Voigtländer THE BRILLIANT F7.7 User manual

www.butkus.us




 BRILLIANT
         Ccrmercl
           F14.5
             I
Instructions for use

The movements in their proper
     order when using the Brilliont
    Comerq ore 3 -
     The camera having been loaded, and
      the film wound until the qumber 1 is
     in the window in the base of the
     camera; the indicator put back to
     number 1,
       (1) See that the shutter is correctly set.
       (2) Open the finder hood.
       (3) Judge distance and focus.
       (4) Observe the picture in the finder
        and release the shutter.
       (5) Turn on the film to the next
         number.





G
B
R-

www.butkus.us
                                        Digitally signed by Mike Butkus
                                 cn=Mike Butkus, o,Mike                DN:ou=Butkus.org,
Butkus            email=mike@butkus.org,Date: 2024.11.24 21:58:13c=US-05'00'





                  f ig. 1. The Voigtlander Brilliant
Introduction
      In. spite of the marvellously simple
   construction of the Brilliant Cameral it
  has characteristics r,vhich are usuailv   glly found    complicated apparatus.             in  You are quif_e_ right to be irioud of  your new ',Voigtlander',, ana how   satisfied you u'ill be when the first
  dozen good pictures are in your hands!
  Very tew movements are necessarv
   rn'hen making a picturervith the Brilliani

Camera; these ferv must however be
   understood, we rvould therefore recom-
  mend you to read this booklet so that
   you are conversant with the handling
   of the camera before you start.





                     I'ig. 2. Find.er hood opeu
The Finder
    The finder consists of a large aper-
   ture finder lens 8 (fig.1) a mirror inside
   the camera and a second lens which is
   covered by the folded finder hood when

www.butkus.us
 the camera is not in use. If you lift the
cover by the knob 7 (fig. 2) the other
three sides open of their own aceord.
 If 5'e11 now look dorn'n vertically at this





         Fig. 3. looking  into the find.er

lens from a distance of about 10", you
rvill see the finder picture (fig.3) the
limits of which coincide exactly with
those of the picture thrown on the film.
It is the right way up, is very brilliant

and measures Lslrc"
              square, i.e. two thirds
            the size of the pic-
                ture.
           The four pointers
          on the edges of the
             finder point towards
              the middle of the pie-
      a        ture and enable you
              to see that the came-
           ra is held correctly.
         As a particular size
           of the object in          the finder always            corresponds with a
              certain distance from
           the object, you can
     b       determine the  fo-
www.butkus.us    cussing point with
            the aid of the poin-
            ters. For example:
                    if a man 5' 5" tall ap-
             pears as in (fig.aa)-
             that is, so that the
              vierv of him reaches
          from top to bottom
            of the finder, he is
       e         exactly 7'7" from the
    Fig. a      camera. If the view

exposure), and the instantaneous ex-
                              1/soo Sec. are en-posures from 1 to
graved. The instantaneous speeds are
not engraved as fractions but as rvhole
numbers so that they are easier to
read.





              Fig. 5. Compur Shutter

Instantaneous exposures
  By turning the ring 17 the required
speed is brought opposite the pointer
on the left hand side of the word*Compur". The speeds from 1 to
1/q6s s€c. are all on the same cam so
 8

www.butkus.us
 that the shutter can be set betrveen
any trvo numbers for speeds such as
                                             1/16s s€c. 1/rr which is between 1/ro and
?he shutter must not, however, be set
 between 1/1e6 and the highest speed nor
 between B and 1 sec. The shutier is set
!V ptessing the lever 12 to the right (seen from the front) as far as it wiltgo. In the ordinary way it does not
matter whether you set the speed or.
the tension first. It is, horvevei. better
rvhen using the highest speecl to set
the ring before the shutter is tensioned,
as setting the ring to this speed after
the shutter has been tensioned is rather
difficult. The shutter can be released
either by pressing the lever 1b or the
wire lelease scre.wed into the nipple 18,
Time exposures
  The shutter must not be tensioned for
                                     12liqu exposures, the tensioning leveris locked when the ring is seito ? and
B and if it is forced the shutter will beclamaged. If the letter B is over the
index the shutter will open when pres-
sure is exerted on the wire releaie or
the lever 15 and remain open as long
as the pressure is continued. If you

wish to expose for instance three
   seconds, you should count as follorvs,
   'One little second. Two little seconds.
  Three little seconds". At "One" press
   the release and at the end of "Three
    little seconds" relieve the pressure.
      If the letter ? is over the pointer,  the shutter is opened by the first
  movement of the lever or wire release
  and is shut by a second pressure on
   either of these. This position is used
   for exposures that will last for minutes
    (for example, Night Pictures) and when
   rvorking rvith flashlight.

