Ikon Vs R*M

[cking]

I’ve been reading another thread here, and saw that the Ikon used the same body as the RM series. What’s the big difference between these 2 and what’s the advantage of spending $1000 more for the Ikon?

 

[back alley]

it is not the same body.
the rf base is much longer on the ikon making focusing more precise.
both are aluminum base but the zeiss has a stronger shell.

joe

 

[cking]

Ahh thanks. Must have misread the other thread. Thanks

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

All Cosina cameras use the same chassis.

A shop in my square has a Nikon FM10 for sale, made by Cosina, and pretty much the same as a Voigtlander R** inside. Except it has a pentaprism on the top.

 

[roundg]

I used to have a VIVITAR VX4 (same as COSINA CR3 or C?? can't remember), a M42 mount camera.

The chassis is the same as R....

don't forget FM10, OM10......a long list......

 

[rxmd]

No, not all cameras use the same chassis; they use a lot of interchangeable components, though.

I think the ZI is more different in terms of chassis. You can see that from the corners, they are considerable more rounded on the Bessa. They use interchangeable components, hence the similar layout of controls and more or less the same shutter. However, the controls are different, too; a placement of the rangefinder window as on the ZI would be difficult to do on a Bessa.

Basically what Cosina has is a toolbox of components. Then a customer comes and says "build me a camera to these specs", and they start picking components and building the camera. The ZI is actually a pretty extreme case here; from what I understand the entire body shell as well as the rangefinder are new developments over the older Cosina cameras. Other components are the same, though.

Philipp

 

[roundg]

If we compare the layout from the top. Obviously they are all the same. Definitely as Philip said, they share a lot of components but substantially difference in design.

For me, R* is never an attractive camera line, although I am satisfied with my Bessa-T because I don;t put too much expectation on it.


When I got my R2 (I sold it immediately) one year ago, I was very dispointted as i thought it's a cheap leica.

Now I realized Leica is leica, Bessa is Bessa. They are built to different standard (and money).

So with ZI. I played with one for some time. It's much better than Bessa, but still can't match leica M's. IMO. It's edge is AE.

 

[kshapero]

There are lots of differences. Read: A ZM review.
Spells it out. Then compare with the Shutterbug review of the R3A: A Bessa Review

There you go.