Bessa R or Leica IIIf

R

Roberto

Guest
Hi guys,
This is my first post here...

First of all let me spend few words to introduce myself:

I always loved to take pictures and, in the same time, I loved cameras as well.. My main interest at the moment is street photography.
I started using RF cameras some time ago, thanks to the inexpensive Russian ones... and learned to love these little girls compared to that bulky SLR! :D

I have a nice Zorki 1 that I really love to use... but now I'd like to buy something with at least the long shutter times! ;)

What do you suggest (not Russian clones at this round):

Leica IIIf or Bessa R?

Cheers,
Rob.
 
Re: Bessa R or Leica IIIf

Roberto said:
Hi guys,
This is my first post here...
Click to expand...

Welcome, Roberto!

First of all let me spend few words to introduce myself:

I always loved to take pictures and, in the same time, I loved cameras as well.. My main interest at the moment is street photography.
I started using RF cameras some time ago, thanks to the inexpensive Russian ones... and learned to love these little girls compared to that bulky SLR! :D

I have a nice Zorki 1 that I really love to use... but now I'd like to buy something with at least the long shutter times! ;)

What do you suggest (not Russian clones at this round):

Leica IIIf or Bessa R?

Cheers,
Rob.
Click to expand...

I would recommend the Bessa R, and here's why:

1) It has a built-in meter, which is very nice.
2) It is new and has a warrantee.
3) The viewfinder and rangefinder patch are wonderful!
4) The back swings open and the film doesn't have to be trimmed to load it.
5) It has 1/2000 speed, which is very nice if you want to shoot at a fairly open aperture outside (or freeze action, but who does that with a rangefinder).

The Leica IIIf is a wonderful machine, no doubt. And it would be a worthy camera for any collection - perhaps someday I'll get one myself. But as a 'shooter' with all else being equal, the Bessa R tops it, in my humble opinion.

Welcome once more to RFF, hope you enjoy it here!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
I have a IIIf; it is a wonderful camera that a collector and user of ultra-retro equipment can't help to love.

But the Bessa R has it beaten on all technical aspects.

The Canon Leica Thread Mount copies are better than the IIIf, but the Bessa R is a steal for the money. Several Bessa R cameras have come up for sale here in the last few months. AND of course yoiu can still buy them new at a close-out price.
 
Welcome Rob,
I have both cameras and would recommend the Bessa for a user camera. The Leica feels better in the hand, more dense and jewel-like, an historical marvel of engineering, but if pictures are your goal, go with the Bessa. Its built-in meter and WAY BETTER viewfinder are why.
 
Welcome Roberto! :) What everyone else said here - get the Bessa. When I bought my first RF camera I got the most recent model I could afford and I haven't regretted it.
 
Welcome Rob. I have the Leica IIIf and a Bessa-T. I like my IIIf and it would be a difficult decision to choose between it and the R. But, if pressed, I'd probably agree with those who have expressed a preference for the Bessa-R. It offers a lot of improvements over the IIIf with a larger, brighter finder and built-in meter. So add another vote for the Bessa.

Walker
 
Roberto, you aren't by any chance the Roberto from the BestStuff forum (the one with the coffee shot)? Welcome here!
Oh, and I'd also recommend the Bessa R for its parallax corrected multi-frameline viewfinder and built-in meter´, and because you got something similar to the IIIf in the form of your Zorki already...

Roman
 
hmm...bessa r or leica iiif...or canon p? =)

uh, get a bessa r and a 50mm lens. don't let the philistines talk you into getting a 35mm lens. they're the work of the devil, i say!
 
Roman said:
Roberto, you aren't by any chance the Roberto from the BestStuff forum (the one with the coffee shot)?
Roman
Click to expand...

Roman..
Yes I'm the same guy.. :D


-=xx=-

Thanks everybody for your warm welcome and for your answers..

Now it's time to go out and find a nice Bessa R!

Rob.
 
Hi Rob, and welcome.
Just be warned, this is a dangerous site. Almost everyone here has tales of joining and before they knew it buying a heap of cameras they didn't even know about before.......

