R4a, My First Impressions

[rover]

All positive, a truly unique camera, a superior tool for wide angle shooters.

Ok, I will ramble a little, hopefully answer some questions you may have, and share the answers to those that I had.

The R4 is a great camera for lenses 21mm to 35mm. The 21mm framelines are more visible than the 28mm lines on my Leica M6TTL. 25 is like 35 on the M6, 28 just a perfect hair narrower and 35 like an M6 50mm frameline. In all honesty, I have not looked at the 50mm lines in the R4a, and may never do so.

What makes the finder so wide and wonderful? Well I think we have a borrowed idea from the ZI. The viewfinder eyepiece is very big, larger than that on my M6. I will be interested to see Joe's impression having his R4m next to his ZI. The finder is clear and bright, someone somewhere mentioned a greenish tint, yup it is there.

I have screwed on on bunch of lenses. 21 Skopar infringes just a sliver with its standard hood. 28 Skopar is the same, just a little less visible in the 28mm framelines. Now I do have the LH-1 rectangular hood, no, that doesn't work. It is a big problem actually and I won't use it with this camera on the 21 or 28. The big hood blocks a full 1/3 of the view of the 21mm framelines and a big chunk of the 28s. Too much to use it with either lens on this camera.

I think this camera is perfect for a 28 or 25mm lens. Both give you about the same size finder area as the 35mm framelines in an M6 without distortion. The 28 Ultron though is a bit much though. It blocks about the lower right quarter of the 28mm frame area.

35 Ultron, perfect, not an issue at all. You won't even see a smaller 35mm lens. Focusing the 35/1.7 felt very confident too. With the shorter EBL I don't know that I would give the 35/1.2 Nokton a try, but I saw nothing tonight to concern me about the Ultron.

So in my bag is the R4a, 21 and 28 Skopars and 35 Ultron. I think a little Classic 35 Skopar is in my near future. And Monday when I head out for the day to shoot I will add my M3 50 and 85mm lenses, perhaps the perfect partner for this new lady in town.

 

[Rob-F]

Thanks! Now let's see if someone will chime in with some reports of the amount of finder intrusion with the current Leica wides. How are the 21, 24, 28, and 35 ASPH lenses on this body?

 

[back alley]

rover, my assumption is that the finder will be very zeiss like, my hope anyway.
as to lenses...
my zm 25 is 60mm in length and the 21/2.8 is 64mm long. i hope it's not too long for the r4.
the new 21/4.5 comes in at 31mm in length. all have a filter size of 46mm.
but 4.5 is very slow...

 

[biomed]

All positive, a truly unique camera, a superior tool for wide angle shooters.

The finder is clear and bright, someone somewhere mentioned a greenish tint, yup it is there.

Rover,
The viewfinder is wonderful. There is only very small amount of barrel distortion - hardly notieable - not at all like the 21mm brightline finder. The green tint is an antiglare coating like that used in eyeglasses. The R3A doesn't have it. Must be necessary for the WA viewfinder. The R4M metering seems to tighter (more center weighted) than the R3A (IMHO).

I have the CV 21/4 and 35/2.5 classic. I am leaning toward the 28/3.5 instead of the new 25P lens. I feel that it may be too close to the 21.

It is a fantastic camera. Enjoy using it!

 

[ray_g]

The 28 Ultron though is a bit much though. It blocks about the lower right quarter of the 28mm frame area.

Is that with the hood on or off?

 

[Krosya]

I was wondering about the shutter. Is it the same as other Bessas or not as loud? Since you have Leicas - how would you rate it next to M3/M6's shutter?
What about other mechanics - film transport, rewind? Better than earlier models? Similar to Leica?

 

[rover]

Is that with the hood on or off?

On, we have to get together for a coffee soon and I will bring it along.

 

[rover]

I was wondering about the shutter. Is it the same as other Bessas or not as loud? Since you have Leicas - how would you rate it next to M3/M6's shutter?
What about other mechanics - film transport, rewind? Better than earlier models? Similar to Leica?

Shutter noise has really never bothered me.

I always say that the Leica shutter is by no means silent as rumored, it is quiet and has a low pitch which blends well into background noise.

