Greatest CV camera?

Greatest CV camera?

  • Bessa L

    Votes: 13 4.3%

  • Bessa R

    Votes: 58 19.0%

  • Bessa R2

    Votes: 23 7.5%

  • Bessa T

    Votes: 25 8.2%

  • Bessa R2M/A

    Votes: 25 8.2%

  • Bessa R3M/A

    Votes: 44 14.4%

  • Bessa R4M/A

    Votes: 83 27.2%

  • None.

    Votes: 34 11.1%
  • Total voters
    305
So no more camera bodies from CV ever? Just lenses?
Sorry if I sound stupid but I just re read this thread and noticed the what it's all about,I was thinking it was one of those " which is your favorite " threads.

Cancel that question as I just did a search and found the head bartenders thread.

Sad days indeed.
 
Looked back on fondly? Most of them. Greatest? Depends on what magnification you prefer. But classic? The L. There's hardly anything like it and I doubt there will be in the future.
 
I had a post that my *&^*&^*)(* Windows 10 Surface Pro ate! F*(&*(*((* windows!

Take two.

On reflection I think they'll all be remembered in some sort of conflated manner. People will see them as niche at the time, but lots of niche variation at the time. You can go rangefinder, or viewfinder-less, you can have high magnification or low magnification, screw mount or M mount or Contax / Nikon Mount. You can go plastic, metal, limited edition, regular edition, black, grey, blue, olive and that plasticky silver. They came with as great and as varied a range of wide-angled and normal lenses as has ever been offered by any maker. They were expensive enough, but not rolled in unobtanium dust by German pixies; so they appeared cheap and people (i.e. men mostly) could 'come into the fold' (after arguing value with significant others) and buy a new rangefinder.

I think these qualities will get conflated into a conceptual idea that will see all Bessa's remain memorable.

If I had to pick one though, I would go Bessa R. The L was first of course, but it feels more like a camera to sell a lens than a product like the R that people might have actually been looking for or become converted by - even if they didn't know they were looking for something like a new rangefinder. I think the R though was good enough that it would have appealed to those that already knew about rangefinders, but in a left of centre sort of way. However unlike the L, it wasn't so off the grid that it wouldn't also appeal to rangefinder neophytes. And it spawned a line of successor models.

I remember thinking back in 2003/4 as I ogled Bessa's on Stephen's site that a Bessa L was pretty cool, but a viewfinder-less camera body, for $79! How was that going to work? So perhaps the L is too niche to ever be truly memorable. But the R spawned a line of cameras and did so using existing manufacturing tech in an interesting and unexpected way to produce a rangefinder, as opposed to a light tight box. All whilst digital was sweeping the world.
 
The Bessa R was the original CV rangefinder, and there has been nothing like it since.
The M mount Bessa models may be better built and offer more features,
but the Bessa R sold at a price point that enabled many to join "the club".

Chris
 
The R or the R4. Both amazing cameras. The R came onto the scene with a really bright view finder and the fact that it used screw mount lenses of old was awesome. Battery lasts forever on it too. Cons were the shorter base length and the plastic build. But mine has held up very well with handling, scratched to hell inside (those darn collapsible lenses) and out but working smooth.

The R4 and its huge 21mm finder is probably the biggest change up in the range finder world to date. No need for external finders for 21mm and 25mm lenses. Amazing.

Bonus: the Zeiss ikon, what a beautiful camera. Huge ebl, amazingly bright finder (my 28mm lives on this one) and uniquely located film rewind on the bottom.

CV did a great job with these cameras and I am sad to see them go. They also were amazing at producing great accessories for their cameras and lenses too. I hope their lens production sticks around. They make great stuff that's within reach for the majority of photographers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Many seem to be giving their favorite instead of answering... "Which of these CV Bessas is most likely to become a classic?"
 
jsrockit said:
Many seem to be giving their favorite instead of answering... "Which of these CV Bessas is most likely to become a classic?"
Click to expand...
Don't think so. For versatility and simplicity the R2 is hard to beat and that olive drab finish really is something special. The T is unique in not having a viewfinder. I mean, how are you defining "classic"?

Of course you can argue for any of them, especially the R (the original high-end) and the L (the original original). I'd argue against the battery-dependent A-series, though.

Cheers,

R.
 
Fair enough Roger, the original R being a LTM body in a "modern" style RF body makes sense too. However, it is a little cheap in its build. The T, sure that was unique. R2... it's nice, but doesn't offer anything that a Leica hadn't (that I'm aware of). Pretty camera in that color though. The L doesn't count as a RF to me. The R4 with a built in 25mm VF was special.
 
The "R" is classic because it, possibly more than any single camera, laid the foundation for the "rangefinder Renaissance." "Classic" in this sense refers both back to the period before the SLR, when the LTM camera dominated photography, but it also links to the crucial period - right at the turn of the 21st century - when the rangefinder re-emerged from relative obscurity to strongly influence photography again. The R showed it was possible to link the past and the present. Without that the whole course mirror less would not have been possible.
 
traveler_101 said:
The "R" is classic because it, possibly more than any single camera, laid the foundation for the "rangefinder Renaissance." "Classic" in this sense refers both back to the period before the SLR, when the LTM camera dominated photography, but it also links to the crucial period - right at the turn of the 21st century - when the rangefinder re-emerged from relative obscurity to strongly influence photography again. The R showed it was possible to link the past and the present. Without that the whole course mirror less would not have been possible.
Click to expand...

You had me until the mirrorless part... since there were already digital cameras without mirrors, the real part, that would have came anyway, was the interchangeable lens. I doubt the Bessa had anything to do with the interchangeable lens part of mirrorless... since interchangeable lenses had been around forever. However, the first Mirrorless with interchangeable lenses was the Epson R-D1... ;)
 
I voted for the R because it offered metering in a fully featured LTM mount.

But I could just as easily vote for the R2C as it also offered a meter in a fully featured Contax mount.

I use them both regularly. The R2C is certainly built to a better standard than the R but that does not stop you from enjoying the unique experience of either one.
 
Good points Pioneer. Ok, I've owned and used a few Bessas, but never thought about what they brought to the table.
 
I'm surprised no mention of the Bessaflex TM?

It's the only CV I wished I owned, seems like an excellent platform for all the fabulous M42 lenses out there.

And it appears pleasingly designed in an authentically classic sort of way.
 
jsrockit said:
You had me until the mirrorless part... since there were already digital cameras without mirrors, the real part, that would have came anyway, was the interchangeable lens. I doubt the Bessa had anything to do with the interchangeable lens part of mirrorless... since interchangeable lenses had been around forever. However, the first Mirrorless with interchangeable lenses was the Epson R-D1... ;)
Click to expand...

You are thinking about tech, I am thinking about inspiration for the camera's form.
 
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