Bessa III Price released!

[Philipp]

I just visited the voigtlaender-website (*.de) and they have announced the price for the Bessa III:

1999€ (about 2596 Dollar)

Too much for me, I need a R4a for my next trip.

Philipp

 

[Avotius]

Digifan has them up on their site now too http://www.digifan.cn/detail.asp?ID=8012 for 16,800 CNY or 2,457.69 USD

That is awfully expensive for a camera that you cannot change lenses on. I would much rather pick up a rolleiflex and then take the change and go on a trip with a bucket of film, but then again I dont got medium format camera gas 😉

 

[dnk512]

Hmmm... I can get a minty Hassy with 2-3 lenses for that much. Or one of several reconditioned classic folders, with half the money saved and more fun to use! This is for those who like to spend $$, no one *needs* it at that price.

 

[Beemermark]

Digifan has them up on their site now too http://www.digifan.cn/detail.asp?ID=8012 for 16,800 CNY or 2,457.69 USD

That is awfully expensive for a camera that you cannot change lenses on. I would much rather pick up a rolleiflex and then take the change and go on a trip with a bucket of film, but then again I dont got medium format camera gas 😉

A new Rolleiflex is priced at $5000.00, quite a bit cheaper then the $2500 for the Bessa. Used cameras are always considerably cheaper than new so I don't think it's fair to compare new prices to used prices.

 

[tedwhite]

But still, you can buy a top condition used Rolleiflex for $800-1000. Why pay five grand for what is essentially the same camera with a few bells and whistles?

If the Bessa III were around $1500, instead of $2500, I think they'd have a winner. I especially like the ability to switch between 6X7 and 6X6, and the "A" feature. What I don't like is the relatively slow lens. But then it's probably a very good slow lens.

For now, I'm hanging with my Rolleiflex.

 

[Merkin]

At that price, it is definitely a niche camera. If it was 1000 dollars cheaper, i think its appeal would be more widespread. I would have thought that voigtlander would have been able to set this camera at a significantly lower price point, considering the price point of the rest of their lineup. Yes, when folded, it will probably be the smallest MF camera you can buy brand new that isnt made of plastic in china, but you can buy a brand new Mamiya 7 II body for that price, or you could buy five used mamiy m645 kits, or all of the used hasselblad kit you could ever need. That kind of money will buy you practically any (user, not collector) film camera system ever made, so it is hard to justify on a folder, unless the only thing on earth that will satisfy your need/jones is a brand new folder. I will admit that the 6x6/6x7 trick is pretty neat, although i have a feeling that the majority of users will stick to one or the other.

 

[Atom]

Well, maybe after 6 months on the market IF they don't do well they will drop the price some.

 

[shiro_kuro]

Amazon Japan has it at about $2000.00 U.S or 196,200 ¥

After it has been out awhile the price should come down .. same with the Fujifilm Klasse ... Maybe Matsui Ya will have this camera available at his ebay store .....

 

[Tom A]

The german price probably includes Value Added Tax and stuff like that. The price I heard from Japan was around US$ 2000 - an the price hike is really not the fault of Cosina/Fuji/Voigtlander - when it was discussed as a concept - the price point was at around $1700. After that mis-management of various governments and financial institutions have clobbered both the Euro and the dollar and I suspect that the price increases has more to do with that than anything else.
It is a damned sophisticated piece of equipment! AE, multiformat, 120/220 capable, great rangefinder/viewfinder (same quality as the Bessa R3/Zeiss ZM!). It is not petit - but even at 1kg you could carry it in your pocket (if they are big enough).
It is a niche camera and as such will probably have a fairly small production run, and that has to be taken into consideration when it comes to pricing. I keep thinking Plaubel Makina with improvements and a more rigid front standard (and a much better finder!). Of course you can buy used H-blads (cheap) and Mamiya & II's - they might be a lot of things, but pocketable is not one of them!
What is interesting is that it supports 220 (and changes the film counter to compensate for that - automatically!). Could we see a revival of that film type. Hmm - Acros 100 in 220 sounds pretty good to me.

 

[PhotoMat]

A new Mamiya 7II kit with 80mm lens from Robert White is £1495.00, which translates to $2133.00 USD using today's rates. The choice for me would be pretty clear. Unless you absolutely need to have the compactness of the folding mechanism, I think that it would be difficult to justify spending that much on a fixed lens camera, especially when there are some very capable alternatives out there.

 

[aizan]

i'm not worried about it having a fixed lens. if history is any guide, there will probably be a wide angle version to accompany the standard version. those two folding cameras will probably pack just as well as a mamiya 7 kit that includes the 80mm, 65mm, and accessory viewfinder, if not better.

for me, the deciding factor is lens quality. if it's not up to the standard set by the mamiya 7, then i'm not paying so much more just for the folding feature and attractive design (one exception being the labeling on the voightlander version).

 

[ulrik]

This is the coolest camera in a long time. I will get one or two. I feared it would never happen when I saw the Fuji version of this camera about a year ago. I usually use a Plaubel 67 or Littman 45s.

 

[veraikon]

Note that this is the Voigtländer/Ringfoto list-price for Gemany (included 19%VAT).
The street-price is "normaly" 15-25% off

Oh well. runner up for me would be a Mamiya 7II with 80mm.

yea