Focussing
    With the Brilliant F'/4'5 camera, the
   focussing scale for 3 ft. to infinity is
   engraved on the side of the front lens
   cell so that you can control the focussing
  and see the finder picture at the same
  time (fig.3). In this way time is saved
  and mistakes are prevented. By tur-
   ning the lens cell the required distance
   is easily brought under the index on
  the pointer 16 (fig.5). You can of
  course also set the focus between the
             distances if necessary.
  :l*tuuud

www.butkus.us
lris diophrogm q nd,,Depth of Focus,,
    The SkoparFl4'5lens at full aperture
   projects a picture of the fobussing
   plane absolutely sharp right up to th6   corners. If, horvever, it is wished to
   r_eproduce close and distant objects                         *Deptl          at the same time,                                           of   tharply  Focus" is necessary; this can only be  achieved by 'stopping down'
   optical law applying to all makes of
   lenses.
                            diaphragm   . For this purpose the Iris  is provided; it is controlled by tne
  lever 19 (fig.5) which moves over the
  aperture scale 18 on the bottom of the
  Compur Shutter. The smaller the
  aperture number, the larg'er is the
  opening. The aperture values are so
  chosen that the next smaller opening
  always needs double the expos-ure oT
  that immediately preceding it. Whilst
  increasing the "depth of focus" by
  stopping down you also increase the
  exposure necessary so you should al-
  wgys work with the largest possible stop.
   The table on the back of tne finder
  hood gives some idea of the distribution
  of the depth of focus at the different
  focussing points with the various dia-
                                                            1r

phragm openings. If you look along
  the horizontal column opposite the
   focussing point in question until you
  come to the vertical column beneath
   the diaphr:agm nurnber, you rvill find
   the depth of focus in feet that this
   particular setting represents.
                    Focor-lens"Close-vps" with o
    At your photo-dealers you can get a
   Portrait Focar-lens No. 64 rvhich rvill
   enable you to get a large scale picture
  with your Brilliant Camera. If  the
   Focar lens is placed in position over
   the lens cell the focussing is altered to
   the follorving:          www.butkus.us
    With pointer          Sharp
                       40 inches
       zn?et       35
      13    ,,,          31       t',,,
        7))        27
        5),          24       ',t'
          3r,              19
     In close-ups there is a slight displace-
  ment of the finder picture owing to
  the unalterable differenee in position
    12

www.butkus.us
     of the taking and finder lenses: it
      amounts to 1is ttr fe 170 inch. at the front     e{qe of the finder. This discrepancy
      rvhich is knorvn as *parallax" is mucft
      less noticeable in the Brilliant th;;      with most finders, so that it can easilvr     be allorved for with a litile care.
        Portraits are best taken lr,,hen the
     head is slighily turned to one side.
     Should the Focar lens not fit easiiy,     the mount can be pressed in or o"i    u little..
  Holding fhe Comers
        Nlost pictures come out best if you
          exp-ose without r,vasting too much      9.an     time. The Briltiant Cameri has been
        gpe.cia_lly built for this type of picture.       It is however a good i<iea to practice
     the few movements necessary with the
     camera unloaded until eveiything  is     quite instinctive.
     The lanyard fixed to the knob B
        (fig. 1) on the side of the camera is put
     round the neck. It is so long that the     finder comes                       right d.ista"nce away                       llru.    from the eye, if necessary you can cut
    a little off. _ Whilst you aie setting the
     shutter and focus and openingi the

                                                             13

finder hood you should take up a firrn
position as the slightest shake of the
camera during the exposure will result
in double outlines in your pictures.
With the left hand you can hold the
lanyard tight at the same time pressing





