder on the top plate, along with a film counter, a depth-of-field calculator, and a hinged yellow filter.

Production was interrupted by the Second World War, and after the war only the Bessa 66 came back, since the 4.5x6 format was already covered by the regular Bessa. Post-war Bessa 66 cameras came with coated lenses, a Vaskar version selling in America for $49.50 and a Color-Skopar version for $64.50. In 1950 the little folder was reborn under the older Perkeo name, and the Perkeo E of 1954 finally added a rangefinder the Baby Bessa never had. The line ended around 1955, shortly after the Carl Zeiss Foundation acquired Voigtländer.

The big Bessa lived on a little longer as the Bessa I and Bessa II of 1950, and the Bessa name itself would return decades later on Cosina's rangefinder cameras. But the Baby Bessa remains the line's sweet spot: a genuinely pocketable 120 folder, built by the oldest camera maker in the business, that still shoots beautifully today.

My Cameras

The two Voigtländer Bessa 66 cameras are virtually the same size, with the Deluxe slightly taller because of the optical viewfinder. I'll mainly talk about the Deluxe version, as it's the camera I put film in and shot with. The camera is 3.5" tall by 5" wide, and 1.75" deep with the lens closed and 4" deep with the lens extended. The camera weighs 1 pound, 2 ounces without film loaded.

My Bessa 66 Deluxe version has a few issues. One of the nice things about the pre-war Bessa 66 versions is that it has a flip-up yellow, or contrast, filter for black-and-white film. Unfortunately, the glass part of the filter is gone on the camera I have. It also looks like the ring around the lens with the lens name, focal length, and maximum aperture is missing from my Deluxe camera but is on the Standard camera. So I'm not sure if the Deluxe camera has the four-element Skopar or the famous five-element Heliar lens.

The lenses on either of the Bessa 66 cameras are manual, meaning there is no rangefinder for focus, so you'll have to manually guess the distance to your subject and turn the lens to that "guessed" distance, then take your photo.

The pre-war Bessa 66 cameras had the hinged filter, which was not fitted to the post-war cameras. Because the filter was fragile, many cameras had it broken off through use. On the Standard camera I have, it looks like the filter has been broken off the camera.

To open the camera to expose the lens and shutter, which is on a black bellows, press the chrome button on the bottom of the camera; the lens/shutter then pops out.

My Deluxe camera has a Compur shutter with shutter speeds from 1/300 to 1 second, plus B for timed exposures. The Standard camera has a Prontor II shutter, which offers shutter speeds from 1/175 to 1 second and "B" for timed exposures. Both cameras have maximum apertures of f/3.5 and go to f/16.

Once the camera is opened, the shutter speeds can be changed by turning the outer ring around the shutter. A red dot points towards the desired shutter speed. The aperture is set via a sliding lever which will point to the desired aperture setting. You cock the shutter by pulling back the cocking lever on the right side of the shutter.

Both the Standard and the Deluxe Bessa 66 release the shutter by the shutter release that is incorporated into the lens door, which trips the shutter via linkage inside the lens door. You'll need to get used to this shutter release, as it's an uncommon place for one.

To close the lens/shutter back into the camera, pull out the hinged locking Standard on either side of the Standard camera; the camera starts to collapse, then press in the front door to close it.

The Deluxe camera closes a bit differently. In the front, just below the lens, press in the chrome bar to release the locked hinge holding the lens rigid; then press in the lens door to close it. Both are similar, but the Deluxe camera is simpler and more of a nicety, which makes closing it easier.

To open the back of the camera to load film, slide the chrome-and-black foot on the bottom of the camera. This foot has two features. One keeps the back locked, as one end slides under the bottom latch needed to open the film back. This prevents anyone from pressing the bars together to open the film back. The other feature, and the more useful one, is that sliding the leg out creates a base that keeps the camera upright and prevents the front from tipping forward onto the lens.

Once the foot is in the out position, press the two bars together on the film door to open the back. At this point, load film into the Bessa as you would any 120 film camera: thread the lead into the take-up spool, wind until you see the start arrows, then close the back of the camera.

Both the Deluxe and Standard cameras have a red window on the back to wind until you see the next frame number. These windows also have a cover you can open or close via a small black knob next to it. When closed, the window shows an "X" so you know it's closed.

