Bessa R, Kiev 4am?

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Ok- here is my delima. I have FSU lenses and bodies. I have sold off a lot of techno crap on ebay and now I have a choice... Bessa R for my lenses? Or... A Kiev 4am and a Minolta Dimage Dual Scan IV. Of course film is in with the purchase of either choice.

I have been dreaming about this and it's starting to screw up my rest.

Any opinions are welcomed.

Thanks

 

[rover]

For a main user camera, something that is easy to shoot, carry and handle in all conditions, I don't think the Kiev can compare to the Bessa. The big bright viewfinder is the deciding factor for me. I enjoy my Kiev, but it can't be my main shooter.

Then sell some more stuff for the scanner.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

For a main user camera, something that is easy to shoot, carry and handle in all conditions, I don't think the Kiev can compare to the Bessa. The big bright viewfinder is the deciding factor for me. I enjoy my Kiev, but it can't be my main shooter.

Then sell some more stuff for the scanner.

This is the part that screws up my sleep, Bessa with the 35mm? Or Not. Or not gets me in range of the scanner and the Bessa R. I hear the 35/2.5 lens is great. and the pirce is right when sold in combination with the body. Sheesh.

 

[wlewisiii]

My Kievs are my main shooters. I have never been accused of sanity in photography, however. 😱

It is a hard choice though - I had to consider hard and long before going the Contax/Kiev route over the Bessa R or similar. I enjoy the fully manual operation and loading, while not the easiest, is still better by far than a bottom feeder. There are fewer lenses available for the contax/kiev, OTOH what lenses are out there are all excellent and the odds of getting a good FSU lens are far better, it seems, than for the same model in LTM. You place your bet and you take your chances...

Personally I like my Kiev 4a better than any camera I've had previous to it (well, maybe except the Iskra, but MF folders are a quite differnt form of insanity). I really _really_ like my Kiev 5 because it's almost the best of both worlds - a big bright corrected brightline finder with lever advance and rewind as two big pluses. Now hopefully it will turn out to be as robust as the rest of the Contax/Kiev family; if so, I'll probably be shooting it for a long time to come.

William

(edit - the 35/2.5 is a really great lens... and it's availble in Contax mount... at closeout prices... :angel: )

 

[ruben]

In my opinion, it all depends upon the temperament and needs of the photographer.
Kind Regardsl,
Ruben

 

[rover]

This is the part that screws up my sleep, Bessa with the 35mm? Or Not. Or not gets me in range of the scanner and the Bessa R. I hear the 35/2.5 lens is great. and the pirce is right when sold in combination with the body. Sheesh.

What focal lengths do you normally shoot? What FSU glass do you have?

 

[tedwhite]

I have a lot of cameras, a Maxxum system and a Pentax Spotmatic system. In RF I have the Yashica GSN and the Olympus XA. I make money with the systems. I play with the RF's.

A friend recently loaned me a Kiev 4A with the Helios 103 for a few weeks and I had a lot of fun with it. In Southern Arizona is was certainly a conversation piece. However, although I really liked the quality of the images, I did not like the not-so-bright viewfinder/rangefinder, the twist the knob film advance - and most of all I did not like the archaic film loading system.

But I did like using a really solid RF camera and decided to order the Bessa R with the 35/25
lens, which I did yesterday.

I felt that if I was going to get seriously into RF photography I might as well get a camera as close to a Leica M series as possible without having to mortgage my house and sell my girl friend into slavery.

 

[Doug]

Congratulations on your soon-to-come Bessa-R package, Ted! Sounds like a good choice to me, and well-reasoned too. 🙂

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

What focal lengths do you normally shoot? What FSU glass do you have?

I typically shoot 50mm. But, I am just getting back to film away from digital and it's quirks. I haven't shot film for a very long time.

I live in the San Diego area (Mira Mesa). I am new to the area and I love the scenery and the city of San Diego visually. So having a wider lens would be great.

I have an Industar 50mm collapsible, an industar 61 lanthanum, and an industar 26 that needs attention. I am searching for a Yoopeetor 8 (sorry, love the way it sounds in Russian).

Iknow that the 50mm collapsable shouldn't be used with the Bessa.

BTW- Just dropped into Bob Davis Photo in La Jolla to look at a Bessa R there. I had seen it before and went back to look. Still there a very nice 50mm on it. They keep it next to a Minolta CL and a CLE.

In a case very near it was a Zorki 4 (engraved) with a Jupiter 8 on it... $65.

Also noticed that the M2 that was there a week ago is gone. It is La Jolla after all 😉. The Zorki and the Bessa probably won't hang with the Jags there.

