Bessa R3A on the way...

[Alan B]

So I took the plunge. After a year with my QL17 and several rolls of Extar 100 and XP2 400, I've purchased an R3A and a Nokton 40mm f/1.4 in no small part to all the good advice here.

Any advice on the camera, lens, or your favourite colour and/or black & white film? Where does the 40/1.4 really shine (wide open, f2.0+)?

 

[kshapero]

You will soon be the owner of one the finest all around rangefinders for the money. Congrats.Works well with any film I ever used.

 

[coelacanth]

Congrats. R3A was the camera that finally made me dive into RF world. I tried it several years back with other RF camera in a couple of separate occasions, but that didn't speak to me. After seeing the bright frameline in that 1:1 finder, I was hooked.

I think Nokton 40mm really sings at wide open. When you want a modern, sharp shot, you can use F4-F8 range with great results, but again, I think this lens is made for the classic look wide open at 1.4.

I fancied LegacyPro400 (relabeled Neopan, you can get it from freestylephoto.biz) with the lens.

 

[Vincent.G]

The nokton shines well at f/1.4. Has the old school B&W photo look which I like. Taste is subjective though. I would prefer the S.C. version for a little more detail in the shadows of a B&W photo. You can check out the images taken by this wonderful lens at flickr. Just type "voigtlander 40mm f/1.4" and lots of images will show up. It is a great way to check up on images shot by various lens. I learned this from Tom A. Give it a try.

With regards to film, kodak tri-X is my recommendation for serious B&W work.But then again, some prefer ilford. For high speed film, fuji neopan 1600 is good but I guess you can push most films out there to 1600 and still get decent quality. For the quick and dirty method, you can use kodak bw400cn or ilford xp2 as they are C41 films.

For a start, I just say grab any B&W film you can find and start to learn how to operate your R3A first. Once you know more about your camera, then you can venture to different types of film and pick one that you like. Do one thing at a time. Hope you have fun with your new camera. Quickly post your pictures here for us to see and share your joy!

Cheers!

Van Gogh

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I recommend you Tri-X and, for a few more months only, Kodachrome 64 under direct sun.

Regards,

Juan