Introduction
“Wow” that’s what I thought when I first spotted this Voigtländer Perkeo hiding on a shelf among fifteen or so very average 35mm viewfinder cameras.
I wasn’t expecting to find anything special in a remote town in the Scottish Borders, but in a lovely little antique shop I noticed a dusty shelf of cameras, and one camera in particular caught my eye.
Inside a beautiful ever‑ready case, darker and better made than anything around it, sat this gorgeous Perkeo. My first impression was how small it was — not just “small for medium format”, but small even in a row of 35mm cameras.
The moment I opened the case, I knew I had to have it. The camera itself was in immaculate condition, complete with a genuine accessory yellow filter and rather nice Voigtländer branded lens hood. A quick check revealed the most pleasant surprise…it was working flawlessly.
At £50 it was my most expensive find to date, but rescuing a camera this nice felt worth every penny.
The exact camera we have here is a later Perkeo I, ’53 onwards I think as it has double exposure prevention, a later addition. Perkeo (meaning Pygmy) was Voigtländer’s effort to make medium format available in a body more similar to their popular 35mm cameras. It was a middle ground, slotting in alongside the (mostly 6×9) Bessa range which offered absolute quality, as a compact 6×6 alternative.
Disclaimer: As you will know from my introduction to this site this will not be a technical or scientific review. Just my genuine impressions of the experience of shooting with this camera, how it makes me feel as a photographer and how it is to live with.
For a history of the Voigtländer Perkeo see: https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Voigtl%C3%A4nder_Perkeo_(6×6)
Appearance
Voigtländer is one of the oldest names in photography, and in the 1950s they were at the peak of their success with an offering for every photographer. For everyday shooters they had the Vito range (which I love), for medium format quality they had the Bessa range (review coming soon). But what if you wanted the quality of a medium format Bessa and the compact go‑anywhere size of a Vito?
Enter the Perkeo.
This was Voigtländer’s smallest 6×6 camera, and it’s really impressive in the hand. The Zeiss Nettar I’d been using was just as pocketable, but it didn’t feel anywhere near this well put together. It’s not a completely fair comparison, Zeiss had a more direct 1950s price-competitor in the Ikonta line, but at todays prices, the step up to the Perkeo isn’t nearly as big.
Look at the Nettar in isolation and it’s a quality camera, sit it next to the Perkeo and the difference is night and day. The Perkeo’s superpower isn’t its size — it’s how much quality Voigtländer managed to pack into such a small body.
Once you’ve held a Perkeo, everything else at this price point feels cheap. Every surface, every lever, every click feels engineered with purpose. The chrome finish is gorgeous — I said in my Vito B review that the finish on Voigtländer cameras is wonderful , and that’s even more true here. Everything presses, turns, and opens in such a precise, tactile way…you can feel the craftsmanship that went into every detail.
The front is a simple affair, there’s a central raised door (for the lens & bellows) between top and bottom chrome plates. The leather finish between looks as good today as when it left the factory…unusually for a camera over half a century old, there’s not a single sign of lifting or fading .
The back is finished the same with the branding, classic “Voigtländer” font to the top and “PERKEO I” in plain capitals below, noticeable in its subtlety. There’s the ever-present central red window to see your frame number. Here, rather than a cheap sliding door we get an adjacent metal dial which moves a cover internally (marked with a handy “X” so you know it’s in place) to block the light. It just feels quality.
On the top plate there’s a near-central cold shoe. To the left as you use the camera is a small viewfinder and a perfectly damped metal knob to advance the film. To the right, a metal shutter button and a tiny little window for the double exposure prevention indicator.
The sides are simple with a door hinge and a door catch on each side. The door catch can be released by pinching two metal pieces at the top and bottom of the latch. This is one of the more robust latches I’ve seen, with no risk of accidentally opening the door.
The base plate has only the tripod thread and small door release button.
The whole camera feels dense too — not heavy enough to weigh you down, but solid in a way that feels like it was carved from a single block of metal. Reassuring. Precise. A delight to use.
If I had one criticism of the design, it’s a bit too understated…I would have loved to have seen some the classic Voigtländer script somewhere on the chrome, similar to the Vito, or at least something to break up the classic but exceptionally plain front.
