Bessa R Review

Bessa R Review

  • *

    Votes: 5 1.5%

  • **

    Votes: 6 1.8%

  • ***

    Votes: 60 17.8%

  • ****

    Votes: 155 45.9%

  • *****

    Votes: 112 33.1%
  • Total voters
    338
It could be due to the humidity in Houston. Years ago, when I was photographing in Vera Cruz, Mexico I had similar problems with the usually bullet-proof Pentax Spotmatics, and I was always cleaning the meter contacts. After I returned to the dry southwest the problem disappeared and never returned.
 
Well, I still have my Bessa R, and use it frequently. The ONLY problem I've had with it occurs at the end of a roll, when I wind on and the film advance lever stops half-way through its cycle. I find I must push in the rewind release pin on the bottom plate and then continue to follow through with the film advance lever. If I don't do that, the release doesn't seem to fully release, and twice I've torn the film loose from the spool inside the cassette. This means fiddling inside a change bag.

Despite the comments about plastic, I find the Bessa R to be a well-built, durable and reliable camera. I have considered selling it and upgrading to an R4M, as the longest lens I have is a 50/1.8, but until I have the money, I'm quie happy with my Bessa R.
 
I am currently saving $ for an M3 + 50mm summicron as 50mm is my go to focal length for the most part (and I have a Hexar AF for 35mm). However, as the lens is more important to me than the camera, and seeing that I wont have enough money for BOTH M3 + 'cron right away, I was thinking of picking up one of these Bessa R bodies to tide me over until I can afford an M3. I have previously owned a Bessa R2 and liked it until it broke (but the breakage was clearly my own fault and has nothing to do with camera durability). Who knows, I may just end up keeping the Bessa R.

How much do they run these days used anyways?
 
A Bessa R in good condition goes for $200-$250 USD these days; an R3A in good condition will run you around $400-$450 USD.
 
Like Ted, I'm still working (Hi Ted)... and still using my Bessa R, usually with the Canon 50/1.8, sometimes with the CV 35/2.5 Skopar, and occasionally with some FSU glass. Always does what I want it to. Can't ask for much more than that.
 
The Bessa R is an excellent camera for LTM lenses. The price is still low, and what you get is quality. If you want extra ruggedness, get a Leica.
 
The Bessa-R IS a rugged camera. I have a small LOWE bag where I take it, with a couple of lenses, for hiking, biking, riding... few people will treat valuable LEICAs this way (REAL photog.'s of course will...)
I made about as much pictures with my Bessa R as with my other 50-70 cameras in total!
It has one of the most accurate meters, or/and shutters. The shutter is a masterpiece (although it's noise). With such a shutter the whole camera can't be bad. But the Bessa R has a gret FINDER too. It focusses lenses far beyond their precision limits (i.e. my Canon 85/1.8)
The only thing about the Bessa R is, when temp. is below 0°C always take a pair of spare batteries. on the other hand: if you missed to have them, you just lose the meter --- as opposed to a OM-4 which eats the batteries off every few months even when sitting in a dark bag and DON'T WORK AT ALL without them..!
I personally LOVE screwmount lenses: I still prefer to change them in winter, hands in gloves, to any bayonet mount. And caps are smaller. Good when storage is limited. ALL the later Bessa's are M-mount. So what? You need a Bessa R (or a Canon RF which is heavier and misses the TTL meter).
The polycarbonate body itself don't make the camera inferior to the new Bessa R3M. The metal outer shelf just adds more weight, and the newer rewind crank is ridicoulus (and obstruct stuffing the camera into a slim bag). So MY vote of all CV cameras is for the Bessa R, leave alone their historical evidence (RF renaissance etc.).
A strong BUY for a user. It's a user camera, so they all will fade away someday. And there is nothing to replace them.
 
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I agree with SONAR-from-Germany. I have two Rs (and a Zeikon, and a Leica M4-P), and I've got to say it's---well, I got the others later because I believed all the anti-plastic/not made for a lifetime noise I heard. And it may be true, but like Sonnar, I treat mine hard---drops, bounces, rain---and they keep going. I like the self-timer, too. Family pictures come easy with it, and it's nice to be in front of the lens now and then, at least for posterity.
Screw-mounts are easy. The camera handles wonderfully. It's light in the hand AND WHAT'S WRONG WIDDAT? and I'm so, so comfortable with it. I doubt many owners will sell their Rs. Why would they? Great camera. It got me into RF, and a Zeikon and Leica later, it's still my go-to. Never a problem, always a comfort.
 
