Just received R3A & 40mm lens

Rick Waldroup

Rick Waldroup

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Hello, I am new to this site. I just received my Bessa R3A and 40mm lens from Gandy and I must say that so far the camera has been impressive. I have loaded it with a roll of Neopan and hope to develop the film sometime tomorrow. I also own an R2. My first impressions of the R3A- the shutter seems just a little less noisy than the R2. I was hoping it would be significantly less, but it is still okay. I wear glasses and can not see the 40mm frame lines, but that is not much of a problem for me or the way I shoot. The meter inside the viewfinder is very easy to see and read. The camera seems to weigh just a little more than the R2, but not much. To me, the finder on the R3A is much improved over the R2, brighter and contrastier and easier to focus, plus the 1:1 magnification is great. The fit and finish of the camera is really nice and tight. All in all, it looks like a pretty well made camera. The 40mm lens has a smooth focus and a crisp f stop ring. I am shooting this test roll with the 40mm lens only. I also own a Voightlander 35mm 2.5 and a Konica Hexar 90mm. I want to see what the 40 will do before I try it with the other lenses. Anyway, just a short report on what appears to be a really nice and affordable camera system.
 
Just got mine today too, from Rich Pinto. Nothing more to add to the couple/few posts already about the RA3 except to say that it has a great feel and the RF patch is really, really bright and constrasty.

I got the 40/1,4 S.C lens. UPS delivered it just after the sun had gone done. Did that stop me? No. I loaded it with a roll of HP5+ I had ready and waiting and luckily (sort of) it was one awful slow commute here in the San Francisco bay area.

So stuck in traffic in SF, across the bay bridge and then slowly up San Pablo Avenue from Emeryville to Albany (where I live) I shot the entire roll from the car seat of my '94 BMW. Not as dangerous as one would think, traffic was so bad that I was stopped dead quite often, and my typical 30 minute commute took over a hour today :bang:. Shots mostly of cars, alleys, storefronts, street corners, etc. All in the late dusk, early evening light. The whole roll shot wide open at f/1,4 at speeds ranging from 1/8th to 1/125, dim light to bright street light and stores, all hand held. Not a comprehensive test by any means but should be a good indication of the lens used in low light and how well one can hand hold this camera at slow speeds.

Just developed the roll and it's hanging from the shower rack. Negs look very sharp in the initial, wet inspection. Will scan and post a few choice ones at photo.net early tomorrow and will return here with the link.
 
Welcome RDW, congratulations to both you and Rich on your new arrivals! I love 40mm lenses, so I'm very curious about the "character" of this one.

Rich, that traffic was NOT what BMW's are made for; must be awful! I try to keep my M3 out of that kind of bind...
 
Just got the negs out of the soup and everything looks great. The 40mm lens appears to be tack sharp and very contrasty. I shot a lot of stuff wide open and everything looks good.The camera performed flawlessly. I left it on Auto Exposure for the whole roll to see how the metering is and it is dead on. It looks like I am going to enjoy this camera and lens a lot. Thanks to everyone for the warm greetings. Thanks, RDW.
 
Shooting with a Japanese camera from a German car, Rich. Hmmm . . . Nice description of your ride. I felt like I was in the car with you. Commuter traffic can be a bummer. Sounds like you had more interesting sites than sitting on the freeway.

RD, nice quote from Hunter Thompson. LOL
 
Sorry, Doug, when I do it, it gets me to an e-mail that I received from cvug. Must be because it's my e-mail page & it's not letting anyone else access my e-mail. You can find the same information posted on cvug archives (December). They can be accessed from the cameraquest.com home page.
 
Well, the shots I took on the commute are nothing special. And really may not show the definitive characteristics of this lens. But here's a selection if any one would like to see. Last one is an indoor shot of my dresser.

http://www.richimages.com/folder.php?id=4

(click on the thumbs for a larger image)

Shot another roll this afternoon of my son at the park. Might be a little more variety and better lighting conditions. Will develop and post soon.

Richard
 
Well, yes, they were resampled down to 600 pixels wide but I've been doing this for years for my uploaded-to-website images on numerous sites and they've always looked fine. They look fine on two different monitors I've checked them on. Anyone else have moire or artifact problems viewing those images?

Richard
 
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Richard, thanks for the photos. Haven't I seen you on the Contax G pages? I shot a couple of Contax G1s for several years but got tired of the autofocus issues and went to a manual focus system. So far I have been very happy with the R3A and plan to run a few more rolls through it this weekend.
 
Thanks for those pics - I'm impressed by both the lens and the photographer. Yes, the subjects are incredibly mundane, but they seem to be interesting, and appear to have a certain 'look' across all of them. What is that? High contrast? I'm just bought a film scanner, so anything you could say I'd be really greatful.

Also, maybe this is post processing as well, but would the rest of you agree that the pictures have a certain clarity which most lenses lack at f1.4?

David
 
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