K
Krasnaya_Zvezda
Guest
That was quick! I called Photovillage.com on Monday around 4 pm CDT and ordered the chrome body, black 35 color skopar, and a case... when I came home today about 1 pm, it was sitting on my porch. Pretty quick from NY to Texas for all of 14 bucks shipping.
Also, I was quite impressed by the friendliness of the guys at Photovillage, I talked with both Rich and Dean (?). Really nice to deal with. Sometimes I'm nervous about NY camera shops. These guys were very easy going. I highly recommend them.
Anyway, back to the camera.... I have read every thread on this forum I could find about the R. I formed an expectation of what I would get (never having actually handled one). I am quite pleasantly surprised by what I see.
I expected the body to be lighter in weight than it is, it feels good in my hand. I was afraid it would be too light, but I like its heft.
The chrome doesn't at all look chintzy to me, I think it's beautiful.
AND NOW I KNOW what a bright finder is supposed to look like! Wow! All my Feds, Zorkis, my Kiev, my Retina, all look like I'm looking through a glass, darkly, compared to the Bessa. The only thing I have that is even close to the R is my ZI Contina III, and that's a VF instead of an RF. At Central Camera in Chicago, I was once blown away by the brightness and clarity of the finder on a Leica III, but it could not have been better than this.
Also, I had heard the back is flimsy, but that is not my impression.
I find it to be pretty quiet, but that could be due to the fact I have recently been shooting with my Zenit 212k SLR, which sounds like an M1 Garand when it trips.
My wife, who is left-eyed, did put a very noticable nose print on it, which took some cleaning to remove. Whatever that material is on the back, it doesn't tolerate nose oil very well.
And you know what? I think I might be cured of GAS for some time. I've bought four cameras new since Aug '03, an Olympus C5050 Zoom, Leica Digilux 2, Nikon N75, and now the Bessa R. Those four should about cover all of my shooting needs, along with my Iskra and Moskva 5 for MF. Oh yeah, the Holga and the Holgaroid were new, too.
I don't think I'll be going for anymore FSU stuff, and my wife is laughing hysterically while I type this.
But that's it. No more until something has to be upgraded, and that should be a while.
Unless of course, I become independently wealthy, then we'll talk about the M factor.
For now, I'm a satisfied man. For now.
Also, I was quite impressed by the friendliness of the guys at Photovillage, I talked with both Rich and Dean (?). Really nice to deal with. Sometimes I'm nervous about NY camera shops. These guys were very easy going. I highly recommend them.
Anyway, back to the camera.... I have read every thread on this forum I could find about the R. I formed an expectation of what I would get (never having actually handled one). I am quite pleasantly surprised by what I see.
I expected the body to be lighter in weight than it is, it feels good in my hand. I was afraid it would be too light, but I like its heft.
The chrome doesn't at all look chintzy to me, I think it's beautiful.
AND NOW I KNOW what a bright finder is supposed to look like! Wow! All my Feds, Zorkis, my Kiev, my Retina, all look like I'm looking through a glass, darkly, compared to the Bessa. The only thing I have that is even close to the R is my ZI Contina III, and that's a VF instead of an RF. At Central Camera in Chicago, I was once blown away by the brightness and clarity of the finder on a Leica III, but it could not have been better than this.
Also, I had heard the back is flimsy, but that is not my impression.
I find it to be pretty quiet, but that could be due to the fact I have recently been shooting with my Zenit 212k SLR, which sounds like an M1 Garand when it trips.
My wife, who is left-eyed, did put a very noticable nose print on it, which took some cleaning to remove. Whatever that material is on the back, it doesn't tolerate nose oil very well.
And you know what? I think I might be cured of GAS for some time. I've bought four cameras new since Aug '03, an Olympus C5050 Zoom, Leica Digilux 2, Nikon N75, and now the Bessa R. Those four should about cover all of my shooting needs, along with my Iskra and Moskva 5 for MF. Oh yeah, the Holga and the Holgaroid were new, too.
I don't think I'll be going for anymore FSU stuff, and my wife is laughing hysterically while I type this.
But that's it. No more until something has to be upgraded, and that should be a while.
Unless of course, I become independently wealthy, then we'll talk about the M factor.
For now, I'm a satisfied man. For now.