The Deluxe camera has a "Semi-Automatic Film Advance system," as described in Mike Butkus's manual and his other incredible camera manuals. The camera has a switch on the back and a frame counter on top.

Here's how the film advance works on the Deluxe camera:

  • -- On the back and front of the camera, just under the top, next to the film winding knob, are two sliding latches. If the frame counter on top doesn't show 0, slide these latches to the left and right, back and front in turn until the frame counter shows 0.

  • -- On the back of the camera is a red window that will show an X. To the right of it is a flat serrated wheel of equal diameter.

  • -- Open the red window by turning the wheel 90 degrees clockwise. Turn the winding knob until the number 1 appears in the red window.

  • -- Turn the wheel back to close the red window.

  • -- Looking at the top of the camera, slide the latch on the back to the left. The frame counter on top will show 1. The camera is now ready to take the first picture.

  • -- To advance the film, slide the latch on the front to the right. The frame counter will show 2. Turn the winding knob until it stops. Take the second picture. Repeat until the counter shows 12 and take the last picture. Slide the front latch one more time until the counter shows 0, then turn the knob until the film is completely wound.

My Results:

Here are a few of the frames I took while my wife and I visited the Grist Mill, which is beautiful this time of year.

Conclusion:

I've always been a big fan of Voigtländer cameras. To have one that is both medium format and pocket-sized, with sharp lenses, is a real bonus and makes it one of my favorites. The only thing that would make it better would be rangefinder focus. That's what makes cameras like the Zeiss Super Ikontas and other Japanese cameras like the Mamiya Six or Konica Pearl so desirable.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the Bessa 66 cameras I recently added to my collection.

Are you interested in other vintage gear? Here are some of my other Camera Reviews.

Check out my Cuny's Camera Collection YouTube channel, where I am putting together video overviews of the cameras I write about. Be sure to subscribe and like the channel, too!

Cuny's Cameras and Photos is my online eBay store, where you will find some of the cameras I have reviewed, along with a wide range of other cameras, lenses, and items from my collection that I am thinning out.

Until next week, please be safe.

Voigtlander Prominent 35mm

My father-in laws Voigtlander Prominent

I'm unsure if I'll be able to get another posting out before the beginning of 2026, since Christmas and New Year's fall on the day I generally publish my reviews. Since this might be the final post for 2025, I wanted to make it a special review. 

 Special in the sense that, while the Voigtländer Prominent is an outstanding camera, what makes this camera especially special to me is that my father-in-law owned it, so it holds an even greater, much more cherished place in my collection.

 Let me tell you a bit about my father-in-law. He was the oldest of seven children living in a very small town named Sugar Creek, MO, just outside Independence. They were not a wealthy family, as the father worked at the local refinery. I was told that the house was so small that some of the children had to sleep in closets. At 18, he married my mother-in-law, who was only 17 at the time. By the time he was 22 and my mother-in-law was 21, they had three children.

 Soon after they were married, he joined the Army, where they were stationed in Augusta, GA, where my wife and the third child were born.  When my wife was only 6 months old, my father-in-law and the family were transferred to Naples, Italy. With his wife and three young children, my wife moved to Italy.

My father-in-law always had a passion for photography and, from what I'm told, purchased the Voigtländer Prominent while stationed overseas. After their time in Italy,  the family moved back to the USA. At this point, my father-in-law found a local camera store back near Kansas City, where he honed his photographic skills using the Voigtländer Prominent he purchased overseas.

Voigtlander logo and Prominent name on top of the camera.

 After the camera store, he was hired by Procter & Gamble to sell Duncan Hines cake mixes. He climbed the corporate ladder, moving his family with each promotion due to his outstanding managerial and sales skills. All the while, he still had a passion for photography. He was always taking photos of the family and eventually ended his career as a top executive at some of the largest Fortune 500 companies.

 This article is not only about a truly amazing camera, but also an ode to my father-in-law. Someone I looked up to in my career helped me in so many ways and was a warm, loving, generous, and caring individual. He passed away way too early from an auto accident, almost 30 years ago. We still have his Voigtländer Prominent, which he used, and it's in remarkable condition. For the final post, I wanted to write about this truly excellent camera, which means so much to all the family members.

