Bessa L + 15mm Heliar for travel?

FredtheLlama

FredtheLlama

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Hi folks,

I'm going on a week long trip to Israel soon, and I'm looking to buy a good little travel camera.

I don't have a huge budget, but I can just about afford a Bessa L + 15mm Heliar.

Would you recommend this as my primary camera on the trip?

How does the lens handle bright light? I think that the LTM version cannot have a lens shade or filters attached.

I'll be taking my MJU II as a point and shoot, and I was thinking about taking my Nikonos V, until I heard that they don't like direct sunlight.

Thanks for any input 🙂
 
Bessa L + 15mm Heliar is huge budget 🙂
You could have R and CV 35 2.5 for less.
Same size comparing to L with OVF on it.
L shutter is loud.
 
Nikonos lenses are made to keep out water and don't handle direct sunlight very well. While a great option, seems duplicative to your MJU II.

The 15 Heliar is a wonderful lens and the Bessa L just frankly ROCKS.

I might think of the Bessa L, a 25 Snapshot and the 15mm and leave the rest home. Well, perhaps the MJU packed in the deep storage with an extra pair of socks. If you could afford a second Bessa L body, one with the 25, one with the 15 and nothing else.

Both are fun lenses to shoot and allow you to look at things differently and capture views that are beautiful.

Get two small cloth pouches, one for the finder, one for the lens, one left front, one right front and work from there with one Bessa L.

Enjoy, have fun, share your results and travel safe.

B2
 
Ko.Fe. said:
Bessa L + 15mm Heliar is huge budget 🙂
You could have R and CV 35 2.5 for less.
Same size comparing to L with OVF on it.
L shutter is loud.
Click to expand...

I'd like to spend around £300, give or take. I can't even find a Bessa R for sale in my country (not including foreign ebay ads). I can find a CV 35mm though.

How loud are we talking about? Louder then an AF Mju II?

BillBingham2 said:
The 15 Heliar is a wonderful lens and the Bessa L just frankly ROCKS.

I might think of the Bessa L, a 25 Snapshot and the 15mm and leave the rest home. Well, perhaps the MJU packed in the deep storage with an extra pair of socks. If you could afford a second Bessa L body, one with the 25, one with the 15 and nothing else.

Both are fun lenses to shoot and allow you to look at things differently and capture views that are beautiful.

Get two small cloth pouches, one for the finder, one for the lens, one left front, one right front and work from there with one Bessa L.

Enjoy, have fun, share your results and travel safe.

B2
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I did consider the 25mm snapshot, but after looking around online, I can't say I'm overly impressed with the results I've seen. Maybe I'm being harsh, but it doesn't seem very sharp?

I'm thinking the 15mm will be great for architecture and such. The results I've seen are very, very tempting.

Does it have click stops for focus? Or am I better off leaving it at F11 and setting it to infinity?

Thanks again
 
FredtheLlama said:
......I did consider the 25mm snapshot, but after looking around online, I can't say I'm overly impressed with the results I've seen. Maybe I'm being harsh, but it doesn't seem very sharp?

I'm thinking the 15mm will be great for architecture and such. The results I've seen are very, very tempting.

Does it have click stops for focus? Or am I better off leaving it at F11 and setting it to infinity?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Judging the sharpness of a lens is a best a challenge looking at other peoples work online. I aways found the my 25s (I had one in LTM, the other in Nikon S) to be very sharp, but sharp is like great, a subjective description. I'd say poke around here (this site) for some peoples test and such, they might give you a more subjective review than I am able to.

I don't remember the 15 having click stops but I do remember using Zone focusing (F11, put infinity at about F8 and forget about the rest) a lot. By not setting the focus at infinity, but a stop or stop and a half wider, I found I got a much wider range in focus. Past infinity is, frankly, everything renders itself way to small for me to care with this lens.

When I was shooting inside I tried for something similar, adjusting the focus range to cover the what I'm interested in. I also used something small and soft like a beanbag as a universal tripod without legs when shooting inside. That and a short cable release to remove your fingers from shaking the camera worked very well. I also had a Nikon AR-10 soft shutter release on all my Bessa, got addicted to the concave shape from the early days with my Nikkormat. Tom A.s Soft Shutter releases work very well too, but they are convex, I never warmed up to them.

The 15 is a fun lens and you will enjoy using it.

Hope this helps.

B2
 
I have the Bessa L / Heliar combo you're considering.

Good points: a very, very splendid outfit for specific purposes.

Bad points: you really need, at least, the 25mm as well, unless you are a total ultrawide fanatic.