            Fig. 6. Ilold.ing the camera
the carnera against the chest (fig.6). In
doing this however you must make
sure that the camera is held quite ver-
tical and horizontal as otherrvise the
lines in your picture will all be
crooked. It is quite easy to see whether
14

www.butkus.us
the camera is held correctly by the four
arrows at the edges of the finder.
Further, when taking pictures of archi-
tecture or such subjects the camera
must on no account be tilted upwards
or downrvards, as this would result in         *drunkenso called             lines".
  The large hooded brilliant finder has
the great advantage that you can watch
the picture not only before but also
during the exposure.
  The shutter is most comfortably re-
Ieased with the thumb on the lever
(fig.6) you must however   as rvith                           -                              anda rifle    find the release positionthen press-   smoothly without a jerk. If
you find that you are moving the
camera when releasing with this lever,
you had better use the wire release
which should be held in a gentle curve
so that the movement of the hand is
not transferred to the camera.
  Exposures of r7* tt' sec. and shorter
can be quite easily made out of the
hand. If you have to expose longer,
the camera must stand still so that you
will place the camera on a table or
other flat surface or the camera should
be screwed on a tripod. For the latter
                                                     15

eventuality, a tripod bush is incorpo-
   rated in the base of the camera. Should
   the screw on the tripod be too long,
     it must be shortened or a washer must
   be placed undemeath the camera as it is
   otherwise possible to damage the thread.





   www.butkus.us
                        tr'ig. 7. Opeuing the base
Looding the Gomero
   On a rollfilm 2r I a X 3r  I ,, (B 2) you
   can make 12 pictures 2r1,," square with
   the Brilliant Camera.
    The loading of the camera with roll-
   film can take place in daylight as the
   actual film is protected by many layers
   of light tight paper. You rn'ill of course
    16

www.butkus.us
not load the camera in brilliant sun-
shine but at least in the shadorv of
your own body. To open the film
chamber, lift the clip 20 (fig.7) 'with
the thumb rvhen the base, and after-
rvards the back, (fig.8) can be easily





                 f ig. 8. Opening the back
opened. By the hinge of the baek is
the film chamber for the empty spool
rvith the film turning knob 1 (fig. 1)
and by the hinge of the base is the film
chamber for the full spool.
  First you must put in the empty
spool, to do this pull out the nickelled
                                                     17

linob 22 (tig. B) on the opposite side of
the film turning knob so that the pindisappears from the inside of the
camera. This knob 22 can be kePt in
this position by turning it slightly to





        Fig. 9. Iuserting the empty spool
the right or left. On the inside of the
film turning knob there is a key 2I
(fig.8) which conveys the movement of
the knob to the spool. If you pull out
the polished knob 2 (fig.9) on the film
turning knob the key 2I disappears
from the spool chamber and the empty
spool can be easily inserted (fig.9).
18

www.butkus.us
 You must take care that the slotted end
   th" spoo| faces the film turning knob. 9l If the knobs 2 and 22 are alloived to
snap back into place and the film
 turning knob is turned a few times to





         Fig. 10. Iuserting the full spool

the right the key rvill automatically find
the slot in the spool.
 The lower spool chamber by the
hinge of the base has two knobs 6 and
10 (fig. 1) which can be pulled out and
held by turning. This is where you put
the full film spool (fig. 10). Here you
must insert the new film spool so that
                                                     19

it lies rvith the point of the safety paper
appearing on the hinge side of the
chamber so that the bottom spool turns
                             emPtYin the same direction as the
spool. As you press the spool tightly





Fig. 11. Attention  ! Thread safety paper like thie
against the spring in the film chamber
you can release the knobs and the pins
rvill hold the spool firmlY.
  Now remove the seal of the new sPool
with your finger nail, drarv the safetypaper about ('  out and take thg Point
underneath the plush light trap (fig.11),
so as to run smoothly over the gliding-

 20

www.butkus.us
rolls provided for this purpose. It  is
wrong to d.raw the safety-paper over
the light-trap or to thread it und.er
the glitling-roll as otherrvise the film
u'ould be scratched and the camera





         Fig. r2. f ixing the safety paper
thereby damaged. Finally insert the
p-oint of the safety paper in the long
iJ-ot of the empty spool in the upper
{ifm chamber (fig. 12). By turning ihefilm     turning knob, the safety paper        -should be rolled on one or two fufns.
so that it is lying tightly in the picture
opening of the camera. At the same
                                                     2!