The Voigtländer Brillant 2x Zoom a simple mid-range 35mm film camera.
There is little information about this camera, the same camera was also
marketed as Braun Trend 60 Zoom with little information either. It was
probably released in the late 90s when the digital market was not
coming up yet.
Voigtländer is probably the oldest optical company in the world. It was founded in 1797 in
Vienna, Austria, by Johann Christoph Voigtländer. If you are interested
in the pre-WWII history of the company, please have a look at this page (opens in a new window).
Voigtländer was re-opened after the WWII. In 1956 Voigtländer and Zeiss-Ikon, another well reknown pre-WWI and II
company, came together under the roof of the Carl Zeiss Stiftung
(Foundation). They worked together, had different factories, but also
made cameras with both brands on them. In 1971 the Voigtländer brand
was sold to Rollei (Zeiss Ikon closed all camera production in 1972).
Under the Rollei reign Voigtländer mainly made Rollei models which were
slightly simplified and sold at a lower price. All production was soon
moved to Singapore. Nevertheless the Japanese cameras had more success
on the market and the Singapore factory was closed in 1981. Until 1997
there were no Voigtländer cameras anymore.
In 1997 the Ringfoto group aquired the name rights and since then sells branded
analog and digital cameras under the Voigtländer name, as well as
lenses and digital frames. They kept the name rights within Germany to
sell branded cameras, but they also sell Cosina Voigtländer products.
Since 1999 a part of the Voitländer name belongs to Cosina. They make new Voigtländer cameras and lenses.
So this camera was distributed by Ringfoto. It has a wide angle zoom that covers 28-56mm. The "Brillant" name
initially stood for a famous 6x6 Twin Lens Reflex Camera. There is
another series of modern 35mm Point and Shoot cameras called Brillant
AF with various bodies, but without Zoom.
The camera's main features are:
28-56mm F5.6-10 lens Electronic shutter Size 113x65x35, Weight 185 gr. 100-400
ISO, only 2 contacts present, automatic DX coding, automatic film advance, AF and AE, special
modes: red eye reduction, flash off, fill-in flash, infinity
mode without flash, self timer
Some pictures of the cmera:
Camera
front closed.
Camera
back. Viewer with 1 LED for flash charging. Film type window. To the right: Battery compartment, takes a CR123 battery. Camera front open. The flash is set automatically.
The lens moves automattically to 28mm. The lens set to tele position, 56mm.
View
from above. Self
timer button, mid roll rewind, mode button, LCD
screen.Wide/Tele buttons, shutter
release button, On/off button. View from below. Tripod socket.
Film compartment.
Original case or pouch.
This
camera is easy to use.
Autofocus is not confirmed, but works well. Putting a film is easy as well,
you drop the film, tear the film leader up to the mark and that's it. The
camera winds it automatically. It has some settings if needed,
the menu is very easy to access on a clear LCD screen.
It's
a point and shoot camera
with a wide angle zoom lens. It sets the flash on from
start, but has a flash off mode. It sets the flash again after each photo which is annoying. Nevertheless a
nice camera, easy point and shoot with wide angle zoom.
