Bessa R2a, R3a or leica m4p? x

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lawnpotter

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Please help me decide as I can not view the Bessas in my town. I want 75mm and either 40mm or 35mm focal length I want light and compact with nice easy view finder.I wear glasses(not thick YET) I feel that the 40mm might be better than the 35mm lens as an everyday take every where lens cause I like to take undistorted pictures of friends. but I heard the r3a is not good for glasses wearers. Is the r3a VF a real problem or a slight pain? the 35mm is more compact then the 40mm. Should I take the better r2a view finder and live with 35mm ?( maybe 35mm is a better choice). Also I know someone who wants to sell a leica MP4, Is this camera too outdated or should I jump at the Leica name and grab it? is it bigger and heavier than the bessas? the Leica will last forever no? sorry for all the questions. Thanks
 
R3A works just right for me since I don't wear glasses, but I think it would be very difficult if you are wearing them.

I think a Bessa is a better deal, especially for friends/candid stuff, the automatic exposure works great. For serious photography, I use a separate light meter, but for friendly candids, I think it's fine to go with AE.

i find 40mm to be an excellent focal length for casual photography; if you don't mind the difficulty of seeing the framelines, I would say the R3a is the way to go. It is really good for use with a 75mm too--better than the viewfinder of a Leica M for that lens length.
 
The 40mm on an R3a will be hard to see with glasses. Get the R2a, I've had both and have glasses. I have no experience with the M4p though.
 
Also cjm

Also cjm

what lenses do you use on r2a? as lic 4 said, the r3a is supposed to be really good with the 75mm. how is th r2a with the 75mm? Thanks
 
I only used the R2a with a 50mm, but I did often look through the 35mm and 75mm frames to get an idea of what it would be like. They seemed perfectly usable to me. Yes, the 75m frame on the R3a is better, but I could barely even seen the 50mm. I suppose you could use a 40mm lens with the 35mm frames on the R2a.

You said you want to take "undistorted" pictures of friends. I think you'll find that most 35mm lenses will not "distort" the picture, even at the edges. Besides, 5mm in the field of view will not make such a big difference in terms of distortion that you should have to live with approximating a 40mm lens in 35mm framelines. In other words, I'd say get the R2a. 🙂
 
I have an R3A and even though I dont wear glasses I have a bit of trouble seeing the shutter speed / 40mm lines in bright sun. I really like the 1:1 finder though, being able to shoot with both eyes open is really cool, although it takes a bit of practice to remember to do it as I am so used to closing my left eye as soon as a camera comes up to my face.
 
To present another view, I used the 40mm lens with my M6 for a while and never got used to the difference in framelines. The constant questioning of whether or not I'm within 2 meters of the subject bothered me since I tend to put objects in the foreground at the edge of the frame.

If you decide to get a Bessa, I would suggest getting the R3A so that you can enjoy the 1:1 viewfinder, and since you might only be missing the slight edge of the frame by wearing glasses.
I would prefer having a VF/framelines that underestimates the actual image by a tad rather than overestimates it.
Other than that, I agree with all of the advice offered by everyone!

The other option would be to simply get a 35mm lens with an R2a; I would consider that as well. I came to the conclusion that 40 and 35 are very close, since I have a number of proof sheets from my Ultron 35 and Rokkor 40; I don't remember which lens was used, and I can't discern a difference.
 
cjm and ferider

cjm and ferider

you are making good arguments for the r2a,but my last question is how usable is the 75mm on the r2a? because I will use the 75mm quite a bit. Thanks
 
ferider

ferider

Yes the heliar. so are glasses and the r3a a non issue with the 75mm? The r3a sounds nice for the 75mm, so my only question is now , is the r3a with the 40mm and glasses a bit of a pain or will it really prevent me from seeing key information?
 
I owned the R3A and 40 Nokton for a moment. I wear glasses and I immediately felt like I had to move my eye around a lot to make sure I was seeing the 40 frameline. I only kept the pair for a couple of weeks, until I felt I wasn't going to get used to the problem. I traded the R3A in for the R4A and I'm a lot happier now. The R4A has a 35mm frameline... I just assume the 40mm pictures will be just inside the 35 line. This works pretty well.

Of course the R4A's viewfinder is only designed for the 21mm thru 50mm range. If you want to go longer you'll likely want to buy the separate viewfinders.
 
Thanks everyone

Thanks everyone

The r3a is really sounding nice to me I hate squinting with my left eye and the 75mm will be my important composition portrait and flower lens, so I need to be comfortable in the viewfinder at tht focal length . The 40mm will be more loose and snap shotty so maybe I wont wory to much about exact framing. I really need to look at these cameras. Any ways, I will probably buy one of them...... or a canoe. Thanks for the help
 
maybe it comes

maybe it comes

down to which is the better lens, the 35mm pancake2 or the 40mm nocton? I keep hearing complaints about the nocton bokeh
 
I have an R3A, plus 15, 25, 40 and 75 mm lenses. I also use the 15 and 25 on my Leica IIIf as they both have LTM and separate viewfinders.
With glasses you probably won't always get a clear view of the 40mm framelines. No big deal - if you can't see them then whatever you can see is going to be in frame anyway.
I personally prefer the 40 as the standard lens over the 50. My basic rule of thumb when choosing other lenses is to either double the focal length (if going longer) or halve it (if going shorter). Anything less than that ends up being too close to make a significant difference to the field of view.
 
The 75mm frame lines on the R2A are bright and easy to see; they are also the only frame lines displayed when selected. The draw back is take up such a small chunk of the view finder. That said, the 35mm lines are easy to see *even* with glasses on.

I don't think the 35mm will distort photos much at all, certainly not a noticeable amount more than a 40mm.

I'm using the 35mm f/2.5 PII right now, and you can view sample shots on Flickr. I bought the R2A recently and quite like it.
 
Thanks for all the replies

Thanks for all the replies

They both look like good cameras. It looks like my shop will have them both in a couple of weeks, I will try them out. Thanks
 
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