dbarnes
Well-known
The Bessa R is a *great* starter camera. Cheap and rugged. Depending on the style of shooting you do and how many lenses you use, its futzy screw mount -- relatively slow and fussy to change lenses with -- may or may not be an issue. I loved my three Rs, but if I were taking another stab at starting from scratch, I'd save up a little longer and pick an M mount body to get going with, a CL or CLE or R2.
baduch
Newbie
I have only bessa r and use j-8 on it...love the camera, since it is quite rare in my communities..
d_c
Established
I know this is bit after the fact, but you would need to check in respect of the CLE, because I recall that my Pre-Asph Summicron 35mm v4 didn't fit my CLE when I tried it. There is a circular 'shield' around the back element of the lens which protects it from damage if you put it face-up on a table etc, but which fouls on a baffle in the camera body. I believe you can remove this shield if you really need the lens to go on the camera, but it then leaves your rear-element without any protection. Much better to get the Summicron-C 40mm.