Bessa L and 35mm lens?

[lawnpotter]

Would you do it? Would I end up with a lot of out of focused shots? Does any one have any examples using this combination? Thanks

 

[mr_phillip]

It's a good street combo, just use a fast enough film that you can stop down to f8-11 or so and either guestimate the distance or set the lens to the hyperfocal distance and shoot away.

 

[oscroft]

Would you do it? Would I end up with a lot of out of focused shots? Does any one have any examples using this combination? Thanks

I didn't use a 35 on my Bessa-L when I had it, but I have done quite a few shots with an Olympus XA2 - 35mm lens, no focusing aids - and most of them were sharp. If you can keep the aperture reasonably small and get good depth of field, you should do OK (you get something like 2.5m to infinity at f/8).

But for me, I'd want the flexibility of being able to confidently use faster apertures, and I'd need a focusing aid for that - my XA2 was fine for bright sunny travel shots, but it really wasn't very flexible. (Now, had you suggested a Bessa-R with a 35, you would really have been onto something - that's a great combination).

 

[lawnpotter]

oscroft

oscroft

If I bought a bessa r2a or r3a with a 40mm or 35mm lens, ocaisonly could I manualy set the focus on the lens for quick shots rather than look in the view finder ? I wear glasses and I am using an Olympus Epic and a GRD2 right now. I am probably selling the grd2, but I hate the olympus epic viewfinder. I would look at these Bessa cameras but there are none in my town. I would like the 40mm but apparently, the R3a is no good for glasses wearers. Thanks

 

[pvdhaar]

The sheer existence of the Minox 35 shows that it's a viable option to scale focus a 35. The only caveat is indoors close up, where you'll use a large aperture with limited DOF. That's where you'll have to guesstimate distances with more caution.

 

[payasam]

To what Peter said, I'll add that the successful Rollei 35 series also had scale focussing.

Hyperfocal is not the only option. If you use the DOF scale on the lens, zone focussing will also be possible.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Bear in mind that the original Leica had a 50mm lens and was scale-focused, and there were plenty more 50mm scale-focus cameras after that.

A lot depends on how good you are at guessing distances, but with a 35/2,5 and 'spar' focusing you should be able to scale focus accurately by touch after a little practice. I'd not go faster than f/2,5, though, and I'd shoot mostly at f/5,6 to f/8.

Cheers,

R.

 

[pvdhaar]

Bear in mind that the original Leica had a 50mm lens and was scale-focused, and there were plenty more 50mm scale-focus cameras after that..

True, but here you've got to keep in mind that at the time when scale focused 50s were commonplace, the most common print size was 6x9 cm, ca 2.5x3.5 inch. At that enlargement size, focus errors didn't really show up.

It does require much more care if you want acceptable sharpness at 10x15 cm, 4x6 inch, from a guess-focused 50.

Of course, every one has different distance guesstimation skills. Mine top out at 35mm for 10x15 prints.

 

[Roger Hicks]

True, but here you've got to keep in mind that at the time when scale focused 50s were commonplace, the most common print size was 6x9 cm, ca 2.5x3.5 inch. At that enlargement size, focus errors didn't really show up.

It does require much more care if you want acceptable sharpness at 10x15 cm, 4x6 inch, from a guess-focused 50.

Of course, every one has different distance guesstimation skills. Mine top out at 35mm for 10x15 prints.

Dear Peter,

A fair point, but I don't entirely agree for the 35mm format. I'd have said at least postcard, with the option of whole-plate. With practice, I find I can focus even a 50mm lens with more than adequate accuracy for whole-plate (165x216mm) at 3m/10 feet and beyond, and that from 2-3m I have only to think a little bit harder. At 1-2m I agree it's a lot more difficult.

I really believe it's practice, and that almost anyone can train themselves quite quickly to focus with this degree of accuracy. But it does take an effort of will and maybe a tape measure in your pocket (or one of those shoe-mount RFs from the 50s).

Cheers,

R.

 

[Quercus]

i use both thecv 25 and 35 with bessa L, R2 and a ZI - obviously with the 25 you have no option other than scale focus given the dof at f8 and above this is great on any body. for the street photography that suits me also the 25 suits me I like the wider AoV but that is personal. The CV 35 gets very little use but when it does i find that For fast street pics I am as likely to be out of focus by similar margins whether I use the a rangefinder or not - bviously if I have to slow it down well then the RF wins...But it is possibleto train your perseption of distance - marksmen practise using fixed points until they knew exactly what 10m 20m 10m etc was like - get some sticks shove them in the ground at 1, 2, 3,4m and get some one to stand at those points a couple of hours of this and you soon judge distance quite accurately... I seem to remember reading somewhere that if your eyes are OK then statistically this method is withing about a 95% probability...Anybody who know stats will realise that is pretty good

 

[lawnpotter]

Thanks for the replies

Thanks for the replies

lots of good info here

 

[sfb_dot_com]

Indeed there is. I think the main thing to remember with scale focus cameras is to check the focus every now and then. I recently looked at some pictures I took with my Dad's old Agfa Silette some 30 years ago and most were in focus. At that time, I certainly was not knowledgeable of photography, so just focussed according to the scale on the lens. It seemed to work fine for me.

I did at one stage own an L and had a Jupiter 8 mated to it. I can't really recall any great problems in focussing, although as the L was mainly fitted with the 12mm f5.6 it all felt a bit tame in comparison.

Regards

Andy

 

[raid]

I used for many years a Zeiss Contina with a 50mm/2.8 lens. The Contina did not have RF, so i got used to guess the aperture and distance choice for a given focusing situation. With a 35mm lens, it would be much easier to get the right focus.

 

[newspaperguy]

Ancient history, but I slogged through Korea in the early 50s shooting with 35mm and 85mm lenses on a pair of Leica 1fs. Just scale focus... and produced lots of 8X10s. Mostly in focus. 😉 Currently using a 35 on a Bessa L with no problems.

 

[BillBingham2]

One approach you might want to take to help you learn to judge distances for a 35mm lens is pick three or four distances you like for that framing. On the 25mm snapshot I used the click stops. On a 35 I might use three, five, eight and eleven. After that DOF should take over to cover you. Practice learning which is where till you have it down cold, then take a camera out and see how you do with some film or a rangefinder and then some film. Don't try to learn every foot, it might drive you crazy.

It should also be noted, there are some great shots that are not 100% sharp and clear.

B2 (;->

 

[januaryman]

Nice tip on that method, Bill. I plan to try it myself to get quicker street shots even if I do have a rangefinder on all my gear.