Controls
On the Perkeo and many other 120 cameras from this time the majority of the controls can be found around the front of the lens when extended. From front to back on the lens assembly you have…
- A focus ring with a ~270 degree throw. It’s quite heavily damped for lots of precision. My example is 3.5ft to infinity with a hard stop at infinity and a little bit of extra travel past 3.5ft. There’s also markers for long (circle) and mid-distance (triangle) zone focusing distances, Depth of field aperture numbers are visible from the front in small but clear font.
- A shutter speed dial, a slim metal ring with a block line on the front which should be aligned to the desired shutter speed on the side of the lens assembly. Note there are no “stops”, the dial turns freely and can be left between speeds. While on some cameras intermediate speeds can be selected that is not the case here and I never recommend doing this, always ensure a speed is exactly selected.
- A shutter cocking lever, just next to the speed markings a plain metal lever. This should be gently pulled to a stop (about 30 degrees) after a shutter speed is selected, it will flip back when you fire the shutter.
- A self-timer lever, on the opposite side to the shutter cocking lever with a red dot on it. In theory this should be pulled all the way up after setting the shutter, prior to release, for an 8 second delay. This is sadly not working on my camera, as is common with this type of delayed release mechanism.
- An aperture select lever tucked away by the bellows, small but easy to access
The Perkeo I came with a number of shutter options, this “Prontor-S” among the most basic, but still provides a good range of speeds, topping out at a decent-if-not-amazing 1/300s.
The release for the door to fold the lens and bellows away is two buttons just by the lens, on the inside of the door. Both must be pressed and the door will then close. This is a really simple but effective solution, unlikely to be accidentally released like some, while still being easy to do intentionally.
On the top plate you have the shutter release button, which requires you to have pre-tensioned the shutter and the film advance knob. We do have double exposure prevention too, a tiny window near the shutter button shows an arrow, pointing towards the lens when you’re ready to take a photo and towards the camera back when you need to wind the film on….nice!
The viewfinder is small, and even with my glasses off I struggle to get close enough to see the edges of the frame. The best approach is to frame your subject well inside what you can see, and then the worst-case is you have slightly more in the picture than you thought….rarely an issue.
Overall everything is where you expect it and feels well put together. It’s all nice and simple once you get the hang of it.
Loading and Unloading
Unlike 35mm cameras which have a wide variety of loading and unloading methods, there’s not much variation in compact 120 medium format cameras and you can read more in my earlier reviews.
The Perkeo is as straightforward as any other camera in its class. You open the back by squeezing the metal tabs on the side latch together. Next insert your empty spool on the left by pulling forward a tab on the bottom which is a hinge. Your spool goes in at an angle between that and the catch in the fixed advance knob at the top. As you push the hinged tab back in the spool straightens up and is held tight.
To add the full spool on the right (new film) there’s a different set-up. Pull a metal tab at the top and the whole spool mount, top to bottom, hinges forward clear of the body. Now visible on the side is a tab to extend the bottom piece downwards freeing any existing spool. Add the new spool, let it spring back into place, and then push the spool back in on the hinge. It’s rather simple in action
Next you pull the film leader (tapered edge of the roll) across the chamber, keeping it tight at all times, and insert it through the empty “take up” spool. Give that spool a couple of turns with the top plate knob to ensure the film is tight then close the back and continue advancing until you see the number “1” appear in the little red window.
Unloading is even easier. Once you’re done with a roll keep winding the film all the way until the last of the film crosses the red window (far beyond the last frame) then open the back and stick the film end down tight with the ready-to-go strip at the end.
Because 120 film isn’t sealed away in a light tight plastic canister like 35mm film all of this should be done in subdued light, else you might expose the film to some light and ruin your precious images. The backing paper should be completely lightproof, but it’s always better to be cautious.
There’s a few unique ways of doing things here, but it’s all straightforward when you get used to it.
Shooting Experience
On paper, the Perkeo works like any other folding medium‑format camera: shutter, aperture, focus on the lens. But the details matter.
Although similar to the Zeiss in layout the lens controls are better spaced out, which means you don’t need quite so much precision to use them…a small change that makes a big difference in how the camera feels to use.
