Bessa R2a-SWEET!

[Kyle]

Well, my brother had been wanting an interchangable lens RF for a while. When Mike (MCTuomey) posted his R2a up for sale, I let him know that it was a good deal and he should jump at it. Anyways, I've been wanting to check one of these out for a while and WOW, I'm impressed! It really is nothing like the Bessa R or L (two cameras which I have). Its much more solid, and has more heft to it. The wind mechanism is much nicer than the older Bessas, as is the paint finish and the look. Overall its a great little camera. Had my brother gotten one of these a couple weeks ago, I would have just ordered a new grey R2a instead of spending all that coin on the M2. Don't get me wrong, the M2 is amazing, but for the money this is an awesome little camera. I'd say for anyone on the fence about buying an older, user Leica or a new Bessa R2a or R3a, don't discredit the Voigtlander because its name doesn't have a red dot on it. When I pick up this camera, I don't think "cheap."

BTW, he also bought the Luigi half case for it. I know there had been some questions as to whether or not this will fit other Bessas. Well... it does. The L and R slip right into it just fine. The only issue is the R2a does not have a self-timer, and therefore most of the self-timer is covered by the case on the R or L. Other than that, it fits fine. That being said, I don't think he's really fond of a half case afterall, and he might be willing to sell it so if anyone is interested, PM me and I'll find out for sure if he wants it or not.

 

[pbjbike]

PM sent on the case.

 

[Nearsighted]

I don't think "cheap" when i pick up my R either. I've never handled a red dot camera so I don't know what I've been missing I guess. I think my Bessa R is a well built little camera and unless it's subjected to abuse I don't see why it wouldn't serve me well for my lifetime.

 

[dcsang]

The concept that the R2A or R3A are "cheap" is rubbish imho 🙂
They're decent cams and the AE on them work like a charm. I still consider getting one (again) at some point - rather than trying to justify an M7 🙂 The 1:1 viewfinder on the R3A is way cool .. and I had no issues shooting with "eyes wide open" 😀

Cheers
Dave

 

[Kyle]

I don't think "cheap" when i pick up my R either. I've never handled a red dot camera so I don't know what I've been missing I guess. I think my Bessa R is a well built little camera and unless it's subjected to abuse I don't see why it wouldn't serve me well for my lifetime.

I didn't mean to imply that. I'm a happy Bessa R owner, and have been for over a year now. However, when you pick it up, you can feel how a lot of it is made of plastic, so it doesn't have much of a 'classic' camera feel. I'm not a Leica snob, I just like using a 40 year old mechanical tool (much the same way that I love driving classic cars). I think the main point of my post was just to let RF newbies that know next to nothing about RF cameras, except that Leica is the "best", that its OK to go with Voigtlander cameras, and that they don't have to feel like they're going with something 'cheap.'

 

[wrenhunter]

Kyle, thanks for the info about the case. I have been compiling Bessa dimensions over the past few days trying to figure it out. Nothing better than the scientific method, though!

Just out of curiosity: why didn't he like the half-case?

 

[Kyle]

Well, he's not used to using a half-case. He's simply trying to figure out if he likes the extra bulk or not. I like half-cases on my cameras, but I'm used to them. To be honest, though, I prefer the R2a without the case myself, as the grip on that camera is very solid (much better than my M2).

 

[ray_g]

I liked the Bessa R when I had it. As opposed to the M bodies, I liked it precisely because it was light, but still well-built. With a Canon 35/2 or the black Jupiter 8, it made for a nice lightweight kit.