Now.....Bessa R or Leica IIf?
I think that really depends, they're totally different beasts. The Bessa R is a very good camera, that works extremely well, and if fitted with one of CV's smaller lenses will go just about anywhere. There are plenty of posts above summing up its good points.
The Leica IIIf is a classic piece of mechanical engineering, of superb quality, that happens to work brilliantly as a camera. But state-of-the-art in 1950 does not necessarily equalt easy to use in 2005. Again, plenty of people have mentioned the good/bad points above.

So my take would be - If you are more worried about taking great pictures, get the Bessa. If you want to do that, PLUS you get immense satisfaction from handling jewel-like pieces of engineering, AND you are happy with a far more fiddly camera, get a good IIIf.

One more word of advice, if I may. If you decide to go down the Leica road, buy the best one you can find, or budget for a CLA. They are 50 years old, after all. And if you just love the feel of a IIIf but the lack of a meter frustrates you, beware: a M6 is in you future.........


(btw, my path was: R -> R2 + IIIf -> M6 + IIIf)

:(

cheers....

tim
 
Tim said:
Hi Rob, and welcome.
Just be warned, this is a dangerous site. Almost everyone here has tales of joining and before they knew it buying a heap of cameras they didn't even know about before.......
Click to expand...


Tim, thanks for your welcome.. and also for your warning!
but.. it seems I already did that way, and I have no chance to save my soul (I started posting on Russian Camera Users with a mere Kiev 4A and now I own 7 russian cameras!)

Now.....Bessa R or Leica IIf?
...
One more word of advice, if I may. If you decide to go down the Leica road, buy the best one you can find, or budget for a CLA. They are 50 years old, after all. And if you just love the feel of a IIIf but the lack of a meter frustrates you, beware: a M6 is in you future.........
Click to expand...

I'm pretty used to use old cameras (believe me.. I abandoned my Nikon F3 to use Russian RFs...) and, well, I believe my budget will keep me far away from the M6 for at least some time.. btw have you ever used a Sverdlovsk 4?!? :p

(btw, my path was: R -> R2 + IIIf -> M6 + IIIf)

:(

cheers....

tim
Click to expand...

Thanks again ,
Rob.
 
roberto,

who are we kidding here?

we say to buy the bessa r but what we really mean is...buy the bessa r NOW and get the leica LATER.

it will happen.

welcome to the forum.

joe
 
It has 1/2000 speed, which is very nice if you want to shoot at a fairly open aperture outside (or freeze action, but who does that with a rangefinder).
Click to expand...

I sure hope you are just yankin' our chain! I thought everybody preferred RFs for action shooting -- I know I sure do, because there's no finder blackout and because you can see the subject before it enters the picture area.

PS -- I agree with everybody else who said the Bessa is a better buy if you want a camera for taking pictures. The Leica IIIf doesn't even have the rangefinder combined with the viewfinder, let alone parallax-compensating framelines (in fact, it has no framelines at all.)

And if you trash a Bessa in the line of photographic duty, you just curse under your breath and start scanning eBay for a good buy on another one.

On the other hand, if a IIIf takes a one-way dry dive to the pavement, the Church of Leica mandates an official mourning period (6 months or 8 months, depending on whether the deceased was black dial or red dial) and may require you to do penance before you're allowed to buy another one. Don't be shocked -- the penalty is even worse if you drop a IIIg!
 
jlw said:

On the other hand, if a IIIf takes a one-way dry dive to the pavement, the Church of Leica mandates an official mourning period (6 months or 8 months, depending on whether the deceased was black dial or red dial) and may require you to do penance before you're allowed to buy another one. Don't be shocked -- the penalty is even worse if you drop a IIIg!
Click to expand...


c'mon, it's not that bad. It's only a 3 Hail Mary's, Genuflecting in the direction of Wetzlar, and a week of mourning.

And anyway, dropping a Leica III will probably hurt the pavement more than the camera.

Actually, one of the nice things about a IIIf is that so many of the damn things were made that it's not a heinous sin if you do break one....


tim
 
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