Mr K still rules

kshapero

kshapero

South Florida Man
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Mar 27, 2006
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I joined RFF 10 years ago next month. Somehow a few months earlier I stumbled upon the Chief Bartender's(even though that came later) web site(CameraQuest) , and the bug of Rangefinders was rekindled after 20 years of Nikon (D)SLR's (which I still love). Stephen turned us on to Mr K. of Cosina Voigtlander fame. I took the bait and have never had any regrets. It has and still is a great ride. CV's have been great products, bodies and lenses alike. It, of course, included the 180 back to Leica. Being a Leica Fan Boy should and will never take away from Mr K's reintroduction of the RF. Forever indebted. If it sounds like I am slobbering...well, I am.
 
Not only do I love Mr K, but I think he should be beatified. His lenses are miracles.
 
Where would we be without Mr. K. I rather think Leica has benefited from the CV rangefinder renaissance in a substantial way.

Who else looks at the camera cupboard/drawer/case/shelf/bag and doesn't see Leica and CV gear intermixing like they always belonged together? Honestly, if it weren't for Mr. K. (CV) and Zeiss, I don't think I'd still have the rangefinder bug......Leica alone would have been just too expensive for me to assemble a full kit, and the offerings from DSLR and mirrorless makers are admittedly very competitive.

So today: a proud owner of Cosina-Voigtlander bodies and lenses. Especially now the lenses. I read somewhere that Mr. K. had to really fight to convince Cosina to at least try some RF products.
 
I started with a CV 15mm and Bessa L having read about the 15 in a mag and on the CVUG on Cameraquest. Found RFF when Jorge ran it, thrilled it was able to continue with Stephen and CQ.

But it really wouldn't have been possible without the vision of Mr K - Another 2 CV bodies and 8 more CV lenses and I can quite happily say I'm a fan. So many opportunities to try different focal lengths and lenses from the small, slow and sharp to the fast, huge and atmospheric!

Much of the enjoyment is also down to the knowledge, friendliness and egalitarianism of this board as we enjoy the rangefinder renaissance - no matter what the mix of brands in our bags.
 
I have enjoyed all the VC lenses I owned and own. Some of my favourite shots where made with his wides.
 
rfaspen said:
Where would we be without Mr. K. I rather think Leica has benefited from the CV rangefinder renaissance in a substantial way.

Who else looks at the camera cupboard/drawer/case/shelf/bag and doesn't see Leica and CV gear intermixing like they always belonged together? Honestly, if it weren't for Mr. K. (CV) and Zeiss, I don't think I'd still have the rangefinder bug......Leica alone would have been just too expensive for me to assemble a full kit, and the offerings from DSLR and mirrorless makers are admittedly very competitive.

So today: a proud owner of Cosina-Voigtlander bodies and lenses. Especially now the lenses. I read somewhere that Mr. K. had to really fight to convince Cosina to at least try some RF products.
Click to expand...
I have heard through the grapevine; that Mr K and his son's love for Leica came 1st. They have a very large Leica collection, and enjoy using them. I can sure see how it was easy to convince a firm to manufacture quality lenses for the Screw mount and M bodies.
 
My "main" set my M6/M8 looks like this:

Voigtländer Heliar 4.5/15
Voigtländer Ultron 2.0/28
Leica Summicron-M 2.0/50
Voigtländer Heliar 2.5/75
Leica Summicron-M 2.0/90

And I love them all. 'Nuff said. ;)
 
Ehhhhh.
I used to think so until he unceremoniously dumped his line of Nikon S-mount equipment, after giving the Nikon rangefinder users a taste of what might have been.
 
indeed, Mr. K is the man,

who else would make 40mm viewfinders, 21/25 viewfinders
lenses of that quality at reasonable prices (1.1 nokton, SL 125 lanthar, 40 pancake etc..)
the 50 3.5 heliar in nikon rangefinder mount,
modern cameras with Ltm, contax rf, nikon rf mounts.
spectacular viewfinders for 6x6 hasselblad/biogon !

