Voigtländer developed the Vitomatic series of viewfinder and rangefinder cameras for 35mm film with coupled meter as an alternate camera series to the Vito. All the Vitomatic were derived from the Vito B, in parallel to the development of the Vito BL and BR and all have the bottom lock to open the back. The Vitomatic I are viewfinders and the Vitomatic II and III are rangefinders. The Voigtlander Vitomatic was originally released in 1957 with the Vitomatic I and is and was an exceptionally compact, well-built camera. Everything is made of metal and glass, creating a dense weight camera. Levers, knobs, and the numerous lens-mounted control rings all click precisely into their detents. The Vitomatic is a well-built quality camera. The Voigtlander Vitomatic Ia was released in 1960 and manufacturing was ceased in 1963. It is a viewfinder camera with a selenium light meter with match-needle indicators visible through a window on the top of the camera. Models designated with a letter suffix (a, b, and cs), such as the “a” here, also feature a mirrored needle display in the viewfinder window. You match the two needles by altering aperture and shutter speed until the needles align. The shutter is a Prontor SLK-V with speeds of 1 second to 1/500 of a second plus B. It is capable of accepting film with ASA 12 to 800 (DIN 12-30) and focus range for the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 50mm f2.8 lens is 3.5 feet (1m) to infinity. The ASA and or DIN settings are changed by depressing the serrated button between the shutter speed ring and the focus ring. Holding the button in you then turn the split rings against each other (The split rings are between both sets of aperture numbers) while watching the window for the ASA or DIN setting you need. Setting distance is left to the photographer’s best guess. The Ia is at the lower end of the Vitomatic’s and was not fitted with a rangefinder. Other features of the camera are a utility shoe, three flash sync settings (v, x, & M), flash plug-in socket, frame counter, large viewfinder, film rewind knob on the top, right thumb single action film advance lever, a shutter release button with a screw in socket for a plunger, and a ¼ inch 20 thread tripod socket. The camera pictured here is in fine condition and worth $45.00 in 2020.