James's Camera Collection: Voigtländer Brilliant

Voigtländer Brilliant West Germany Other Voigtlander Cameras Twin Lens Reflex cameras
Voigtlander Brilliant
Film type: Roll film size 120 (2¼ inches square)
Approx. dates of manufacture: 1932 - 1938
Approx. original price: unknown
Approx. street value: perhaps $30.00 to $50, depending on model and whether it has the filters

click for larger adVoigtländer made two TLRs, the Superb and the Brilliant. The Superb is a killer of a camera, and even now they're hellishly expensive. The Brilliants were the economy line cameras. The first version, which is what I've got, came out in 1932. Technically, it's not even a TLR, since the upper lens can't be focused, thus it isn't a "twin". If you want to be a real snot, this should be called a waist-level reflex camera, just like the old Exaktas used to be called eye-level SLRs because up to that point, SLR cameras all had waist-level finders. Later Brilliants truly had twin lenses and the upper lens could focus, which made them more useful.

What I always thought made these later models truly nifty (and mine does not have this, of course) was a side compartment where a couple of filters were tucked in. How cool is that?

Camera manual: Orphan Cameras.com

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