14390162291_717a940be6_b.jpg

11949878114_d15a914f47_b.jpg

11949862293_fac9eed3c2_b.jpg
 
Sorry, I have no idea how loud is this AF thing.
L was louder comparing R, so loud I didn't find it usable for street photography where I'm.
It will be OK for busy streets with traffic.
If you could find L locally, you'll find R for sure. I was able to find my on local classifieds.
 
I have a 12mm heliar and a Leica M2, so sort of the same thing?

I used to use that combo as my only camera on trips, but now it's M2+35 and 12mm on the side... I found that the 12 got overused, and I got alot of wonky photos. so the 12 is the secondary lens now.

I really recommend getting an ultrawide though -- it's alot of fun, and can give you some really interesting perspective sort of photos. something as wide as the 15 will pretty much give you your entire field of view.

as far as I know (not that far -- double check?) the 15mm doesn't have focus click stops (the 12 does, though).

but yeah, go for it! ultrawides are awesome.

-
 
I've never used a Bessa L, but I've used the T, and I think it's a really lovely camera. I had a 15mm Heliar, and thought it was a great lens, very sharp, and of course, very easy to focus. I think even wide open, you can pretty much focus to 'near' or 'far' and get sharp results.

15mm as an only lens while travelling I think would be a nice, challenging experience, you've got to not be afraid to really get up close to a subject though.
 
I have an R4M (and really like it) but have never used an L. A 15mm lens seems exceptionally wide for a standard travel kit, IMO. I have a 21mm/f4 Color Skopar and that, for me, is pretty extreme - but it's a great lens and you barely have to worry about focusing.
 
The 35mm on the Nikonos is a great lens. Have used that combo for adventure travel trip (kayaking, canoeing, the beach) for years. The 35 and 85 are actually the only two lenses for the Nikonos that are designed for use both above and below the surface.

The 35mm lens for the Nikonos was based on one of Nikon's rangefinder designs and is considered a classic. Don't understand this nonsense that Nikonos lenses don't like sunlight.
 
Paul Jenkin said:
I have an R4M (and really like it) but have never used an L. A 15mm lens seems exceptionally wide for a standard travel kit, IMO. I have a 21mm/f4 Color Skopar and that, for me, is pretty extreme - but it's a great lens and you barely have to worry about focusing.
Click to expand...

Yes it does seem a bit too extreme for every day. I've had a think about it and I'm leaning towards the 21mm or 25mm Skopar instead. Is one more desirable then the other? I'll read some reviews.

ktmrider said:
The 35mm on the Nikonos is a great lens. Have used that combo for adventure travel trip (kayaking, canoeing, the beach) for years. The 35 and 85 are actually the only two lenses for the Nikonos that are designed for use both above and below the surface.

The 35mm lens for the Nikonos was based on one of Nikon's rangefinder designs and is considered a classic. Don't understand this nonsense that Nikonos lenses don't like sunlight.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've had great results in the short time I've owned my Nikonos V. But as someone above already pointed out, it seems like i'm doubling things if I I'm already taking my (much lighter!) MJU II.

I'll keep my eye out for any local deals in the mean time. I spotted a cheap Mamiya C3 with 65mm in my local shop!

Thanks for the input folks, I'll let you know what I decide on 🙂
 
FredtheLlama said:
Yes it does seem a bit too extreme for every day. I've had a think about it and I'm leaning towards the 21mm or 25mm Skopar instead. Is one more desirable then the other? I'll read some reviews.
[...]
Click to expand...
Can confirm the CV15/4.5 + Bessa-L (plus 15 VF) as a good combo for special panoramic field of view.

I use it too, but not as my main lens for travel. If I had to go with one lens/one body only, I would opt for a 28mm. Meanwhile my setup is 15,28,50mm for one or different RF bodies.
 
Definitely the right combo, go ahed.

FredtheLlama said:
Hi folks,

I'm going on a week long trip to Israel soon, and I'm looking to buy a good little travel camera.

I don't have a huge budget, but I can just about afford a Bessa L + 15mm Heliar.

Would you recommend this as my primary camera on the trip?

How does the lens handle bright light? I think that the LTM version cannot have a lens shade or filters attached.

I'll be taking my MJU II as a point and shoot, and I was thinking about taking my Nikonos V, until I heard that they don't like direct sunlight.

Thanks for any input 🙂
Click to expand...
 
i have my 15mm mounted on to a cl with no working meter or rangefinder - also have the double shoe and a level and finder mounted on that --- 15 can provide some unique photos -- but i would never shoot a whole trip with that --- plus -- i generally think you'd be up for disapointment if you had not used the lens a lot --- you have to get almost confrontationally close to wrangle good portraits --- not the best way to travel ---

i love the combo and will probably slide it into my bag for my trip to hawaii just to do a few sweeping landscapes ---
 
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