 I've had the opportunity to purchase other Voigtländer prominent cameras, both the original and the Prominent II, with the standard Ultron and Heliar lenses, along with many different lenses and accessories for their cameras. Still, the camera from my father-in-law is off-limits. It will stay in my collection until I'm no longer around.

 I've reviewed other Voigtländer cameras, so I've written about their history in the past. Let me focus on the history of Voigtländer in a specific timeframe: after World War II, when they rebuilt a fantastic camera brand.

Voigtlander Post World War II:

 Voigtländer emerged from the Second World War with its Braunschweig factory largely intact and quickly resumed work under British military oversight, initially dedicating much of its output to Allied reparations until the new West German currency was introduced in 1949. This relatively undamaged industrial base, combined with a strong pre‑war optical tradition, allowed the firm to re‑establish itself rapidly as a key player in the post‑war German camera industry.​

 In the immediate post‑war years, Voigtländer revived and modernized pre‑war designs, adding new anti‑reflection coatings to lenses and continuing large‑format and medium‑format lens production. The company remained under the ownership of the chemicals and photographic‑paper firm Schering AG, which had acquired it in the 1920s, providing financial stability in a challenging economic climate.​

From Voigtlander Catalog Credit: Pacific Rim Camera

 The 1950s became Voigtländer's golden decade, marked by a broad range of high‑quality cameras and lenses that cemented its international reputation. Compact 35mm lines such as the Vito and the more sophisticated Vitessa appeared alongside the professional Prominent 35mm rangefinder. At the same time, optics like the Ultron, Nokton, Apo‑Lanthar, and Heliar established the brand as a leader in lens design. In 1952, Voigtländer introduced the Apo‑Lanthar 105 mm f/4.5, and in 1959, it launched the 36–82 mm f/2.8 Zoomar, one of the first interchangeable zoom lenses for 35mm still photography.​

 In 1956, Schering sold Voigtländer to the Carl Zeiss Foundation, bringing it into the same corporate orbit as Zeiss Ikon while initially keeping manufacturing and sales structures separate. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Voigtländer expanded into leaf‑shutter SLRs and advanced models such as the Bessamatic and Ultramatic, but the cameras were complex and costly to build. As Japanese manufacturers increased efficiency and undercut prices, Voigtländer's high production costs and conservative designs became major competitive disadvantages.​

 In 1965, Zeiss‑Ikon and Voigtländer's sales operations were combined, but falling sales led to the decision to cease camera production and close the Braunschweig factory on 4 August 1971, affecting over 2,000 employees. The physical works were reorganized as Optische Werke Voigtländer, with shared ownership between Zeiss, Rollei, and the state of Lower Saxony. By 1974, Rollei had taken complete control, continuing to produce lenses and cameras under the Voigtländer brand until its own financial collapse in the early 1980s.

 The trademark then passed through German photo retailers and, from 1999, has been licensed to Cosina in Japan, which uses the historic name on modern manual‑focus lenses and niche film cameras, giving Voigtländer a new life in the era of digital photography.

My Camera:

 My Voigtländer Prominent comes with the standard Ultron 50mm f/2.0 lens. The camera body serial # B 46551, and lens serial # 3782651. With this camera, there is a Voigtländer UV filter that I generally leave on the camera, along with a yellow filter for black-and-white photography, a rectangular metal lens hood, and the fitted brown camera case. The camera is 5.5" wide by 3.5" tall by 3.5" deep, and weighs 2 pounds, 0.8 ounces without film.

 The Voigtländer Prominent has some weight to it, and for me, it feels very comfortable in my hands. Maybe because it resembles an SLR more, like what most people are used to with rangefinder cameras. The camera has a somewhat peculiar layout and is something you'll need to get used to.

When you put the camera to your eye, the viewfinder is on the right side of the camera, which, for many, is different. The majority of cameras have the viewfinder either centered or more to the left than to the right. The focusing ring isn't on the lens, but located on the rewind knob. As you turn the outside of the rewind knob, generally used to rewind the film in the film cassette when you're done with the roll, on the Voigtländer Prominent, it focuses the lens. 

Looking through the viewfinder, the rangefinder is bright, with the yellowed area in the center clearly visible. With your left hand, turn the outer ring of the rewind knob to focus on your subject. Once the image is in focus, take your photo. Under the focus distance is the camera's depth of field guide for the aperture used. 