The R4 shutter is louder but also has a low pitch, less metallic than what I remember from my R, R2 or R3a. It is very well dampened, clearly quieter than an SLR with it's mirror slap. It can also be dampened further by being set in the $1 half case Stephen has in stock while they last. I think Photo Village offers the same bargain with the purchase of a body.

Mechanics are excellent. Better than earlier models? Again.... well I have a T now and I did pick it up to take the grip off it and I did notice that the 4 did feel pretty good compared to the T, but again......I have no complains with the T. Similar to Leica? It is 100% fine quality. I have said this before. A Leica is built like a NASA $100,000 toilet seat. Nice that it will survive a catastrophic re-entry into the atmosphere, but a bit over engineered for the simple task it is intended for. Now a Leica is a wonderful machine. The quality of which they are built is no surprise considered they were designed in the 1950s. The remarkable thing to me is that they were not re-designed along the way and modernized as every other camera has. A Leica stands out today as a symbol of the high quality with which things were manufactured in 1954, something we are not used to today.

Is the R4 as smooth as a Leica? No, but it is excellent, and rather than saying it is better or worst, I will say it is different. I don't expect that anyone legitimately can be disappointed by it.

 

[Trius]

Rover: "survive a catastrophic re-entry" ... and why would I want the toilet seat to survive? 😀

 

[rover]

Is that with the hood on or off?

I screwed my 28 Ultron on the R4a again this morning.

The lower right quarter of the 28mm area in the finder is effected by the Ultron. I estimate that with the standard hood on 2/3 of this quarter is blocked, without the hood 1/2 is blocked.

 

[rbiemer]

Rover,
Thanks for the report! When first i learned about the R4 cameras, I was enthused and now that enthusiasm is growing.
I guess I'm not too sensitive about shutter noise either; I figure the folks around me notice that I have a camera or not and I'm not going to even try to be "stealthy", I will continue to shoot or not mostly as I please. 'course, the first camera I ever used was my grandfather's Argus C-3 and one of my favorites is the Arax 60(tweaked Kiev 60). Nothing quiet about those!

A Leica stands out today as a symbol of the high quality with which things were manufactured in 1954, something we are not used to today.

Leica was/is certainly the top of this phenomenon but even my(approximately contemporary) Kodak Retina 1a exhibits a good deal of this outlook. The higher end models weren't made better, they had more capability.
A very different business model than what is common today, I think.
Rob

 

[Empire]

Hello Rover,

With the larger finder, do you think it will be easier for glasses wearers to see the meter readings?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Krosya]

Rover: "survive a catastrophic re-entry" ... and why would I want the toilet seat to survive? 😀

Thats probably just in case you will be on it when that happens. 😉😀

 

[Krosya]

Shutter noise has really never bothered me.

I always say that the Leica shutter is by no means silent as rumored, it is quiet and has a low pitch which blends well into background noise.

The R4 shutter is louder but also has a low pitch, less metallic than what I remember from my R, R2 or R3a. It is very well dampened, clearly quieter than an SLR with it's mirror slap. It can also be dampened further by being set in the $1 half case Stephen has in stock while they last. I think Photo Village offers the same bargain with the purchase of a body.

Mechanics are excellent. Better than earlier models? Again.... well I have a T now and I did pick it up to take the grip off it and I did notice that the 4 did feel pretty good compared to the T, but again......I have no complains with the T. Similar to Leica? It is 100% fine quality. I have said this before. A Leica is built like a NASA $100,000 toilet seat. Nice that it will survive a catastrophic re-entry into the atmosphere, but a bit over engineered for the simple task it is intended for. Now a Leica is a wonderful machine. The quality of which they are built is no surprise considered they were designed in the 1950s. The remarkable thing to me is that they were not re-designed along the way and modernized as every other camera has. A Leica stands out today as a symbol of the high quality with which things were manufactured in 1954, something we are not used to today.

Is the R4 as smooth as a Leica? No, but it is excellent, and rather than saying it is better or worst, I will say it is different. I don't expect that anyone legitimately can be disappointed by it.

Thanks for the answer. As far as a NASA toilet seat - I wonder if you can get that on Ebay? 😉

 

[Trius]

Thats probably just in case you will be on it when that happens. 😉😀

Point taken!