Bessa R3A Purchase Question

J

JonathanA

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Dec 27, 2006
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I've been reading up lately on the Bessa R3A and can't wait to purchase one. My only problem is I can't figure out which place to purchase one from and which lens to pick up with it! B&H recently sold out of all grey R3A bodies and only has "Demo" bodies in black (I've had no experience with demo bodies so if anyone has please let me know if they are problematic) and no other large online stores I know of seem to carry them. It's quite a dilema when your ready to purchase it ASAP.

My other problem is that with so many great lenses I can't seem to decide which one to purchase with my R3A. I shoot mostly street photography and have been leaning towards the 40mm Nokton but can't seem to decide!

Thanks for any help in advance!
 
Hi Jonathan, I have the R3M, purchased from the Photo Village, and lenses purchased from CameraQuest, fast service with either one, on my doorstep within 3 days..click on the adds to the left..good luck in your search..
 
hard to beat camerquest for cv gear, peice and service.
if the r3a has framelines for a 40 then i think that's a great place to start.
i had the 40 for a short time and it's a nice lens.
if the camera has fl for 35mm and you have the cash, i think the cv 35/1.2might be a good choice, especialy if dark streets are on the agenda.
and while it's slow, the cv 28/3.5 is very small and sharp...of course the 28/1.9 is hard to beat at any price.

i'm not helping, am i?

joe
 
Haha thanks for the attempt joe! If I had any less self control I would sell all of my posessions and purchase every lens you listed...sadly I have some sliver of self control.

I'll most likely be picking it up from cameraquest or photo village so thanks for the help! If anyone else has any other suggestions I'm still open to suggestions!
 
B&H is not an authorized US distributer so they have to waranty the camera themselves.

I Started with Cameraquest and have never been unhappy, Just got the 35/1.2 today [ordered on Monday]
 
The R3A black was discontinued - but I would not be at all surprised if it came back with a slightly different finish soon. Maybe the 'Zeiss' black of the upcoming R4A.

I understand anyway that Robert White still has R3A black in stock.
 
Any CV purchases one makes should be thru Photovillage or Cameraquest. They are great, knowledgable and RFF sponsers. IMHO. No slight on B+H Photo.
 
Another vote for CameraQuest. Somehow the shutter on my R3A got jammed on a Sunday and I sent a note to Stephen about it. That evening he replied with instructions on what to do (camera was still under warranty.) I had a replacement in my hands on Wednesday.

Before I bought the R3A I had gotten a Jupiter 3 lens from suvorov_v on eBay. I seemed to have lucked out because I haven't really had any problems with this lens, which can be a bit of a crap shoot.

Just recently I bought the 40mm/1.4 from Stephen and have been having fun with it. Wasn't sure how I would like tab focusing, but ya know I think I actually like it. I like being able to tell roughly where in the focusing range the lens is just by feel. Though, I suppose you could retrofit some sort of tab to a regular focusing collar.
 
Thanks for all of the info. I'll be ordering mine soon and I can't wait! I'm deffinetly going to go with either cameraquest or photo village. I'll make sure to post some shots once it's purchased!
 
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