To take a photo, on the right-hand side of the camera is the film advance lever; wind it clockwise to advance the film. The same motion that advances the film also moves an internal bar that cocks the shutter. The shutter speed dial on the Syncro-Compur shutter is set by turning a ring just in front of the shutter cocking lever. The shutter speeds on this camera go from 1/500 to 1 sec, with "B" for timed exposures. According to the Voigtländer Prominent camera manual, it's best to set the 1/500 shutter speed before winding the camera, which cocks the shutter. You can set any shutter speed once the camera's shutter is cocked, but 1/500's not recommended.

If you want to use the camera's self-timer, it can be manually set by pulling down on the shutter's cocking lever once the camera is cocked. This sets the camera's self-timer to approximately 10 seconds when the shutter release is depressed. The camera's shutter release is the larger button on the top of the camera, just to the left of the film transport knob. Behind the shutter release is the cable release socket for timed exposures.

Top view of Voigtlander Prominent camera

Looking at the lens, the aperture is set by turning the aperture ring in the direction that produces a properly exposed image. On the Ultron 50mm lens, the aperture goes from F/2.0 to F/16. To remove the lens from the body, on the bottom of the lens is a large button you press in; interestingly, you can remove the lens by turning it left or right. Likewise, to put the lens onto the camera body, make sure the large button is on the bottom. You can mount the lens either to the right or left as long as the button end is on the bottom.

 Since the camera utilizes a leaf-style shutter as opposed to the standard focal plane shutter, the flash will sync at any shutter speed, which allows the photographer the ability to control the ambient light with flash much better, and this makes film cameras such as Hasselblad and Rolleiflex cameras ideal for weddings, portraiture, and commercial studio work. On the front of the camera, at the 11:00 position, is the PC sync for flash, along with the flash settings: "X" for electronic flash or "M" for flash bulbs.

To load film into the Voigtländer Prominent camera, on the left side of the camera are two buttons you press to open the camera's back door. Once open, you load the 35mm film just as you would any other 35mm camera. Push up the rewind shaft, drop in the 35mm cassette, and bring the leader over to the camera's take-up spool. Thread the leader into the take-up spool slot and wind the film advance. Make sure the film's sprocket holes are in the drive gears and take up the slack. Before closing the back of the film door, I like to turn the rewind knob to take up the slack in the film cassette, so when I close the back and wind to the first frame, I watch the rewind knob turn to make sure the film is actually moving within the camera.

 Once you close the back door, the frame counter needs to be set manually. To do this, lift up on the winding knob, then turn the camera's frame counter to "F" to give you a couple of turns on the film advance until you get to frame number 1.

When you're done with the roll of film, you'll need to rewind it into the film cassette. The rewind knob has an arrow pointing outward. Push the button outwards, and the rewind handle will pop up. Just below the cable release socket is a small button labeled "R". Press the "R" button to disengage the transport gear, then turn the rewind knob clockwise to rewind the film into the film cassette. Once the film is rewound, open the camera back, process the film, and reload the camera with more film. 

 

My Results:

 I loaded the Voigtländer Prominent with a roll of 200-speed film and took one of our dogs to the local dog park to get the pooch some exercise, taking photos of a different area than walking through the neighborhood as I usually do.

 Here are some photos from the local dog park and the shadows on my back patio on a beautifully sunny day in the Portland Area in December. It wasn't a typical December day in this area, so I wanted to make the most of it.

Conclusion:

 I really love this camera. The images are incredibly sharp, and this camera gives Leica and Contax a run for their money. It's exceptionally well-built, the lenses are tremendous, and I like the camera's size and weight.

 The system's weakest link is its lack of lenses, and for many, the camera's focus is a drawback. I've read that people don't like having the viewfinder on the right side, which makes it more challenging for them to use the camera. I don't find it annoying, as others do.

 Here's a link to my other Camera Reviews.

 If you're looking for a camera, lens, or other photo oddity, please stop by my eBay store, Cuny's Cameras and Photo. If there's something that interests you, mention my blog, and I'll offer you a discount.

 Thank you for taking a few minutes from your day to read about this excellent camera with extremely sharp lenses. If I don't post another review before the end of the year, please have a Happy Holiday and a fabulous New Year.

 Until next time, please be safe.