I hope to spend $1,000 ...

[Sonnar Brian]

Paul- put in a Want to Buy here at RFF. I responded to one of these, with an M2 body-only sold at half of your budget, recent CLA.

 

[paulfish4570]

rover, i won't buy on the bay. if i go used, it will be here. for budget-planning reasons, i've been paying attention to the m3s that allegedly have fresh CLAs and/or are in allegedly very good to excellent cosmetic shape ...

 

[rover]

Another benefit of buying here... if a trusted member says his camera is working... maybe an immediate CLA won't be needed. I bought my M2 from Gene... he said he thought of having it serviced, but never got around to it and never had a problem with the camera. I have had it for a little while, and it has worked fine. At some point I will get it cleaned, but for now it is not needed.

 

[paulfish4570]

the only thing that would keep me from an M3-6 is having to use close-up glasses to do critical focusing.
i'd consider a ZM if not for the need for batteries to operate.

 

[Tompas]

If I were you, I'd buy a used
- R3m for 50mm and longer
- R2m for 35 and 40mm, or
- R4m for 21 and 28mm
Great stuff, these Bessas.

 

[jmkelly]

i'd consider a ZM if not for the need for batteries to operate.

Ask yourself - will you lose any more shots if you have to stop to change batteries (very rare - the ZI is very conservative with batteries in my experience, so long as you remember to turn it off) than you will pulling out your external light meter?

 

[f16sunshine]

+1 on the ZI being a battery miser.
That said mine did fail me due to cold weather.
The battery froze up in 20F weather in Seattle over the thanksgiving holiday. Since you are in the South you can ignore this.
The ZI is a joy to use.

One thing you ought to consider is Framelines and adapters. You seem to have a preference for lower contrast lenses from the ltm era.
If you choose a bessa R2M you can simple leave one adapter in the camera for all of your lenses and manually select your frameline choice. It's a little thing but very handy. The bessa cameras have great viewfinders and the meter kicks butt!

 

[paulfish4570]

i don't know about that cold thang, andy. the high today is 32, with wind chill of 19, low tonight of 18 or so. 🙂
i had a bessa r and loved it except for the lightness. the newer r-series bessas run about 4 ounces heavier.
my fed-2 with i-26 aboard weighs about 586 grams, and i am able to hand-hold it very well to 1/30 despite hand tremors. a bessa r2m, for example, with heliar 50/2 aboard weighs 621 grams, a scooch heavier than the fed kit. so i should be able to hand-hold that one well, too ... 🙂
for comparison, an m3 body weighs 580 grams by itself.

 

[f16sunshine]

Yeah that's cold 🙂 It's also seldom though I imagine.
It's about 60 here in Lyons CO.
If you are hand holding a 50mm down to 1/30th I think most any choice will be fine.
Wait is an i26 a 50mm? I am not very up on Russian lenses.

 

[paulfish4570]

yes, it is a 50. it has no click stops; the i-61 has click stops. the i-26 has a focusing tab, which i much like. both lenses yield about the same in contrast.
when i make my decision on a m-type body, the next decision will be on a lens with more contrast ...

 

[Sonnar Brian]

If you want a lens with more contrast than an I61, do not consider the 1950s Leica lenses. The Nikkor and Canons have more contrast for vintage glass- or go with a modern lens. The Summicrons up through the Mid-60s, Summarits, Elmars, etc- lower contrast.

 

[paulfish4570]

thanks. i used to run an elmar 50/2.8 many moons ago ...

 

[david.elliott]

If you are interested, I have my R3m and 50/1.5 nokton for sale still in the classifieds.