Voigtlander Question ????

[Ronald Bishop]

I found this nice little Voigtlander hiding in my basement, for at least 7/8 years?
It is a Vito Automatic  R
    I don't think the cell is still alive ?
On Auto the shutter works,but from looking through the back I don't think it is closing down, holding it directly into the sun the lens stay wide open.
   I can go to manual and close down to f:22 or whatever I choose.
    My Question is--- What speed does the shutter fire??
The ASA only goes to 400 , and I have tried it on all setting and nothing seems to change.
   Right now I have an old roll of exspired Agfa 800 in it, have no idea how old??

[Dean Williams]

Some page I saw on this said it had a fixed shutter speed of 1/125.  A different page said it has a stepless shutter.  If it fires at the same speed all the time, it could be 1/125, Ron.
If the meter is dead, the aperture should stay wide open when on auto, I think.  I'm guessing the auto exposure used a needle trap to set the aperture.  A little mechanism "catches" the exposure needle, and sets the aperture.  If the meter is dead, it will think you are in low light all the time, since the meter will be at the bottom of the scale, so the aperture will stay wide open.