ebay Bessa's - upgrading from FSU Camera

[mikule]

Found this Bessa R below (probably will not bid) M39 screw mount body on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=30030&item=7524881908&rd=1

How do the Bessa's handle the old FSU lenses? Just wondering as my current setup is a Fed 5B with an Industrar 61, Jupiter 12, and shortly a Jupiper 9. Would I be able to pickup a body such as the one above and utilise it with all my old lenses, before I got around to upgrading the lenses as well?

Or would I better off just waiting until I can pickup a Bessa (or leica) kit, new or otherwise complete with lenses.

Any feedback would be great

cheers
Michael

 

[mikule]

Or this Bessa T

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=107915&item=7524962967&rd=1

Sorry, I'm probably being lazy should research what a Bessa is all about....

 

[jorisbens]

The bessa r is only 249 on cameraquest, so that's only a small difference with the one on the bay. And you can use all of your FSU lenses except for the jupiter 12, because it protrudes to much and can damage the shutter. And if you want more info on the bessas, just go to www.cameraquest.com.

Joris Bens 😎

 

[mikule]

Thanks Joris, I'd looked at the CameraQuest not long after posting to do a bit of research and realised that it was just as cheap to purchase one direct. Just working out if it'll be cheaper for me to get one through CameraQuest and have it posted out to Australia or purchase one locally.
Still, I'll probably wait a few months after I've had a decent run with my Fed, then I'll look at getting one. Going overseas in October though, so I may look at getting one duty free... or whilst I'm in Germany.

 

[chug]

Mainline photo has 2 Bessa R's for 395 bucks, ex demo stock, chrome and black version. Good deals on some ex demo lenses too. Might be worth thinking about. Same sorta price you will pay for from the US, its local and you wont get stung by Customs 🙂

http://www.mainlinephoto.com.au/used_equipment.htm

Take a look 🙂

 

[atelier7]

mikule, i'm also in aus and i bought my bessa R from cameraquest.
have also bought a couple of other items and have never had customs tax.
stephen gandy ships the items pretty fast so its under 2 wks wait.
difference is that u get a new camera. if u go for the silver kit- Bessa R + CV35, its US$399.
Works out to be about A$550 @ 0.76 exchange rate (US$419= US$399 Kit + US$20 shipping). Not a bad deal compared to local prices.

then again, buying locally has its advantages when it comes to warranty. and instant gratification... if you can't bear to wait for the 2 weeks 🙂

i wonder why prices in aus seem to be a fair bit higher.

 

[mikule]

Not sure why the Australian prices seem to be a bit higher, might be the import duties? Although when I looked at the official Voigtlander webpage in Germany the Bessa R goes for 599 Euro's, and I think thats just for the body!

 

[mikule]

... and a two week wait isn't that long when you're used to waiting 4 to 6 weeks for Russian optics to arrive from the Ukraine 🙂

 

[ChrisN]

Hi Mikule

I recently got stung for import duty and GST for a camera bought from Adorama in the US, which they sent via UPS. It came to about 25% of the purchase price! Perhaps items sent via the postal system will get through without Customs attention - I think the declared value is the trigger. Good luck!

Chris in Canberra

 

[mikule]

I'm not sure if it has something to do with UPS shipping. Because I've received quite a lot of other things from over-seas and never had to pay import duties. Then the one time I ordered cameras from Lomography I got stung with $80 of tax, which is pretty steep considering I only spent a bit over $200.
If I go with the Bessa R from CameraQuest, I may just go with Regular shipping via registered mail.

Michael in Perth

 

[chug]

I ordered a Bessa L from CQ when the bloke went over to Japan when he had a free shipping deal on and I recived the camera 4-5 days later.. Which is hell quick for something from the US to here 🙂

 

[ChrisN]

Suspect you are right regarding UPS. By holding it until I paid the import duty and GST, they also get to charge me an extra $10 (plus GST) "Security fee". I thought paying the US$50 freight I got charged by Adorama would have covered that! Oh well, they saw me coming...

Chris

 

[mikule]

I think thats what I was charged as well. $40 for "customs entrance" and then $40 import duty, because it was the UPS people holding on to the package that phoned me up for the money, not the post office.

 

[atelier7]

FYI, my stuff from Cameraquest came via normal airmail. not ups.

 

[kbg32]

I would be careful purchasing items from China. I know a few people who paid for items that were never shipped.

Cheers,

Keith