I was fortunate enough to get to feel and tinker with one during Chinese New Year and I was very impressed with the build and the frame-lines!

It made my FED 5V look really bad (although I still love it :)
and all the positive feedback on this thread convinced me to start saving up my allowance for that Bessa R :D

Good luck to me :D
 
We already have the same situation that we had 1999, before the advent of the BESSA R: NO screwmount cameras newly available.
These are USERS cameras, they doing the work when the expensive cameras sitting on the shelf, one day most of them may be worn out.
So I bought a spare. Yet they are cheap.
 
I just bought a silver Bessa R w/ Ultron 35mm f/1.7 together for around $300 USD. I am very excited. I am going to grab a side-grip and softie-release as well. Why not?
 
filmfan said:
I just bought a silver Bessa R w/ Ultron 35mm f/1.7 together for around $300 USD. I am very excited. I am going to grab a side-grip and softie-release as well. Why not?
Click to expand...

I don't blame you for being excited, it's a great camera...you're going to love it. I've had mine for about a year now (got it from an RFF member) and have a 50mm 1.5 Nokton permanently ensconced on the front end. Have fun, and give us your impressions when it arrives.

Cheers...

Rem
 
The ONLY problem I've ever had with my Bessa R is the rewind process. After tearing factory film loose from the cassette a few times, I finally learned (from folks here at RFF) about pushing in the rewind button, then finishing the cycle of the film-advance lever.

However, even after doing that, it's still a relatively stiff rewind in comparison to my other 35mm cameras. But it always works so I guess I should just shut up and learn to live with it, right?

An easier solution has been to rewind at frame 23 rather than continue until the advance lever freezes midway through its stroke.

I have three lenses for my Bessa R: Canon 50/1.8; Color Skopar 35/2.5; and Ultron 28/1.9. The easiest lens to use - in terms of finding the focus and f-stop ring without looking - is the Color Skopar, and that's probably because of the tab. It's the lens most used. If I had the Bessa 4A I'd no doubt use the Ultron more as then I could see real framelines instead of having to take a leap of faith.
 
I got my first Bessa R... a beautiful silver edition to complement my Bessa T... what a great little camera...

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The Bessa R was bought to be the permanent rear lens cap for my Rigid Heliar 50mm f2.0... while I own a Leica... there is something really wonderful about the cheap and cheerful Bessa R... combined with the wonderful LTM offerings from Voigtländer... they make wonderful, capable photographic tools... shame that LTM bodies and lens seem on the way out again...

I am surely not opposed to adding a few more Bessa R's to my arsenal... maybe a black version...
 
I'm very lucky in that I inherited my Fathers Bessa R along with an awful lot of other cameras including many Leicas. When I received it, he had been using a Canon 50mm f1.8 and I wasn't that happy with the rangefinder coupling so threw a Jupiter 8 on and took another test film and was amazed at the way the pictures came out, since then this has become my favourite lens and stays on this camera 90% of the time.

I also had a fair amount of M mount lenses and decided to purchase a Bessa R2a to enable me to use the 35mm f2.0 Summicron which was among the collection and since then I've built up a little set of camera and lens including a lovely Jupiter 9 and a 50mm Summicron collapsible Leica lens, I manage to squeeze all this into a Leica Cl case so as its so easy to grab, this set tends to be with me 90% of the time. I have the CL M2 and other Leica cameras but these Bessas make everything so simple with their bright rangefinders and simple ttl light metering.
 
Spend a few days on a trawler in North Sea with a Bessa R

even it some plates are made of plastic, it is solid and reliable, the brightness of the finder is very usefull and the little camera turned to be a great one.

So don't worry about people telling you it is crap while with there leica they don't dare to portrait a pot of flower even hipshot, this camera is worth being used :)

The only trouble I had was with the LTM mount wich is not as easy as a M mount when you have to change a lens
 
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