C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Voigtländer Ultramatic (1961) is a 35mm single-lens reflex camera produced in Braunschweig, West Germany, by Voigtländer GmbH. It is the automatic companion to the Bessamatic, sharing the same Deckel (DKL) lens mount and most of the same lens range, but replacing the Bessamatic's manual-priority exposure system with a fully automatic aperture-priority mode — set the aperture, aim, and the camera selects the correct shutter speed.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
West Germany's answer to the fully automatic SLR — the Voigtländer Ultramatic combined a Deckel-mount leaf shutter with selenium-cell aperture-priority automation to deliver effortless exposures in a superbly engineered body built to the Voigtländer standard of excellence.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm (24×36 mm) |
| Mount | Deckel (DKL) bayonet |
| Years | 1961–1967 |
| Shutter | Synchro-Compur leaf: 1s – 1/500s + B |
| Flash sync | All speeds up to 1/500s |
| Meter | Selenium ring cell, TTL-coupled |
| Exposure | Aperture-priority auto + manual |
| Viewfinder | Pentaprism, 95% coverage, 0.8× |
| Focus | Manual, split-prism + microprism |
| Battery | None (selenium) |
Voigtländer had established itself as one of Germany's premier optical companies by the postwar era, with a distinguished history stretching to 1756. The Bessamatic, introduced in 1959, was the company's first SLR and used the DKL mount — a joint specification agreed by Deckel (shutter manufacturer), Kodak, and Voigtländer to provide a standardised mount for interchangeable lenses behind a leaf shutter.
The Ultramatic followed in 1961, repositioning the DKL system against the emerging tide of Japanese focal-plane SLRs by emphasising full-auto operation and superior flash capability. The CS (CdS selenium) variant of 1963 added a CdS cell alongside the selenium cell for better low-light metering.
Voigtländer's camera operations were acquired by Zeiss Ikon in 1965, and the Braunschweig factory eventually closed in 1972 as the combined Zeiss Ikon entity restructured. The Ultramatic was one of the last cameras bearing the Voigtländer name on a body made in Germany. The Voigtländer brand was later revived by Ringfoto and subsequently by Cosina in Japan.
The Ultramatic demonstrates that the DKL leaf-shutter SLR system was technically competitive with focal-plane alternatives, offering genuine automatic exposure and superior flash capability. Its selenium metering without batteries prefigures modern interest in battery-free photography. The Voigtländer optical range — particularly the Septon 50/2 and Color-Ultron 50/1.8 — is recognised as among the finest 35mm SLR glass of the 1960s, and these lenses can be adapted to modern cameras.
DKL-mount Voigtländer lenses: Color-Ultron 50/1.8, Septon 50/2, Skoparex 35/3.4, Color-Skopar 50/2.8, Dynarex 90/3.4, Super-Dynarex 135/4. DKL lenses by Schneider Kreuznach (Curtagon 35/2.8, Xenon 50/1.9) and Rodenstock (Heligon 50/1.9). Accessories: close-up lenses, filters in DKL slip-on size, Voigtländer flash units.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Voigtländer Ultramatic
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