I love the diverse and 'niche' products cosina produces, just to name a few of them.
 
If not Mr. K then who?

If not Mr. K then who?

I'm disappointed there will be no more CV Bessa bodies.
Hope they don't lose the knack for making film cameras...

Chris
 
My first RF camera when I was young was a Konica C35...many decades ago, then I went the SLR road.
Years ago (10-12?) the Bessa L arrived in Italy and I bought one with the 15mm lens, mainly because of curiosity. Loved it. Change later for a Bessa R with CV 35/1,7. Much smaller than my slr kit I appreciated it, specially when traveling for work. I added a 75/2,5 and the 12/5,6 later much later the heliar F2 anniversary edition.
I own now also an M7 with a couple of crons lenses (35-50) but the Bessa has still a lot of use. I'll never sell it.

robert

2014_11_rob-31.jpg
 
ChrisPlatt said:
I'm disappointed there will be no more CV Bessa bodies.
Hope they don't lose the knack for making film cameras...

Chris
Click to expand...
I so agree. But seems that there is a healthy used market out there. BTW Stephen reports a small but decent stock a various new CV bodies.
 
I was a fan of Cosina for many years before the Voigtlander thing. I own a Bessa R and a Bessaflex TM, but I also own a lot of cameras made by Cosina prior to that, such as the Canon T-60 and various Vivitar SLR bodies.

I guess I can say I like Cosina products, and by extension, whomever it is that keeps them going.

On the other hand, I have to laugh at the fawning admiration for a company that is at the Right Hand of the Father when it comes to products labeled 'Voigtlander' or 'Zeiss', etc, but Spawn of Satan when it comes to, say, the Canon T-60. It's the same basic camera. It not only gets zero love, it's actively hated on. So apparently, Cosina is heaven and hell at the same time. Depending on what it is people get told to like.

But hey, Zeitgeist and all. Whatever floats yer boat.
 
ChrisPlatt said:
I'm disappointed there will be no more CV Bessa bodies.
Hope they don't lose the knack for making film cameras...

Chris
Click to expand...

Took me a little by surprise; I guess too much wishful thinking on my part about the "film renaissance". Truly amazing what he accomplished out of commitment and craft and determination.

The whole enterprise would never have happened if Cosina were a "public company" because the market is too small to warrant an attempt at producing contemporary film cameras at this price point. Leica continues but at much higher price point - and I imagine it is their recent success in digital that subsidies the film section.

Ok, Kobayashi's production costs were limited by his clever adaptation of the SLR bodies he was producing for other firms, but even with the improvements and specialisation of camera bodies, sales didn't warrant staying in production with these cameras. As we know most people preferred the historic RF cameras that are still available in abundance.

Right now it may not matter, but in the long run, the failure of Cosina-Voigtlander (to maintain RF camera production) does not bode well for RF film shooting in the future. As the generation of Leica trained mechanics dies off or retires there will be no one to fix these old cameras and we or our successors will miss not having a CV alternative.
 
traveler_101 said:
Took me a little by surprise; I guess too much wishful thinking on my part about the "film renaissance". Truly amazing what he accomplished out of commitment and craft and determination. The whole enterprise would never have happened if Cosina were a "public company" because the market is too small to warrant an attempt at producing contemporary film cameras at this price point. Leica continues but at much higher price point - and I imagine it is their recent success in digital that subsidies the film section. Ok, Kobayashi's production costs were limited by his clever adaptation of the SLR bodies he was producing for other firms, but even with the improvements and specialisation of camera bodies, sales didn't warrant staying in production with these cameras. As we know most people preferred the historic RF cameras that are still available in abundance. Right now it may not matter, but in the long run, the failure of Cosina-Voigtlander (to maintain RF camera production) does not bode well for RF film shooting in the future. As the generation of Leica trained mechanics dies off or retires there will be no one to fix these old cameras and we or our successors will miss not having a CV alternative.
Click to expand...
kind of like me wondering who is going to be able to fix my Saab in a few years.
 
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