Prominent refers to two distinct lines of rangefinder cameras made by Voigtländer. The first Prominent, stylized in all-caps as PROMINENT and also known as the Prominent 6×9 to distinguish it from the later camera line, was a folding, fixed-lens rangefinder camera that used

120 film 120 is a film format for still photography introduced by Kodak for their '' Brownie No. 2'' in 1901. It was originally intended for amateur photography but was later superseded in this role by 135 film. 120 film survives to this day as the only ...

and was first marketed in 1932. Relatively few were sold and the post-war Prominent, using

135 film 135 film, more popularly referred to as 35 mm film or 35 mm, is a format of photographic film used for still photography. It is a film with a film gauge of loaded into a standardized type of magazine – also referred to as a casse ...

, is better known. The second Prominent (stylized with

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as ) was a line of

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

interchangeable lens A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder camera, singl ...

cameras built after World War II in the 1950s, equipped with leaf shutters. The second line of Prominent cameras were marketed as professional system cameras against the

Leica Leica Camera AG () is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes and microscopes. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar), in Wetzlar, Germany. ...

threadmount and M bayonet mount and Zeiss Ikon

Contax Contax (stylised as CONTAX in the Kyocera era) began as a German camera model in the Zeiss Ikon line in 1932, and later became a brand name. The early cameras were among the finest in the world, typically featuring high quality Zeiss intercha ...

rangefinder camera lines. Voigtländer also sold the Vitessa and

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lines of compact 35mm rangefinders contemporaneously, generally equipped with fixed, collapsible normal lenses, as less-expensive alternatives to the Prominent.

Cameras

Prominent 6×9

The Prominent 6×9 was introduced in 1932 as the top-of-the-line folding rollfilm camera from Voigtländer, which also sold similar models with fewer features as the Bessa, Virtus, Perkeo, and Inos. The base-board opens when a button is depressed, and the spring-loaded lens carrier advances to the correct position, making the camera ready for exposure. It is equipped with a fixed ''Heliar'' anastigmat 105 mm lens, developed contemporaneously with and similar to the Carl Zeiss '' Tessar'', and one of two supplemental ''Focar'' close-up lenses can be added for portraits or

macro photography Macro photography (or photomacrography or macrography, and sometimes macrophotography) is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is grea ...

. The Compur leaf shutter features speeds ranging from 1– sec, plus "B"ulb and "T"imer settings along with a self-timer delayed release. An extinction meter is used to set the appropriate aperture and

shutter speed In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light (that is, when the camera's shutter (photography), shutter is open) when taking a photograph. The am ...

. Records indicate that approximately 10,000 Prominent 6×9 cameras were made from 1932 to 1935, including 5 prototypes with a faster "Turbo" shutter with a top speed of sec. The Prominent 6×9 was renamed to the Bessa Rangefinder starting in 1935, capitalizing on the more recognized branding.

"Miniature" Prominent 35mm

The "miniature" Prominent which takes 135 film was introduced in 1952 and produced until 1958, when it was succeeded by the , which was produced until 1960. The original Prominent (135) included numerous detail improvements over its production run, mainly to minor items including the inclusion of strap lugs and a film reminder on the baseplate with later models; the Prominent II has a distinctive, larger Albada-type viewfinder and square rangefinder window, while the original Prominent has a smaller, rectangular viewfinder and round rangefinder window, although the camera bodies are basically the same. The earliest Prominent (135) has a Synchro-Compur shutter with a top speed of sec, which was updated to sec within a year.

Operation

Exposure (aperture and shutter speed) are set on the lens, while focus is set using a knob on the top deck, operated by the photographer's left hand.

Lenses

The primary normal lenses were branded ''Ultron'' and ''Nokton''; both lens types were designed by Albrecht Tronnier. Stephen Gandy notes the "''Nokton'' was one of the very best fast lenses of the 50's, even a good performer by today's standards." The initial set of accessory lenses, the ''Ultragon'' wide-angle and the ''Telomar'' telephoto, were each attached to a reflex housing to assist focus; the ''Telomar'' also was designed by Tronnier.

References

External links

* * {{Voigtländer 135 film cameras Voigtländer rangefinder cameras