You can tell Voigtländer’s engineers thought about the photographer, not just the mechanics. The rhythm of shooting is perfect once you get used to everything.
advance film – set aperture – set shutter – focus – compose – release – repeat
There’s no light-meter or rangefinder as aids but as a slow and steady landscape camera the little Perkeo gives you everything you need. You can use an app or external light-meter anyway.
As with my other 6×6 cameras, I enjoy the limitation of 12 photos per roll, it forces me to slow down, to consider every single photo. And slow photography is exactly what this kind of camera is perfect for.
My only real complaint with the Perkeo is that small viewfinder, it feels out of place with the rest of the quality on offer here.
Other than that I thoroughly enjoy the experience anytime I take the Perkeo out. It’s just fun to use all of it’s precisely engineered controls, and the results at the end become a (very nice!) bonus.
Gallery
All the photos below were taken with my Voigtländer Perkeo I.
Reliability
Disclaimer: Every vintage camera is different, and the condition of my specific example will likely differ from yours.
As soon as you hold the Perkeo in your hands, you can feel how well put together it is.
Bellows are always a potential weak point, they can develop pinholes with age, but at least here the folding mechanism is strong and the solid metal shell means everything is well protected when not in use. The side opening door isn’t my favourite as the camera can’t be set down on a side open as safely compared to a bottom hinged door.
As is usual for 1950s cameras, there’s no light seals to decay, no rangefinder to go out of alignment.
The Prontor shutter is well tested on millions of cameras from all brands. Of course, without a CLA there’s no guarantees it’s accurate (likely slow) but it should be good enough with proper storage. The aperture blades free of oil, suggesting the lubricants have aged well too.
The self-timer is a common weak-spot, and that proved to be the case on my camera. I don’t worry too much about this, there’s better cameras for snapshot photography out there anyway.
This is a solid camera, as robust as a 1950s folder could be expected to be.
Lenses
The original Perkeo came with a choice of lenses:
- Vaskar 75mm or 80mm f/4.5 (triplet)
- Color‑Skopar 80mm f/3.5 (Tessar‑type, top tier)
My copy has the entry‑level Vaskar 80mm — roughly a 40mm equivalent. On paper, this is Voigtländer’s competitor to the Zeiss Novar I’ve already tested so I didn’t expect much. In reality? In the right circumstances it’s much better.
Stopped down (f/11–f/16), this lens is incredibly sharp. This was the first time I truly saw the resolution potential of medium format. When the scans came back from the lab, for the second time with this camera my reaction was simply: “Wow.”
Pair this lens with a fine‑grained film like Kodak Ektar on a sunny day and you’ll be amazed. I’d definitely recommend high‑resolution scans — this lens deserves it.
Wide open, you get the expected vignetting and soft corners, but this isn’t a camera designed for wide‑open shooting. There’s no rangefinder here.
You do also lose a lot of contrast against bright lights but some of that can be improved when you get the scans back from the lab.
The impressive thing is, this is a pocketable camera that gives you razor‑sharp 6×6 landscapes on a sunny day…when that’s what you’re looking for, the Perkeo is something special.
Who’s It For
- People who enjoy slow and deliberate photography
- People who want a portable camera for 6×6 landscape photography
- People who appreciate camera engineering and design
Conclusion
When a photographer enjoys the process they tend to take better photographs and that was the case with the Perkeo…this is the first and only camera to date I’ve got a roll back and loved every single negative. That’s not a coincidence, nor luck, nor any skill on my part, that’s thanks to a brilliant camera that inspires rather than distracts.
It’s a beautiful piece of engineering, robust and intuitive. It’s light enough to travel with you, small enough to slip in a jacket, good enough to be no compromise to the sunny-day landscape photographer.
With most cameras there are trade offs, here Voigtländer refused to compromise. If the focal length works for you, and you don’t need a rangefinder, you won’t find a better photography experience in many other places at this price point
It’s worth remembering the camera I’m reviewing here is the entry to the Perkeo range, if you have the budget there are Perkeo’s out there with rangefinders and with high-end Skopar lenses. If this is the entry level, anything more is just Voigtländer showing off.
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