Bessa for 40mm and 28mm

[philipp.leser]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently thinking about buying a Bessa. Coming from Nikon SLRs I use my 50mm f/1.4 for almost 95% of all the photos I take, mostly using available light in street photography or indoors situation. While I love that lens, it always seems to be just a tiny bit too long.

This is where the Nokton 40mm comes into play. I think this could be almost ideal for my situation.

Now: I don't intent to use anything longer than this 40mm on a Bessa (I still have the SLR and medium format gear for portraiture and macro applications), but I might eventually want to use a wider lens.

I've read good things about the Ultron 28mm, and the fast aperture would nicely fit my shooting style should I decide to buy it at some point.

Now to my question: I feel like none of the Bessas would be an obvious match for using both the 40mm and the 28mm lens, using the 40mm most of the time. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Philipp

 

[noimmunity]

The R3A or R3M with an external viewfinder, either the 28/35 mini or the metal 28.
Since you say that 40 will be your main lens, the R3A is probably best for that FL (unless perhaps you wear glasses). The 1:1 finder is a joy, but I do find myself wishing there were more space around the framelines (one of the attractions to RF photography in general, I find).
Wides such as the 28 are often used at hypefocal distance anyway, so coupled focusing isn't so crucial. At f/8 you could just frame and shoot. Then when the light dims you still have the coupled focusing. Plus since you like to do portraits, you might one day consider adding a 75 (even though it is not in your plans now). The CV color heliar is sweet and inexpensive.
You do say that you might want to go wider. You could easily put the 40 on an R4* with the 35 framelines, but I don't think the short baseline of the Bessa R4A is ideal for using the 40/1.4 close up and wide open. How often do you expect to shoot in that situation? Well, you could probably get away with it most of the time, but I couldn't. By the way, a 28 on the R4 is heaven.

My advice is to start with the R3* for a 28/40 system and then eventually acquire an R4* as you move deeply into wides.

 

[jmilkins]

Welcome to RFF Philipp.

I agree with Jon above - I use an R3a combo with the 40mm 1.4 MC CV lens or a rokkor 40/2 and a Komura 28mm 3.5 with its external viewfinder. Or the 25mm color skopar which great with its click stops, though f4 sounds too slow for you. The 75mm color heliar is a gem.

I particularly like the 50mm frameline on the R3a as it does what Jon noted above - a bit of space in the viewfinder - very nice and you can get deeply into 50mms. I only have 6 so am a relative pauper here ;-)

If you go wider I highly recommend the 15mm CV heliar - one of my favorites.

 

[philipp.leser]

Thanks for the warm welcome and the suggestions!

I think I'm going to go for an R3A + 40mm for now and add the Ultron and an external viewfinder later.

For my Nikon DSLR I have a Tokina 12-24mm which I barely use (too slow, too wide except for the 20-24mm end of the zoom range), so I'm probably not an Ultra Wide Heliar type of person.

 

[Nh3]

Go for R3M. Mechanical shutter and no automation but it has an excellent built-in meter. Its also slightly quieter compared to R3A.

 

[raid]

I prefer the Bessa T and L, plus Leica M bodies. The T and the L have excellent TTL metering, plus highly accurate shutters. It is a good way to try out a Bessa.