 

[tedwhite]

Went to San Diego State University, lived in a servant's shack behind a rich man's home high in the hills above La Jolla in exchange for making sure his exotic cars got serviced, washed, etc.

Interesting - the Russian pronunciation of Jupiter. Almost the same in Spanish: "yoopitair."

 

[gabrielelopez]

Just don't think that the Bessa R is all that robust....full of plastic, mine broke twice..I ended up getting a Contax G, a Canonet, and I'm seriusly thinking about a Fed/Zorki...Voigtlander lenses are good, instead!

 

[rover]

Tough call, I walk around with my cam, 35 and 50 in a bag. I have been shooting B&W saving $ by not having prints made, and sometimes processing the negs myself. My scanner is pretty important right now. Knowing myself, I would end up charging the cam kit with 35 and scanner and paying off the few hundred $ difference in the next couple months in this instance.

 

[Richard Black]

Question: do you already have Kiev/Contax lenses? If not, will you be able to replace the ltm ones with K/C lenses? I have a R with the Jupiter 3 and 8, would like a nice 9, and a CV Color-Skopar 28mm. The bright viewfinder, built-in lightmeter, and weight made the decision for me.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Question: do you already have Kiev/Contax lenses? If not, will you be able to replace the ltm ones with K/C lenses? I have a R with the Jupiter 3 and 8, would like a nice 9, and a CV Color-Skopar 28mm. The bright viewfinder, built-in lightmeter, and weight made the decision for me.

Hi Richard- No, all my FSU lenses are LTM. That is why the Bessa R is attractive to me. The qualities you list are what's keeping me up at night. Plus the fact that the shutter is a very nice metal electro/mechanical one.


Rover- I like your point of view. The scanner would allow me to show my work globally, on the web. That way I can get pointers from others with experience.

I can also put work onto a DVD in a video presentation. I can do that with my Canon G2. But film offers other qualities that digital doesn't. Like long night exposures. In order to have more fun with that digitally I would have to invest a much more expensive digital camera and still the results don't match that of film. Plus I find rangefinder cameras less "fiddly." Even less than my old Canon T70 slr.

Having the ability to wonder around downtown San Diego with a light RF appeals to me. SLRs and digital cameras invite questions. Or people tend to avoid the camera. With an RF I can just do my thing and get a shot. Move on. Once too often a shot has slipped away while the G2 decides if it likes what I have asked it to do. Which is why I shoot with it set to manual 75% of the time now. And, even then it still stalls before shooting from time to time. I haven't nailed down why that is. The G2 is "clever" but it ain't smart.

I figured since I am using the G2 manually the only advantage it is offering over a rangefinder is that I can just download the images. With the rangefinder and a scanner it is more work but better resolution.

Rover- which scanner do you have?

Jeeeeeeez - I am longwinded

 

[rover]

Flatbed Epson Perfection 3200 Photo. It is discontinued but the new one is really friendly to film. I bought it because I shoot 120 too. If you don't shoot 120 get a dedicated film scanner instead, scan quality is better. The Minolta Dual Scan IV is actually cheaper than the fancy Epson too. There are less expensive flat bed choices too.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

There are less expensive flat bed choices too.

Yeah, I have a Canoscan LiDE 35, which is ok for copying a print at web resolutions.

I definitely have my eye on the Minolta.

Thanks!

 

[einolu]

What about a Zorki 3? I hear the quality on the early models is very good and if you get one in good shape it should last you a while. Just a thought.

PS: Kievs arent really the staple of reliability, the shutters are a pain. I had one that worked for a while and then it started doing this weird thing where the lower half of the shot was being over exposed and then it stopped working all together.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

What about a Zorki 3? I hear the quality on the early models is very good and if you get one in good shape it should last you a while. Just a thought.

PS: Kievs arent really the staple of reliability, the shutters are a pain. I had one that worked for a while and then it started doing this weird thing where the lower half of the shot was being over exposed and then it stopped working all together.

Hi- I already have a few Soviet classics (FEDs). Wanted to get something with a non cloth shutter. That drives the consideration for a Kiev with a nice Helios 103 or Jupiter 8.

At this point the Bessa R is looking pretty good so far. I can stick LTm lenses I tend to only work one lens to a camera and not take them on and off a lot.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Rover's cat

Rover's cat

Rover- is that red cat a burmese?

 

[einolu]

I would get the bessa. It has a nice finder, a modern shutter design and $250 isnt that big of a price to pay for a well designed camera. Even though the build qualiy might not the best I think it would be more reliable than a kiev.